Our dear friend and fellow foodie Bonnie generously hosted 6 of us at Sansei in Kapalua this past Saturday evening for a 9 course "custom" made/designed meal by master chef Ivan Pahk. In every way it was a spectacular meal & wonderful evening.
Ivan is, to my great surprise, an untrained cook. That is to say he never went to a culinary school, he actually learned his craft while in the military. He refined it in the service of a few restaurants in his home town of Honolulu and evolved into a very creative and talented chef while cooking these past 5 years at Sansei, both here and on Oahu.
Saturday's meal, as I understand it, was composed of recipes that Ivan has
created himself and essentially none -the way they were served to us, are on the
restaurant's menu�..
Our first course: 1]
Tempura-fried foie gras wrapped in a basil leaf served on a sprinkling of red
shiso sprouts & grape tomatoes, with traditional tentsuyu dipping sauce. What an
awesome start. The long plate had each of the "T" shaped tempuras aligned down
the center with a confetti of micro sprouts and thinly sliced grape tomatoes
decorating our first course. A small slice of foie gras had been wrapped in a
basil leaf, delicately battered and fried to perfection. Compliment that with a
delicate sauce, tentsuyu, (made of dashi -a soup base, mirin -a low-alcohol
sweet rice wine and soy sauce) and our gastronomic adventure was off and
running.
2] Seared lobster sashimi topped with Hawaiian sea salt and Masago in a lime /
cilantro vinaigrette and sprinkled with shisho (red mint sprouts) Our second
course arrived a while later in what looked like little sherbet bowls. While the
lime/cilantro vinaigrette was the perfect compliment to the pan seared lobster
tail it was the course little grains of sea salt that really brought out the
subtle flavors of the lobster. The dish was tossed with an assortment of tasty
sprouts but it was the subtle surprise of a hint of Masago (flying fish roe)
that elevated this course yet another notch beyond sublime.
3] Seared Sea Scallop on a bed of shitake risotto with asparagus, grape
tomatoes, whole roasted garlic cloves & shitake mushrooms with a coffee
reduction sauce drizzled on top. As we enjoyed glass of a delightful Meritage
called Conundrum our next course was served looking like the cover of a gourmet
magazine. A single large sea scallop sat perched on a bed on rich brown risotto.
And what a risotto it was! Painstakingly cooked with shitake mushrooms,
asparagus tips and some more of those fabulous little grape tomatoes this
risotto was good enough to be the main attraction but it had to play a
supporting role to the scallop's lead. This scallop had been seared dark and
almost crispy on the outside but was still light and moist on the inside. There
was a very subtle drizzling of a coffee reduction that would perhaps be lost on
an undiscerning tongue but was appreciated by all at our table as a wonderful,
if subtle, addition to the scallop's performance. The way the flavors melded
between the scallop and the risotto was shear artistry!
4] Salmon Carpaccio on a bed of pickled grape tomatoes with balsamic
vinaigrette. This dish, our 4th, was as delicious as it was simple. Thinly
sliced fresh Atlantic salmon served, not really on a bed, but with a number of
halved grape tomatoes in a great balsamic vinaigrette. It's all about the
balsamic. You can buy balsamics that are OK or you can buy really great, aged
balsamics that are thick and rich and sweet and as fine as a great wine. So when
you take a great piece of salmon, bury a little piece of tomato and a spicy
little sprout in it and roll it around in some of that kind of balsamic, then
you're in for a real taste treat! Simple, delicious, simply delicious!
5] Hazelnut Wahloo served with a citrus sauce and sprinkled with burnt chives.
The real challenge for me in writing this has been trying to not use words like
delicious and perfect over and over again. Well, with this next course I have to
abandon that goal. It isn't possible to talk about this dish without falling
back into using those two words over and over. Fish, cooking fish, is a real
art, it has a very delicate flavor. So many, as pointed out by fellow diner
David, tend to cook a tasty piece of fish then completely bury its subtle
flavors with strong sauces and pungent accessories. Not so here. Master chef
Ivan Pahk, a real artist in every sense of the word, took a spectacular piece of
fish and presented it as a work of art by itself. Wahloo was a fish I think
everyone at the table was unfamiliar with. It is a white
meat fish found in the
South Pacific and is reminiscent of Chilean seabass but with more personality
and flavor. Pahk saut�ed an all-too-small piece of the fish in a very subtle
hazelnut butter. After removing the fish from the pan he added some citrus
juices and tossed in some chives and cooked them down. The sprinkles of the
chives on the top of the fish really had us guessing for a bit, what was it?
