Just announced: Gayot’s highly antic­i­pated Top 40 Restau­rants in the U.S. Chef Mavro as the only Hawaii restau­rant to make the list along with other top names inlud­ing The French Laun­dry, Jean Georges, Per Se, Alinea, and others.

http://www.gayot.com/best-restaurants/finestrestaurantsusa.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/dining/27pari.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th Inter­est­ing story in the NY Times about La Tour d’Argent & Taillevent Restau­rants.   With all the respect I have for this two insti­tu­tions, per­fect clas­sic food exe­cu­tion, per­fect ser­vice, per­fect wine list.  I want the pub­lic to know that nobody  else cooks like that in France any­more, nobody serves like that and only some priv­i­leged cus­tomers drink this kind of wine (at least in a restau­rant).   Some asso­ciate French cui­sine with “too heavy, too expen­sive too pompous.”  La Tour d’Argent & Taillevent have been for too long syn­ony­mous with French cui­sine and this is not nec­es­sar­ily a plus.   Also for decades now gourmet restau­rants are owned by chefs (the con­trary of  La Tour d’Argent & Taillevent).  Keep these two insti­tu­tions as the “last bas­tions of Cui­sine Temples” and enjoy the cre­ativ­ity and the spon­tane­ity of the French new gen­er­a­tion of restau­rants.  G. Mavro

Chef Mavro restau­rant is so roman­tic that the cel­e­bra­tion goes on for four days! On Feb­ru­ary 12, 13 and then 15, you can choose from a four-course ($78) or a 6-course ($120) menu, each very flex­i­ble. From the com­fort­able ambiance, to deli­cious food & wine, to friendly expert ser­vice, this is a restau­rant designed for cou­ples. In fact, when Chef Mavro cre­ated the restau­rant, he asked star inte­rior designer Mary Philpotts to “make women look even more beau­ti­ful!” Soft light­ing, peach tones and a relaxed vibe cre­ate an atmos­phere that invites con­ver­sa­tion and of course romance!

The 3-course menu ($69)  is back on Chef Mavro’s new Win­ter Menu!  http://www.chefmavro.com/menu_english.html

New recipes and wine pair­ings include:

COLORADO LAMB
roasted lamb loin, “vadou­van” of lentils with lamb bacon
con­fit cherry tomato and gar­lic, win­ter savory lamb jus
TINTO PESQUERA, 2006 CRIANZA RIBERA DEL DOURO GRAND CRU, SPAIN
“black cherry, blue­berry, brown spice, earth and vanilla”

more details to come…