Yes...Holuakoa, Again

Another Holuakoa Dining Experience

The afternoon rains had stopped.  The sun had drifted below the cloud line and its golden rays spread through the palm fronds.  The air had a clean, crisp scent.  It was a warm, very delightful al fresco evening.

I was seated at my usual table in the corner, just below the kitchen entrance.  Two lovely women along with a quite cute and quite precocious young lady joined me on this evening.  It was a very nice table.

We had agreed to dine family style, so each serving was placed in the middle of the table.  We were given smaller plates for our portions.  We accompanied this with a nice bottle of Pinot Noir (sorry, forgot the vintage) and a fruit drink for the young lady.  Our first serving was a quite large cask of White Carrot Soup with a piece of Bruschetta for each of us.  The soup was quite rich and very smooth.

Our second serving was a bed of Parmesan Risotto topped with sautéed Turnip Greens.  On top of that was a seared Pork Belly Confit topped with a Sweet Red Onion Jam.  The serving was drizzled with a Red Wine Reduction Sauce.  This was quite a combination of textures and tastes.  There is not one thing in this serving that I do not love and the combination of them all just makes me want to plant my face in the dish.

After we’d each been served our portion (I did not allow myself to serve, less I would have taken more than my share) we buffered this course with a large plate of Mixed Olives and Alae Red Sea Salt Crostini.

There was, fortunately, a brief lull, as our waiter, Jonathan, allowed us a bit of time to chat and steel ourselves for the main course.  All of the main course items were delivered at the same time.  The table was full of food.  We had a Hawaiian Pumpkin, Baby Beet and Vegetable Risotto dressed with Fresh Field Greens (rich, smooth, nicely spiced).  Also, we had a Pulled Pork Leg of Pork on a bed of freshly made Tagliatelle, dressed with steamed Rainbow Carrots and Sugar Snap Peas, crisply fried Summer Squash, roasted Heirloom Turnips and freshly diced Baby Tomatoes.  All of this was drizzled with that delicious Red Wine Reduction Sauce (each portion was al dente, with the pork being especially tasty, although the pasta was perfectly done…fresh pasta is so good!).  Lastly but not the least, we had Handmade Potato Gnoochi garnished with Hamakua Mushrooms, crisply fried Hawaiian Pumpkin and Summer Squash chunks, fresh Baby Tomatoes and, of course, Sugar Snap Peas.  This portion was bather in a lovely Sherry and Parmesan Cream Sauce.  Actually, while the pork was the hit of the evening, the cream sauce on the Gnoochi was everyone’s favorite.

As a brief aside, when a local restaurant serves fresh from the local farm food, it is easy to tell what the farmers are harvesting.  In the case of this dinner it must’ve been snap peas, squash, pumpkin, baby tomatoes and carrots.  What a delicious harvest and what a wonderful combination of ingredients.

Yes, we were all pleasantly satisfied.  Therefore, there must be room for, at least, some dessert.  On this evening, as is my usual pattern, we shared a lovely Flourless Chocolate Tarte topped with fresh Whipping Cream.

The evening had been grand.  The conversation was lively, the wine was excellent and the food was, well, outstanding.  We soon took our hugs and were on our way to rest and rise to dine another day.