Spirit of Aloha | Articles | Adventures in Dining | January/February 2004

Adventures in Dining
By KATHRYN WILDER

Sampling the Sea

Sitting on the lanai of The SeaWatch Restaurant in south Maui, my mother, teenage son and I listen with amusement while general manager Wendy Williams and veteran waiter Michael Walters apologize for the sunset. Over the past several weeks, pinks and purples extraordinaire have lit the sky as winter weather systems move up from the south, bringing vog from Hawai'i Island. Today, however, the weather pattern has shifted, and fat, gray clouds hover over the island and ocean alike.

"But, look," says my mother. The gentle slope of 10,023-foot Haleakala rolls toward the ocean, which stretches like a royal carpet to the island of Kaho'olawe and the setting sun. My mother gestures at the flaring, bright-orange orb burning a hole in the clouds and says, "Just look at that!" While the sun's brilliance intensifies, Molokini, the tiny tuff cone between Maui and Kaho'olawe, darkens and turns a mystical purple-blue against the stormy sky and slate-gray sea.

Michael, a 30-year Maui resident, who has a knack for knowing when to linger and when to leave his guests alone, retreats to place the appetizer order. He returns with macadamia nut brie, pepper-crusted, seared ahi and The SeaWatch Sampler: Pacific crab cakes, porcini scallops and a prawn cocktail. Chopsticks clicking, we hungrily choose morsels from each plate, the evening settling around us as we savor and compare. "It's like the whole place," my mother says, "full of good taste." She's actually speaking of the Zenato pinot grigio she sips, but it works for what we're eating, as well. What comes to my mind is: more!

The night darkens as "Hi'ilawe," signature song of the late, great Gabby Pahinui, drifts up from a private party on the terrace below. Michael worries about the weather, but rain could not dampen the perfect setting of open-air dining, coconut palms, ti plants and warm, soft breeze. At any rate, we are incapable of worry as we listen to Michael recite the contents of our salads like poetry, waiter-in-training Kai Pali studying his every move.

I fall hard for the spinach salad: baby spinach gently tossed with honey-and-lime dressing, wonton chips and tiger prawn sate. The honey is from 'ohia lehua, blossoms of the native 'ohia tree. Like everything else, it's perfect.

When executive chef Todd Carlos steals a few moments away from his artistic endeavors in the kitchen, we ask him what he likes best about working at The SeaWatch. "It's like a hotel without rooms," he says. "All kinds of action take place here. I love the challenge!" Breakfast, lunch and dinner; wedding parties; private parties with a thousand guests; legendary diners such as Clint Eastwood.

The culinary milieu created by chef Todd is "coastal cuisine." Half Greek, he brings the Mediterranean flavors of his heritage to the table, as well as favorites from New England, the South and the Caribbean, locales in which he worked after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America. Add to this his repertoire from a nine-year chefdom on Lana'i, where he became well versed in Hawai'i's ocean foods. With our sculpted entrees before us, my son says, "You can't eat that." I almost agree-it's just too pretty. And whoever thought of a lobster as pretty?

Chef Todd buys fresh local foods whenever possible. My twin Pacific lobster tails, adorned with asparagus from a community garden in Ma'alaea and a mashed Kula potato, were plucked off the Kohala Coast. My mother orders the macadamia uku, fresh from Alenuihaha Channel, and, as she cuts into the tender flesh, I imagine our chef jumping into a truck loaded with coolers, extra ice and sandwiches and racing down to the Kihei Boat Landing to meet the fishing boat waiting offshore.

My son looks up, a few bites into his New York steak, and asks, "Do we get dessert, too?" Michael smiles. I order the tropical sorbet, which Michael served earlier as a refreshing intermezzo. "But you've already tasted that," says my son.

"I know," I reply. When Michael sets the graceful goblet in front of me, the bright-orange mango ice topped with deep- purple blueberries reflects the evening's beginnings. "It's the color of the sunset!" I say, and we all turn toward the sea, now soft black with the shadow of night.

The SeaWatch Restaurant, 100 Wailea Golf Club Drive, Wailea, Maui. Open daily, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.; breakfast and lunch served 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free valet parking, major credit cards. reservations recommended. 875-8080.

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