11/16/08 - The Top of Waikiki is one of my favorite places on the island for entertaining out-of-town guests. Not that the eclectic menu is indicative of most Hawaii Regional/Pacific Rim restaurants around town, though, which usually feature a strong local/Asian influence - Chef Sean Priester's spread is also inspired by touches of Mediterranean, Spanish, Cajun, Southern, Continental American, Caribbean, and more. You're just as likely to find locally-grown Kula butter lettuce and Kahuku corn or Asian-inspired sashimi and miso-glazed salmon as you are paella, escalivada, escabeche, Beef Wellington, or even grits! I could go on and on about the wonderful and creative dishes here, but instead, I'll mention a few in just a moment, and let you check out their menu in whole at the official Top of Waikiki website.
As for our special evening out, we celebrated the fact that Mom made it through another benchmark year, all the more wiser, all the more stronger, and all the more beautiful! Wifey and I chose to come here because she is one of those that can sit and stare at city lights, or great views in general, for hours on end, and there is hardly a greater place than the Top of Waikiki to do so. As the only revolving restaurant on the island, this flying saucer-shaped location does a complete 360 degree rotation every hour, ensuring views from every angle in a single sitting. And it's not like that other revolving restaurant once open near Ala Moana sometime back, which was about as smooth as a tutoring session with Junior-boy trying to learn stick-shift in a '67 Volkswagen Bug. Ok, it wasn't that bad, but comparatively speaking, the Top of Waikiki's ride is like a 747 in First-Class, with zero turbulence and a giant feather-down pillow.
The two hours we took to dine is probably average for us, as we like to take it slow and enjoy panoramic shots of both mountain and ocean for as long as possible. Here's a daytime shot of the restaurant, atop the Waikiki Business Plaza - looks a little aged, but that's only from the outside. I don't blame them, though. They'd need the Cirque de Soleil dancers to renovate the outside of this place...
The unique design of the restaurant is one of the biggest draws here. Imagine three concentric circle platforms, the bottom ring being the lowest, the second a bit higher, and the third and uppermost tier, higher yet. Each level has just enough room for single tables of two to six people all the way around while giant picture windows form the perimeter of almost the entire restaurant, both features combining for amazingly unobstructed views from every seat in the house. Whether looking deep into Manoa Valley, East to Diamond Head and Koko Crater, West to Pearl Harbor and beyond, or across Kalakaua Ave. to beautiful Waikiki Beach, the constantly-changing scenery will always leave you breathless.
Pictured is a view from the entrance, and the stepping-off point where the host or hostess always warns about going from a fixed building to the circular, rotating structure of the dining area. As you can see from the pic, both right and left sides are in focus, while the rest is not, due to the motion of the restaurant. Pretty cool, ey? Guys, guys - is this not the perfect first-date spot, or what?
Did I bring wifey there on our first date, you ask? Well, actually - not. Romantic guy that I am, it was Dave & Buster's, instead! Worse yet, we saw a movie right before that! I don't know what's the big deal about not going to a movie on the first night, anyway - it's only an hour-and-a-half, and there's always dinner afterwards to get to know eachother better, which could possibly take the rest of the evening, which it did, in our case. Sometimes, instead of the whole nervous, uncomfortable, scripted routine, you just gotta let your hair down and have fun, and a movie along with carnival-style games is just the ticket to do so, no? Besides, we started off pretty casual, anyway, just as surf friends. But you should have seen her in her tight, stylish jeans that night - my, my! She could have been lifted right off a New York runway. Even today, walking around with her, people still think she's putting up with an agent or a photographer on a photo shoot or something. "That guy? No, no, no...?"
But as always, I'm off on a tangent again. Here's a shot to get us back on track...
It seems everything here has character, from the menu design to the atmosphere to the dishes, as well as everything in-between. One thing I always look forward to at this place is the bread and butter. While their bread choices have been different over time, this creamy mix has held true, coming infused with bits of sweet mango and date - I love it! I don't know what else they use, but it's hard for me to believe the addition of these two fruits alone could make such a huge difference in taste! A winner every time.
One dish wifey and I always gotta have is the Spicy tuna and Kona Kampachi sashimi. One of the prettiest appetizer spreads anywhere, it comes layered in beautiful tones of bright red and opaque pink; topped with Kahuku Sea Asparagus, sweet sour fennel, Maui onion, and local citrus; drizzled with wasabi-avocado citronette and sesame oil; and sprinkled with Hawaiian salt and Japanese togarashi chili pepper. The strong, nutty taste of sesame oil and small, but coarse grinds of Hawaiian salt are the perfect seasoning to this dish, pleasantly different from either the standard shoyu/wasabi of sashimi or the strong citrus of ceviche. The fish is always as fresh as any top sushi house, and as far as presentation goes, it doesn't get any better.
