Friday, December 14, 7:00 P.M.
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If you think all of Hawaii is aloha shirts and continental cuisine, or that the epitome of restaurant design there is the cantilevered umbrella at the poolside cafe, then you haven’t met James McDonald. Chef/co-owner of pacific’O and i’o, McDonald fancies himself a rebel of sorts: he’s a skinny chef who can cook as well as the big boys; he dons periwinkle blue chef jackets instead of ho-hum white; and although he considers himself successful, young, and good-looking, in a Salvador Dali kind of way, he knows it’s the quality of the food that secures him a place in Hawaii’s pantheon of best chefs.

That food, by the way, is every bit as cocky and bold as the chef himself. And whether or not you find his looks to your taste, there is no detracting from his beautiful food presentations and delicious flavors. Just ask the tens of thousands of Travel & Leisure readers who last year picked Maui as their favorite island in the world, and i’o as their “restaurant of choice” on that island. Or Janice Wald Henderson of Bon Appétit, who noted that pacific’O offers a rare combination on Maui: “a good restaurant with a good view.”

Both i’o and pacific’O share picture-postcard views of three islands—Lanai, Molokai, and Kahoolawa. In this stunning setting, McDonald has also located one of his featured attractions, The Feast of Lele, rated “Best Luau” by Travel & Leisure. What distinguishes the luau is that food is an integral part of the performance: each of the four acts is coordinated with a tasting menu of traditional dishes such as fafa (steamed chicken and taro leaf in coconut milk) and eiota (raw fish). It’s this same luau feast, without the palm trees and white-sand beaches, of course, that McDonald will be re-creating at the Beard House.

McDonald is a Philadelphia native, but he has called Hawaii home since 1980. A graduate of Maui Community College’s Food Service Program, he has worked at the Ritz-Carlton and Westin hotels and at the five-star Grand Hotel Quellenhof in Bad Ragaz, Switzerland. His restaurants have received Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence several times, and in 1998, McDonald was voted Best Maui Chef by The Maui News.