Sample the Culinary Show at The Chef’s Table at Kaʻana Kitchen

At Kaʻana Kitchen’s expo line—a kind of traffic control center between the kitchen and dining area—“it’s controlled chaos,” Chance Sevelle says as he plates a dish.

The executive sous chef has been on the resort’s culinary team since the Andaz Maui by Hyatt opened in Wailea in 2013, and like him, many on the restaurant’s staff have been working here for years. They move like a family, cracking jokes as they prepare ingredients, plate dishes and call out orders, and that warm energy flows freely from the open-air kitchen into the dining space.

On select evenings, Kaʻana Kitchen hosts its Chef’s Table experience, a thoughtfully crafted six-course menu of inventive dishes featuring local ingredients. Diners are seated at the center of the dynamic kitchen, where they can chat with the chefs and cooks between courses. Each plate is creative and flavorful and can be paired with wine. And if you’re not sure which wine to order, the restaurant’s sommelier can help with that.

And tonight, sitting next to my friend in the center of the kitchen, I watch every dish that goes by and I think to myself, “That looks delicious!”

We start with one of the restaurant’s standout dishes, a compressed watermelon cube garnished with feta from Hawaiʻi Island, candied walnuts, arugula and li hing—the sweetness of the watermelon complemented by the tang of the feta and the sour punch of li hing. The candied walnuts add a pleasant crunch, and the arugula’s slight bitterness balances the whole dish.

Between courses, we enjoy a celery sorbet topped with caviar, which serves as a palate cleanser, resetting our taste buds for what comes next. And that includes seared scallops with gnocchi, ʻahi tataki with burrata, and wagyu strip loin with soy-braised potatoes.

To end the evening, we indulge in a coconut ice cream sundae: a scoop of coconut ice cream and coconut cake topped with macadamia nuts and drizzled with chocolate sauce.

The experience unfolds over 2 ½ hours, with each course thoughtfully spaced throughout the evening. And by the end, we agree, we’re neither hungry nor stuffed, but simply satisfied.

For more information about the Chef’s Table at Kaʻana Kitchen and to make a reservation, visit kaanakitchen.com.

Grace Maeda is the editor of HAWAIʻI Magazine.