Thursday, May 4, 7:00 pm
Members $125, guests $155

It has become almost impossible to eat poorly in Hawaii, where luscious, exotic fruit and produce abound and the surrounding sea is teeming with creatures that are likely, at some point, to end up on your plate. Add to that the dozens of culinary cultures that have assembled on Hawaii’s shores, and the dinner options are almost dizzying. It’s no wonder chefs like James Beard Foundation award winner George Mavrothalassitis settled here and became an early enthusiast of regional Hawaiian cuisine. These days his restaurant, Chef Mavro, is one of Honolulu’s most distinguished restaurants, described by Travel +Leisure as their “culinary Valhalla.”

Mavrothalassitis began his culinary career as owner of Restaurant Mavro in his hometown of Marseilles, a locale that, like Hawaii, is known for its multiethnic food traditions. After owning and operating Restaurant La Presqu’ile in Cassis, Mavrothalassitis moved to Honolulu as executive chef of La Mer at the Halekulani hotel and he soon became known for his simple, but nuanced cuisine. In 1998 he forever changed Honolulu’s dining scene with the opening of Chef Mavro.

“ Honolulu has never had a chef like George Mavrothalassitis,” wrote Gourmet’s Caroline Bates. “His creative cooking and high standards have given the city a dining experience comparable to a three-star restaurant’s in France.” The New York Times’ R.W. Apple agreed, calling Chef Mavro “the top mark in Hawaii.” In 2003 the James Beard Foundation weighed in, awarding Mavrothalassitis the title of Best Chef: Northwest/Hawaii.

In 2004 Chef Mavro welcomed chef de cuisine Kevin Chong, a native of Hawaii whose interest in becoming a chef was sparked by a meal at La Mer during Mavrothalassitis’s tenure. After attending the CIA on the mainland, Chong externed at the famed Le Cirque and eventually worked his way up to sous-chef. He was still in his mid-twenties when he was handpicked to take on the executive chef post of a new Le Cirque restaurant in Mexico City, where he worked for three years. When the opportunity to cook alongside Mavrothalassitis arose, it was just the impetus Chong needed to return home to Hawaii.

Also joining Mavrothalassitis and Chong for this dinner will be pastry sous-chef Hiromi Okura. A graduate of the CIA, Okura moved to Honolulu in 2004 and was a pastry assistant at Chef Mavro before being promoted to pastry sous-chef.