Simply MAVROlous! Our 10th Anniversary Dinner

So for our 10th Anniversary Val and I decided to really eat well. We checked out all the places here in Hawaii and Found Chef Mavro's. This restaurant was named to Fodor's top 10 restaurants in the world in 2006 and to Gayot's top 40. So we made our reservations (way in advance) got all gussied up and went. The restaurant was great although in a seedy location. What can you do. The interior is fine and you can almost not hear the police cars outside. Our  head waiter (we had a team of waiters actually) reminded me of John Locke on LOST. But that's all sillyness. One caveat before we continue. I was gonna take a bunch of pictures but it became evident as soon as we sat down that this was not the place to act that way. So I chickened out. All these pics are stock photos or images from the web. Sorry for being a wuss. Anyway, let's get to the food.

First thing we got was our Amuse Buche. The idea is to give your taste buds a jump start before the real food comes out. I expected it to be sweet but it wasn't. I think our waiter said it had coconut, curry and some sort of grass in it with tapioca for texture. Really tasty but odd. 

1st course: Valerie got the Foie Gras (above) with yellow and red baby beets and other fancy stuff. I was really excited about this but very nervous. Not real big on liver, but foie gras is famous right? Well it was pretty yummy. Extremely tender with a good flavor. The beets were a great addition. My dish was better. Escabeche of Diver Scallops (below). I only understand the last part of that name but it was my second favorite course. That green stuff that the scallops is sitting in is amazing and the scallops just melted in my mouth. I would have like 4 more courses of scallops!

2nd course (Fish Time): I don't really like fish. But this is really expensive fish so it had to be good! Valerie got the Confit Hamachi in Olive Oil Leek Emulsion. Sorry I can't find a picture. Her fish was pretty good but the leek puree that it was in was fantastic. I had the Day Boat Catch Marseillaise in rock fish soup with safron and aioli sauce. My fish was better and the safron sauce was tasty but not as good as the leek puree. So our dishes tied.

3rd course (I wish Pinchy were here to share this!) We both got Keahole Lobster A La Coque (above). I think that means Lobster on Sweet Corn even though there doesn't seem to be any corn in this photo. Well it was there on ours. This was Val's favorite dish. My third favorite. It was really really good! For reals! Next time you cook lobster put it on top of sweet corn.

4th course (manly meat): Val ordered the Roasted Mountain Meadow Lamb Loin (above). She ordered it medium but it came out so rare I thought she wouldn't dare. But she ate it and enjoyed it. I also liked it. There was a yummy curry lemon sauce. Not in my top half but pretty good. I ordered the Filet Mignon and Corned Short Rib (below). This was my favorite course. Both selections of beef were fantastic but the filet was the most amazing piece of food I have ever consumed. I have no idea what that dark sauce was but I wanted to marry it. And the beef was so tender that when it looked at my approaching knife it just split on it's own. Good gadget it was good! My course definitely won. After this course they brought us some sorbet to cleanse our pallet. 

5th course (first dessert): On the waiter's recommendation we both got the Mousse of Brie De Meaux (Below). It was pretty tasty. The Brie was almost too bitter but the mango short bread it was on balanced it out nicely.

6th course (second dessert): Val ordered the Bitter Chocolate Bar in Avocado Sauce with Vanilla Sorbet. OK I hate avocados but this was a fantastic balancing taste to the dark chocolate. Pretty good. I ordered the Lilikoi Malasadas (below). Malasadas are a Hawaiian dessert like donught holes but better. Very tasty and very moist. Also came with pineapple coconut ice cream! Both melted in my mouth. Our dishes tied on this one.

After our desserts they gave us this plate of chocolates(below) and truffles (not pictured) I love truffles so no complaints from me.

They asked if we were celebrating anything and I told them it was our 10th Anniversary. They made this dessert (below) for us as a final treat. I thought it was really cool. Tasted pretty good too.

One of the cool things is that we saw Chef Mavrothalassitis come in and out of the kitchen several times. It felt like being at a movie and seeing the star walk up and down the aisles. I know that sounds silly but it was true. This guy had been so decorated and celebrated that it gave me goosebumps to see him. Not to mention the relief that he was actually in the kitchen that night.

So we had a great time though it cost us a bit. I won't say how much but it was more than $20 and less than $239 before tip. I know all the portions look small (they are) but six courses later and we were stuffed. We planned this as a once in a lifetime meal but now we think that we will make it a tradition to use a chunk of our Tax Return to eat well on our Anniversary. We think next year we will go to Alan Wong's (the other highly celebrated chef here in Oahu) but since Chef Mavro changes his menu on a regular basis we might just go back. Anyway, best meal of my life. If any of you ever come out here and want one really good meal we highly recommend Chef Mavro's.