The next appetizer was a seared Day Boat scallop with braised Pancetta and Hawaiian breadfruit puree. The only disappointing aspect of this dish was the portions, as it came with only a single scallop, albeit a large one. Nonetheless, I quickly sliced this guy up into three pieces, exposing a beautiful, perfectly-cooked, still soft and succulent scallop that we all enjoyed very much. I could have cared less about either the breadfruit puree, miso vinaigrette, or salsa that was used to spice this dish up, as I didn't notice anything but the elegant, clean taste of scallop and a once-in-a-while addition of smoky pancetta. I guess this fact reflects the essence of what sauces are really for, though, and that is, to accentuate the natural flavors of the main items, yes? I'm sure the dish wouldn't have tasted nearly as good without them, despite not getting much credit in my description!
The first entree to arrive was my Chef's choice shrimp and grits. Another beautiful dish, it came with generous portions of giant-sized, ancho cardamom rubbed, seared Mexican shrimp, all teepee'd around a mound of grits. I gotta admit, I kinda thought the grits would be fusioned-out and kicked-up to the point where it no longer tasted like a traditional serving of this world-wide staple. It's just that I lived in Kenya for a total of about 4 months, and I never did like the taste of this cornmeal dish, called maize, while there. Of course, it was the best grits I've ever had, probably from the use of butter and other ingredients, and much better than the maize we ate with our fingers out of large buckets in Africa, but still carried the same basic taste of cornmeal. Not that you wouldn't like it, however, as insulting this dish in other parts of the world would be like insulting rice while in Hawaii!
It also came with carmelized plantains, an escabeche of vegetables marinated in basil oil, and a light, lemongrass-infused curry gravy. Despite my lack of enthusiasm for maize, I did finish over half of it, as it provided a starch for the shrimp that was actually fine by me in smaller portions.
Wifey's order was also interesting, combining a tea-smoked duck feature normally found in Chinese restaurants with a French L'orange sauce and au jus. The organic, free-range, Long Island duck was fabulous in itself, tender and rife with all the fatty goodness you expect from this bird. As great as it was, I found the corn crepe it came sitting on as the most unique aspect of this dish. It was filled with mesculin greens, the bold taste of prosciutto, and mascarpone, which is a super-rich, triple-cream cheese that almost tasted like a concentrated mozzarella. It was accentuated by a blackberry balsamic syrup, while the whole plate was topped with a tower of crispy, deep-fried sweet potato. I must say, this ranks right up there as one of the most interesting, creative, and tasty duck dishes I've had anywhere.
As for birthday-girl, she had one of her favorites, a straight-on, whole, steamed lobster. I'd guess that this is the only dish here that doesn't have some kind of fancy twist to it, except for the fact that it came so bright-red and shiny that it seemed polished up with car wax! Actually, it was probably just brushed with some oil for a little more visual appeal and moxy. Fine by mom, as this pretty crustacean was an impressive show-stopper, indeed, coming with separate plates of polenta and various steamed vegetables, and also sauces of drawn butter and ponzu. It used to drive me crazy that almost everyone in Japan eats lobster or crab with ponzu, not butter, but now, I'm growing to like it more and more - a combination of both also works really well, too.
We all enjoyed the large chunks of firm, sweet flesh, but one of the great mysteries in the dining world, to me, is how I can never get a simple, steamed lobster tail better than at the Outback Steakhouse in Hawaii Kai, no matter how expensive. I've had lobster everywhere, in the most upscale of places, and no one does it quite as tender and perfectly cooked, which is the defining criteria of lobster, as they do! I have no idea why, but it just is, so I thought I'd let you know. But then again, only an opinion, is all...
However, like I said, this was a great lobster, and the other dishes ordered on this night, as well as on several different occasions earlier, have never ceased to impress me. Chef Sean Priester's menu is, to me, unique among finer restaurants in Hawaii, as his use of ingredients and styles from parts of the world not regularly seen here does give his dishes a subtle solidarity, distinguishing himself in ways not seen elsewhere in the islands. If you ever do get to try this place, I think you'll find his use of ingredients and flavors like a tour around the world, and a bold stroke of fusion genius that is very original, indeed. Don't think for one moment that the dining room on giant ball-bearings and sweeping vantage points are the only unique aspects of this restaurant!
As the evening dwindled down, and we were all full and satisfied after such a great meal, we took a few last views of the beautiful Waikiki lights surrounding us, and began our trip back to the real world. It can be quite surreal and other-worldly up there, like some kind of futuristic space ship hovering quietly over the buildings, caught up in an aura of style and an atmosphere of fine dining. Aaah, the good life! Why can't we do this every night?
Hope you're enjoying some great meals, as well, if even vicariously, at least!
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