Right Time For Mai Tai
Waikiki Chef Takes Top Prize For Best Concoction
By Hadley Catalano ( Big Island Weekly ) Wednesday, August 26, 2009 12:11 PM HST
The iconic cocktail drink of Hawai'i celebrated it's first festival last weekend, drawing cocktail enthusiasts by the hundreds. The Don the Beachcomber 's Mai Tai Festival debuted the battle for the world's best mai tai event, held at the Royal Kona Resort in Kailua-Kona.The title of best mai tai has been an infamous battle since the days of the drink's conception, a questionable and amicable rivalry between Trader Vic's and Don the Beachcomber, two restaurants that both claim to have invented the rum and pineapple juice drink. "(We) thought of it as a great way to celebrate the most famous drink on the islands," said Liz Bell, director of marketing and business development for Hawaiian Hotels and Resorts,which owns the Royal Kona Resort.The battling began at 10 a.m. on the luau grounds with a Battle of the BBQ, where restaurants put forth their best grill items hoping to wow the crowd and take home the top award. From grilled tenderloin with a lilikoi rum glaze to grilled prawns with a mai tai reduction sauce to BBQ pork sliders with Habanero slaw, guests had plenty of delicious options to sample. Kona Brewery provided beer samples to wash down the barbecue while the votes were tallied. Mike Lamb from Don the Beachcomber won the People's Choice for Best Presentation and Hawai'i Community College's culinary program took home the People's Choice for Taste award.In between battles, vendors were on site around the hotel's porte cochere selling wares. Famous island chef Sam Choy held a cooking demonstration and Jeff "Beachbum" Berry offered a "Who's Your Daddy" mai tai seminar.The main event, the mai tai contest, brought out 30 participants from the mainland and around the Hawaiian Islands. In groups of three, the mixologists concocted their innovative take on the classic beverage, presenting five decoratively and tastefully proportioned drinks for the judges (Joey Gottesman, Sam Choy, Chris Teves, Jeff Berry)."We are judging on presentation, nose, palette and finish," said Berry, the famed tiki and rum expert. "Back in the day the cocktail was the conversation piece, it was about presentation."Many bartenders took the traditional display of the tiki glass garnished with a pineapple and evolved it, like Lea Ulloa from Kawaihae's Harbor Grill and Seafood, who finished in the top five. She served her drink in a hollowed out dragonfruit, smoking with dry ice. Others added their own unique flare, such as Kristina Chai, bartender from Kim's Karaoke Lounge in Hilo. Dubbing her creation Chai's Thai Mai Tai, she mixed her Thai-inspired drink with Supreme rum, floated it with Bacardi and coconut milk, topped it with a special syrup made from mint, Thai basil and ginger and garnished it with a sweet basil sprig."I was really pleasantly surprised with the creative, forward thinking," said Berry. "People have looked down their nose at tiki drinks without seeing the potential complexity and depth. Bartenders are starting to work with rum again and are turning their attention to classic drinks. (Mai tai's are) not just tacky cruise ship drinks, they are culinary cocktails ahead of their time."While the evening was long, giving each contestant ample time to prove themselves, the cash prize of $10,000 was awarded to Jon Matsubara, executive chef from Azure at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki, who said he planned on giving the prize money away to charity.It was the 36-year-old's Smoking Mai Tai that helped him reach the winner's circle."I took Don's traditional drink and evolved it by adding house-made Falerno, an almond-based syrup with clove, ginger, citrus notes, Tahitian limes and Bacardi rum," said Matsubara, who went on the explain how he used a culinary tool called the smoking gun on the concoction to give it an aged rum taste and characteristic flavor. "Then I used a blowtorch on the packed brown sugar around the rim like a brulee."
First Annual Mai Tai Festival
Battle of the BBQ:
People's Choice for Presentation: Mike Lamb of Royal Kona Resort
People's Choice for Taste: West Hawai'i Community College Culinary Institute Mai Tai Mix Off:
People's Choice Award: Garrett Gresham of the Royal Kona Resort
Grand Prize: John Matsubara of the Royal Hawaiian Hotelhttp://unhub.com/mahaloMichael - (Facebook, Twitter, Blog, LinkedIn, Videos)