Four Seasons Fire & Wine: Unforgettable Experiences in FORBES

We are so excited to be included in Forbes Travel for their review of our events with Four Seasons Maui. These exclusive events are unlike anything else you can find on the islands. Here’s what Forbes had to say…

“Yeshua Goodman is a familiar face in the Maui wine scene. An advanced sommelier at Spago Maui at the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, and an island native, Goodman grew up exploring the wilderness of the beaches and forests unique to Maui, developing a close relationship with the unique landscape. He got into the culinary world when he was in California on a college volleyball scholarship.

Wine is not his only love. In 2017, Goodman founded Kiawe Outdoor, an events company centered around cooking over fire. He hunts wild boar and deer locally, and he has access to the island's abundant produce, as well. Every event is a bespoke experience, and the new "Fire & Wine" experience in the Four Seasons Maui's Unforgettable Experiences series catapults all of this over the top, starting with a Blue Hawaiian helicopter ride to Haiku House, a nine-bedroom historic estate property at the edge of the jungle on the island’s North Shore, in a town named for a form of poetry (Haiku).”

For booking contact FOUR SEASONS at 808 874 8000

See more at FORBES

The New Kālua: Barebones and Kiawe Outdoor

Wow. We’ve been in hiding just like everyone else and it feels really good to get a little fire going again. We hope this post finds you well. Maui is a close nit community and it’s been amazing to see the true meaning of Aloha come alive through these trying times. But we are still here and still standing strong. It’s only because we link arms with other strong bodies.

We are so lucky to be supported by incredible people and brands. When we are grinding in the heat and sun to create something awesome, our friends, family, and partners are what we lean on to make it polished and keep us sharp. We are so excited to announce a partnership with the incredible people at BAREBONES.

They are purveyors of some incredible goods. By far our favorite has been the yet-to-be-released Cowboy Grill. It makes open fire cooking in areas that can’t handle the full Kiawe experience really simple. It also allows us to do smaller private cooking experiences without the full kālua cooking with an imu pit.

Our buddy Kainoa lives in Iao Valley, and his property straddles a few hundred yards of Iao River. Having just hunted and dry aged some venison, we thought it would be the perfect spot to break in the new grill. We invited a few friends, lit the fire, and magic happened. Kainoa brought out one of his Monkeypod slabs, we placed in down in the riverbed and went to work on preparing a small feast.  Dry aged venison ham slowly basked in the kiawe smoke. We jumped in the river and cracked some beers while we waited for the smoke to go to work on the salted ham. Bone-in ribeyes, local broccolini, baby heirloom tomatoes, and some homemade venison terrine and cheeses rounded out the menu. We poured some Northern Rhône Syrah and clinked our cups to celebrate breaking bread with friends. As the sunlight began to escape the east facing valley, we threw a few more logs on the fire and realized just how lucky we are to get to bbq in a river in. Hawaii.  Next time, we’re gonna invite some friends to experience it and we’ll put the tables in the river.  Whimsical to say the least. We really wish you could’ve been there to share this meal with us.

Lastly we can’t thank Bailey Roberts enough for coming through to create some stunning imagery of the evening. Check her work HERE. Check out some shots from the evening below. Shout out to YETI and Danner for keeping the food cool and our feet comfy.

Modern Huntsman Feature

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We have been reviewed in some great titles. Forbes has talked about us. Goop ran a great piece covering our event we have exclusively with Four Seasons Maui. But today, we were covered by Modern Huntsman, a quality piece of reading we strongly suggest you check out. It is reshaping how we think about food and our place in the chain of life. We are honored that Tyler, Jens, and the team found us a relevant story to tell.

To be counted amongst the incredible Chefs and stories already being told there is an honor and benchmark for our work here. The story was split into two separate pieces, one profiling Chef Shua and one featuring his incredible Spiny Lobster recipe, a crowd favorite.

We encourage you to sit down and read through the interview. Shua talks about how we focus on eco-system, conservation, and the true spirit of Hawaiian cooking through Kiawe. Our approach to finding resources that do not exhaust but rather augment the spirit of Aloha we try to let flow through everything we do here. While we are writing this during a period where we can’t physically be together, we hope this brings you a little closer to the scent of the breeze in Kula mixing with the coals from our fire. Grab a glass of some good wine and head to their website to read the full articles. We also encourage you to try and make the Spiny Lobster dish yourself!

