The Honolulu chapters of Chaines des Rotisseurs, an eating society that traces way back to 1248, has an annual gala dinner during the holiday season at the Halekulani Hotel. I initially missed sending my confirmation because I was on a trip, but Kathryn Nicholson was an angel and found a vacancy. I decided to stay at the Waikiki Sheraton to shore up my platinum status, starting with a free beach drink:
My room is a rather large suite with a spectacular view:
To the bottom left is another kind of view:
The Sheraton provided a nice welcome gift:
A bottle of Sheraton chardonnay, macadamia nut shortbread cookies, Asahi beer and Kirin beer.
I dressed into my tux with red trimmings, but still had an hour, so went up to the Leahi Club for a glass of wine:
This is the best view of any Sheraton executive club.
Then on to the Halekulani for the traditional ceremonies, led by Bruce Liebert in the middle:
We started with a NV Chartogne-Taillet Brut Cuvee Sainte Anne Merfy Champagne with assorted hors d'oeuvres. The first course was cured duck on rare foie gras and persimmons, with a 2010 Domaine de l'Alliance Sauternes:
This was probably the highlight dish of the night. The second course was lobster, caviar and truffle on grits, with 2008 Au Bon Climat Chardonnay Nuits Blanches.
I scraped off the gold, caviar and truffles to taste, because I'm allergic to crustaceans The next course was a white fish, legine austral and orange carrot essence, with a 2011 Meyer-Fonne Gewürztraminer Dorfburg Vielles Vignes. Okay.
The real loser was the prime strip loin with braised mushrooms and bordelaise sauce, plus a 2008 Col Solare red wine.
First, our whole table wondered about the extreme rare quality, and a couple sent it back for frying. There was only a butter knife, so cutting the beef was a problem. After you somehow got it into an edible piece, it was too tough. I can't believe the Halekulani allows this!
Dessert and mignardises:
There was a sense that the quality of this feast was inferior. Sitting to my left were Qi and John:
Then on to the Halekulani for the traditional ceremonies, led by Bruce Liebert in the middle:
We started with a NV Chartogne-Taillet Brut Cuvee Sainte Anne Merfy Champagne with assorted hors d'oeuvres. The first course was cured duck on rare foie gras and persimmons, with a 2010 Domaine de l'Alliance Sauternes:
This was probably the highlight dish of the night. The second course was lobster, caviar and truffle on grits, with 2008 Au Bon Climat Chardonnay Nuits Blanches.
I scraped off the gold, caviar and truffles to taste, because I'm allergic to crustaceans The next course was a white fish, legine austral and orange carrot essence, with a 2011 Meyer-Fonne Gewürztraminer Dorfburg Vielles Vignes. Okay.
The real loser was the prime strip loin with braised mushrooms and bordelaise sauce, plus a 2008 Col Solare red wine.
First, our whole table wondered about the extreme rare quality, and a couple sent it back for frying. There was only a butter knife, so cutting the beef was a problem. After you somehow got it into an edible piece, it was too tough. I can't believe the Halekulani allows this!
Dessert and mignardises:
There was a sense that the quality of this feast was inferior. Sitting to my left were Qi and John:
To my right, Donna, JN and Linda (right to left):
Cathy Foy (former Miss Hawaii) entertained:
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