Chef Mavro Restaurant
New Autumn Menu  

...Wagyu Beef with a dot of yuzu kosho, oxtail loco moco and golden pototo mochi.
Chef Mavro's fall Wagyu Loco Moco dish

  

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View our flexible Autumn menus
(also in Japanese now; Korean soon)

 

Greetings!   

 

What I love the most about Autumn is the softness of the season after  the aggressive flavors of Spring & Summer. Just like the weather caresses my skin, Autumn flavors caress my palate.

 

OMG that's it, I'm in my Autumn mood!

 

Let me put my "�tats d'�me" on the side and let's talk about what is going on about our new seasonal menu.  I swear I'm done with any poetic feeling!

 

One of the "new babies" that I am the most proud about is my potato mochi.

 

A few years ago I was in a restaurant in Kyoto having a traditional kaiseki.  I had a sort of pur�e on top of one of my dishes that looked like a soft mochi but obviously was not rice.  Nobody on my table could identify this delicious ingredient.  We asked our server (who wore a beautiful geisha-like dress) and found out that it was not rice but potato...

 

I rarely use potato in my dishes. I like potatoes but not at the point to incorporate them systematically in my recipes.  Also what do you want to do with potato that has not be already done one million times.  It took me a few years and a few hundred pounds of pounding potatoes & arm cramps to find an acceptable way to do it. 

 

And here you go! 

 


Wagyu - Japonais, wagyu striploin, mochi potato.  This new dish is mostly from Japanese inspiration & my memories of Japan. 

 

I love Japanese cuisine!  For me Japanese cooks are as crazy as we are in France.  No short cuts, using the best and freshest ingredients available.  In both countries, cooking is more than a job, it's a religion! 

 

We accompany the wagyu with small oxtail patties topped with a sunny side up quail egg.  This is our version of loco moco!  Delicious.

 

We stay in Japan with the sansho jus and accent the wagyu with a few dots of yuzu kosho. Yuzu koshu is by far my favorite Japanese condiment ( a yuzu, green chili & sea salt preserve). The first time I had yuzu kosho I cried!  Not because it was too hot but just because it's not every day that you discover such an intense & beautiful flavor!

 

Then I asked our sommelier Doug Johnson to try the dish in order to pre-select at least five wines for the wine pairing committee.  Doug was close to either quit or commit suicide.  I was happy that the wine selection was his problem & not mine. 

 

Doug did it again!  Out of 5 wines only one was really working...but what a pairing!  The very American red zinfandel, Lytton Springs Estate Zinfandel from Ridge Vineyard. 

 

I hope that you are going to share my excitement about our new beef.


Grand Tasting Menu
 

Of course the wagyu is one of the thirteen dishes on our Grand Degustation menu.

 

We have been featuring the Grand Degustation menu since a few years ago. Everything started when some of our guests wanted to try every dish on the menu. So we were serving all our recipes in small size, like a kaiseki, with thirteen wine pairings. 

 

One evening I sat down in the dining room with my wife to make sure that this was not too much to eat & too much to drink... 

 

Not at all, we had so much fun that we decided to feature the experience on the menu. The Grand Degustation has become one of our most popular menus!  I really think that this might be the best way to dine in our restaurant!


 

Sumida Watercress - Ho'i'o

sumida farm watercress salad, big island fiddlehead fern & heart of palm

maitake mushroom, island cherry tomatoes, purple onion, chervil, madras curry vinaigrette 

fiddlehead cellars, 2011 sauvignon blanc, santa ynez valley

"hints of citrus, passion fruit & ripe peaches; restrained & elegant"

Chef Mavro's Fall Watercress Fiddlehead Fern

 

Did I already tell you that since I am in Honolulu there is no seasonal menu without a recipe with Sumida watercress?  This is the most sustainable & certainly the best product from our local farmers. Sumida farm has the best "terroir" for watercress.  Watercress needs a lot of water, there are at least seven natural springs in the property. Watercress needs a lot of sun, there is no mountain close to the farm to block the clouds, so a maximum of sun.  Watercress needs a lot of "savoir faire."  The Sumidas are doing watercress & only watercress, in Aiea since three generations.  

Talking about "farm to table?"This is "forest to table." The watercress salad includes ho'i'o, fiddlehead fern shoot and heart of palm from our Big Island friends at Wailea Ag Group, and maitake mushroom seasoned with a curry vinaigrette.  In fact we start doing a traditional madras curry with mustard oil, shallot, garlic, vegetable stock.Then we use the curry to flavor the sherry vinaigrette. Great with the ho'i'o & the heart of palm!

Who said that we are selecting only old world wines? 

We voted for the 2011 Santa Ynez Sauvignon Blanc from Fiddlehead Cellars.  Fiddlehead with Fiddlehead I guess but we have only one rule, the best pairing!  No countries, no friends only the best pairing...


26 seconds of the sounds and sights at Sumida Farm, Aiea, Oahu
Chef Mavro visits Sumida Watercress Farm
Listen to the fresh spring water nourishing the Sumida watercress. We know where our food comes from!

Working on the new Keahole Lobster - Espelette with Sous Chef Mickey Murakami. Also Pantry Cook Philip Amarillo in a rare moment of calm! The Keahole lobster is roasted and accented with lemongrass. Add a fricass�e of island avocado, kahuku sweet corn, purple basil, serano ham ribbons,crustacean sphere flavored with espelette, lobster jus.
Refining the avocado and Kahuku sweet corn with the new Keahole Lobster.  

Some friends from the summer menu stay with us!

Day Boat Catch - Proven�ale raϊto sauce, fish chicharron 

Catch Raito
  
      

I want to keep enough room for dessert. Elizabeth Dippong's new creations are astonishing. You know that I am only as good as my cooks are good. I am a lucky man. My pastry chef is outstanding!  

We tasted our way through Frankie & Lynn Sekiya's fruit farm recently.  

  

Elizabeth Dippong and lilikoi in Waimanalo at Frankie's Nursery

The challenge for the pastries in our restaurant is to fit the style of our other dishes. On our menu there are no such things as desserts that are made in advance like heavy cakes, pies, mousses and cr�me brul�es. Like everything else in the kitchen, our desserts are made � la minute (made when you order) using local ingredients & local flavors.
 

Elizabeth's lilikoi "creamsicle" is brilliant.  Hawaiian vanilla & coconut milk are the main flavors which accommodate the lilikoi (passion fruit), beautiful balance.  

 

The dessert is married with a Moscato d'Asti La Spinetta.  This refreshing wine with floral & orange overtones and pear aroma makes the creamsicle even creamer & the lilikoi even more citrusy.

Lilikoi Creamsicle
 

Don't miss, also from Elizabeth, the Madre Chocolate Cremeux  accented with black sesame & butterscotch caramel sauce...Ymmm!

 

Find me on Facebook and Twitter where I'll post more photos very soon including: Lobster - Espelette, lemongrass with local avocado & Kahuku corn fricass�e; and the saut�ed Foie Gras with jicama & fig poached in dessert wine...

 

Please check the whole Autumn Menu www.chefmavro.com.  We start tonight Tuesday, October 1st.  I'll see you here, you know were to find me, cooking on the line!  

 

Time flies when we are having fun!

 

Aloha,

George Mavro 

Chocolate - Black Sesame by Pastry Chef Elizabeth Dippong

 Chocolate - Black Sesame

madre chocolate cremeux, black sesame seed caramelized rice,

orange meringue, hazelnut drag�es, butterscotch crisp & sauce

broadbent, 10 year malmsey madeira, portugal

"light & elegant with hints of toffee & mandarin orange, balanced & smooth"

 

 
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