Another food star brightens Waikiki
BLT Steak, Trump International Hotel / A month after Jean-Georges Vongerichten opened Kauai Grill at the St. Regis Princeville, another Frenchman-in-New York plants his empire-building flag at the new Trump International Hotel Waikiki Beach Walk. Just around the corner from fellow global dominator Nobu Waikiki, BLT Steak is the Hawaii outpost of the BLT haute chain of Laurent Tourondel, a one-time French Navy chef who like so many chefs from around the world reinvented himself in Manhattan. He made his name in the ’90s with exquisitely wrought seafood orchestrations, showcasing classic French skills, at his restaurant Cello. But Cello was the food equivalent of The Hurt Locker–acclaimed by critics, but overlooked by the mainstream for lesser, flashier competitors–and closed. He came back and won over the public–and the critics–with his BLT (Bistro Laurent Tourondel) restaurants, starting with BLT Steak in 2004, melding his talents with what the people want, which apparently is a steakhouse. (The lineup now also includes BLT Fish, BLT Burger, BLT Market, BLT Prime.) As all chefs of a certain echelon do these days, Tourondel got ahold of our signature local ingredients–Nalo Farms greens, Maui onion, Kamuela tomatoes and fish–and did his thing with them. Moi is cooked Grenobloise style (brown butter-caper-lemon), for example. Holding down the fort is chef de cuisine Johan Svensson who has an equally exciting resume, having cooked under Marcus Samuelsson at Aquavit and Geoffrey Zakarian at Town (the New York original). But this week Tourondel himself is in town through Jan. 22. Book a table if you can.
BLT Steak, Trump International Hotel Waikiki Beach Walk, 223 Saratoga Road, 683-7440. Open Sun–Thu 5:30–10pm, Fri–Sat 5:30–11pm.
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