Spirit of Aloha | Articles | Adventures in Dining | September 2000

Adventures in Dining
by Janet Snyder

Waikoloa Creole

Roussels in Waikoloa Village offers a taste of the unique Creole and Cajun cuisine of New Orleans

The setting of Roussels is clearly Hawai'i - beside the emerald-green fairways of a Big Island golf course - but the cuisine is definitely New Orleans.

Laissez les bon temps roulez. Let the good times roll, as anybody from New Orleans will tell you. And one of the ways to savor those good times, along with music, is through food, practically a religion in New Orleans.

A recent evening at Roussels, the only New Orleans restaurant on the Big Island of Hawai'i, proved a great chance to savor the unique cuisine of the Big Easy.

Just like the meandering Mississippi, my husband Art and I rambled through a meal that started with a rich shrimp and okra gumbo. Between spoonfuls of Art's soup, I dipped into my own appetizer of soft-shell crab, deep-fried and swimming in a dark veal roux of lemon, white wine and soy sauce. Delectable down to the last crispy mandible.

Roussels air-freights the Chesapeake Bay delicacies, which, according to chef-owner Spencer Oliver, must be harvested at a precise time. "They have to harvest them at the right time in the life cycle of the crab," Oliver told us. "There's only a day or so window of opportunity."

To complement the crab, I chose a 1997 Anapamu Chardonnay from California's Central Coast, a fruity amber white wine that greets the nose with a fragrant plum bouquet and tastes like a chocolate-covered cherry. Art's glass of 1997 Pinot Gris from Oregon's King Estate had hints of pear, melon and cinnamon.

As we awaited our main course, we watched a fabulous sunset of magenta and orange, lighting up a mackerel sky above the Kohala Coast. The cool evening descended on the emerald fairways of the Waikoloa Village Golf Club, which constitutes Roussels' back yard. No terraced mansions looking out on Spanish moss hanging from the banyans here - Waikoloa, the resort village that is home to Roussels, offers a different kind of ambience.

Instead, a view of a picturesque paper tree from the softly lit, spacious bistro overlooks the putters who converge on the restaurant's lanai bar for a few cold ones as jazz from New Orleans and elsewhere plays in the background. Waikoloa is a favorite destination for golfers from the Mainland and Japan.

I primed myself for the second course with a 1997 Carignane from the Alexander Valley's Pellegrini estate, a lusty red made from vines up to 60 years old that hinted of cranberry, spice and pepper flavors. For the sake of variety, Art picked a 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Liberty School winery of California's Paso Robles. He liked the dark cherry topnote and clean finish that matched his duckling in hunter's sauce accented by rosemary and cracked pepper and served on a bed of rice.

Duck must be the food of the gods, and I usually make a beeline for it every time I spot it on the menu. Roussels has two duck offerings among the entrees; the other is a duckling in a traditional glaze of French sauce ? l'orange with rice.

But Art beat me to the duck this time. No matter - my Cajun prime rib was a delight. An unabashed carnivore, I tucked happily into this blackened rib roast that was first flash-cooked, chilled to allow the juices to solidify and then cooked to medium-rare. Roussels does it with salad, mashed potatoes and a pureed carrot served in a ramekin.

Toward the end of the repast, we were joined by Chef Oliver, a Crescent City native who learned how to cook the Louisiana way - by hanging out in the family kitchen. "I've cooked all my life, and coming from New Orleans, I know how the sauces are supposed to taste," said Oliver, who moved to the Big Island 25 years ago.

The maestro suggested we go for the Louisiana bread pudding, made by his wife, Yvonne. Not big sweet eaters, Art and I decided to share and wound up swiping mouthfuls from each other. Yvonne Oliver's pudding is ambrosia. It arrived as a golden, raisin-studded island in a sea of bourbon and lemon sauce.

We're resolved to try her liliko'i cheesecake next time.

As Roussels' menu proclaims - "Creole no ka 'oi" (Creole is the best).

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