Father's Day Dinner was at the Ocean House Restaurant at the Outrigger Reef. It's a great location, right on the beach, such that if you had a patio table, you could probably get a view of the sunset, but for everyone standing in front of you, taking a picture. We were inside, though, on the ewa end of the dining room, which has a slightly raised seating area. There's no air conditioning and not much of a breeze, and with dinner at 5:30 it was a bit warm. So unless you're in full tourist mode and going for mai tais on the patio, I think after sunset is a better bet. Food ranged from "okay" to "pretty good." I will, however, give props to the manager, David, (a friend of Ms. D's), and his servers, who were suitably attentive: there when they needed to be, but no more. So on to some food!
For appetizers we tried the "Escargot in Puff Pastry - sauteed in garlic butter, mushrooms, and melted brie cheese." ($10) I like that the escargot were tender and not overdone. The addition of the brie to the garlic butter made for an extremely rich sauce. I ended up eating most of this, which I think filled me up a bit too much, too early.
And let's quibble a little, it's not really "in" puff pastry, so much as "with" puff pastry, the little roll-shaped piece on top, the flat piece underneath all the sauce (which I totally ate!).
My "Maui Onion and Tomato Salad - Mesclun Greens, Gorgonzola Cheese, balsamic vinaigrette." ($7) I really liked this as a second course, since the various acids cut the fat from the escargot. The onions were sweet, and I like the asymmetric plating, with the tomatoes sliced and fanned on one side, drizzled with the vinaigrette. Actually, the plating was very nice throughout.
Like this dish. My sister, Carolyn, ordered the "Wedge Salad," but with everything on the side. But if you look at this plate, it's obvious that the chef took some time arrange all the elements on the plate. He or she was lucky that it was a wedge salad, because then the lettuce is one big design element. They should sell it like this, as, literally, a "Deconstructed Wedge Salad."
Whole plate's totally cool.
My dad's "Bouillabaisse" - supposedly containing "lobster, clams, mussels, fish, shrimp, and scallops simmered in saffron broth served with garlic toast" ($28). The soup looked pretty hearty, though I'm not sure about the lobster and shrimp.
My "Seafood Lau Lau - Mahi Mahi, shrimp, scallops, luau leaf and Molokai sweet potato, sauteed with garlic, soy, sake, wrapped in ti leaf served with jasmine rice" ($24). At this point, I regret eating so much of the escargot and bread early in the meal, because I think I would have thoroughly enjoyed this. I admit it's odd to not have any red meat in the lau lau, but it's still rich enough. There is a good amount of starch, with the potato (really good!) and the rice, which soaks up all the juice. Nicely presented in a ti leaf. I'll have to pace myself a little better next time, and try it again.
Lau Lau opened up to show the goodies. Might have more of goodies than the Bouillabaisse, haha! And I love luau leaf! Good fun!
Beachfront in the Outrigger Reef Hotel
2161 Kalia Road (at the end of Beachwalk)
Honolulu, HI
Breakfast - Monday thru Sunday -7am to 11am
Dinner Nightly 5pm to 10pm
(808) 923-2277
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