Were they little bits of mushroom? Maybe Nori or some other kind of seaweed? It
didn't matter, the fish was PERFECT. A thin slice of lemon topped the Wahloo and
it was the very definition of what fish ought to be. Absolutely moist, light,
delicate and absolutely delicious. It was a show stopper. I could prattle on all
day about this dish but you'll never know what I am talking about until you try
it. It was perfect and delicious.
6] Crispy filet with blue butter on a bed of fingerling potatoes and
Haricotverts. Holy cow, no pun intended, just when you think there's nowhere
left to go another magazine cover shows up! This time it was only I that made a
new discovery. Everyone else at the table has always been a fan of blue cheese.
Not so with me, indeed blue cheese was the stuff of nightmares in my youth. I've
tried as an adult to get to know this fave among gourmets but until last night I
had never really succeeded. Chef Pahk took a nice filet of beef flash deep fried
in cottonseed oil -dark and crispy on the outside and cooked to perfection pink
on the inside. He then sliced the filet, laid the medallions out in a spiral on
an assortment of different fingerling potatoes and topped them with a dollop of
blue cheese butter. That did it for me, the blue cheese, softened and folded
into melted butter with a little crack of fresh black pepper and a few chives
was a spectacular compliment to the beef. Blue cheese is no longer the villain I
always thought it was. I'm not ready for straight blue, all those veins and mold
and all still scare me, but last night, on that steak, mixed down with butter,
on those little fingerling potatoes it was fantastic. I've finally opened the
door to another popular gastronomic treat and I'm more than halfway through
it�..
7] Dungeness crab ramen in a jalape�o based dashi broth. Wow, what a night! Each
of the 6 courses so far have been show stoppers! This last course, well, there's
always dessert, but this last dinner course seems to be designed to bring you
back down to earth. It is another simple serving that is as delicious as it is
basic. Crab Ramen. Is it the broth? Is it the crab? Who cares, it's the whole
bowl� This Chinese-style noodle became such a great favorite in Sapporo, the
capital of Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, that it is now considered to
be their regional dish. Ramen is to Sapporo what baked beans are to Boston. Chef
Pahk has made a jalape�o based dashi broth and added in some delicious ramen
noodles, a nice size lump of Dungeness crab meat and a graceful slice of carrot
and produced a simple soup that isn't as spicy as it is flavorful. The flavors
swirl on the palette and are the perfect ending to an unforgettable dinner.
8] Granny Smith apple tart with a scoop of vanilla ice cream served in a pool of
caramel sauce. OK, so the ramen wasn't the perfect ending, well neither is the
tart, but it is another perfect course. The tart was thin as were the apples
spiraling around its top. Apple pie ala mode didn't get to be a national
treasure just because it looks good and this apple tart / vanilla ice cream
combo didn't hit a home run just because of the apple/vanilla combination. It
hit a home run because that popular combination of flavors was capped -actually
supported by a pool of homemade caramel sauce under it all. Wow!
9] Cr�me Brulee That's it then, we've actually come to the perfect ending. Cr�me Brulee, meaning "burnt cream" in French, is sinfully rich, considered by some to
be the world's perfect dessert, and is Pahk's final masterpiece of the evening.
He made it true to it's original design, not so loaded with vanilla that it
becomes all about the vanilla, not entombed under an impenetrable layer of
caramelized sugar, but light as a good custard should be and with a delicate
crown of golden brown. It was wonderful!
A thousand mahalos to our friend Bonnie for hosting such and unforgettable meal.
A thousand nods to the creative talents of young master chef Ivan Pahk. And a
thousand calories I wouldn't trade for anything! What a spectacular dining
experience. 9 courses left every area of the palette satisfied without popping
the belt open a single notch. I didn't want for a another bite, well maybe one
more bite of every course, but in all probably the best dining experience of my
life!
Ivan Rides Again