FEATURE ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND HERE

RECIPE ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND HERE

Summering Sonoma

I pick up the phone and dial my pal in Tasmania. “Sarah, we’re going to Napa.”

“I’m so keen,” she says, “what are the details?”

It’s this spontaneity and sense of adventure that Sarah and I both have that has doused gasoline on the fire that is our friendship. Last year our mutual friend David introduced us and it didn’t take much convincing to get Sarah to Maui and out on the boat catching tuna. All-expense paid trip to Napa to cook up for some legends? No brainer.

The villas that the clients had booked were ridiculous. We spent the first night cooking up stone fired pizzas and grilling wagyu and scallops over fire between some vines on the property that overlooked the Sonoma Valley. We sipped on Bollinger Champagne and got to meet the 20 guests we’d spend the next four days with. Afternoon gave way to dusk in the form of the most incredible sunset with the sun reflecting off the windows of the Financial District skyscrapers of San Francisco. “This is work,” I joked to Sarah. We capped the night off with a little wine education for the group and got them pumped on what the next few days would hold. They’d embark on tours and extravagant lunches and dinners at wineries while we geared up for the grand finale, a Sarah and Kiawe Outdoor feast of fire.  In the meantime, we’d have a little fun of our own.

As a sommelier, I’ve been fortunate to have incredible exposure to some of the best chefs and winemakers in the world. When we came up with the game plan for the four days in Sonoma and Napa I wanted to make sure we took the time between cookups to see a friend and taste some great wine. Harlan Estate was the obvious choice. Tasting some of the first vintages of this wine changed my perception of what Napa Valley wine can be. Most sommeliers start their journey tasting wines of the new world and get seduced by the hedonistic textures and generous fruit of a wine grown in a warmer climate like Napa. But dessert for every meal doesn’t work and I was quickly drawn to the savory, restrained wines of Europe. Wines to pair with food. The savory pepper of a well made Rhone Syrah with kiawe smoked meat will forever be one of my favorite pairings. And then I tasted 91 and 96 Harlan. In my head I created Harlan to be this hedonistic point chasing monster of a wine. Wines like that don’t age gracefully. They die. But the second I stuck my nose into the glass I knew my preconceived notions were wrong. These wines had character. Balance. Volatile acidity. And perfectly aged fruit character. My advice? Know your producers and truly let some great Napa wines age. Way too much infanticide, drinking current release wines.

As anticipated, our time at Harlan with the king of hospitality, Don Weaver did not disappoint. Don told us stories as we sipped Krug Champagne and got a feel for the upcoming vintages of Harlan, tasting out of barrel and some recent releases in bottle. The 2008 was the standout. These wines age so gracefully.

We spent the rest of our downtime hanging out with our families at the villa. We seemed to have an endless supply of wagyu and Cornas and made sure we put it to good use. We swam in the pool and sipped champagne and discussed the upcoming menu. We settled on a game plan to hit up some farms, bakeries, and Hog Island Oyster Company. Little did we know, this would lead to one of the funnest days ever; and to one of the most unsuspecting pairings: mezcal and oysters.

Sarah, her dad Paul (fondly referred to as pop-star), David and I hopped in the jeep and set out for Hog Island. We loaded up the Yeti with oysters and a bottle of sancerre and since they technically weren’t open for business yet, decided we’d pull over on the side of the road and have an oyster breakfast. We remembered we had some mezcal in the jeep and brought it along; just in case we needed it. Little did we know that this was of the most insane pairings ever. A spent oyster shell is pretty much nature’s shot glass and was the perfect vehicle to deliver the smoky agave spirit. “Mezcal makes me crow!” Sarah yelled.  We found ourselves crowing and laughing on a peninsula on the bay. Anyone that passed us must have either thought we were crazy or wondered what was so fun that we were crowing about. 

We hopped in the jeep and stopped a few times to forage wild fennel, blackberries, and mint. Sarah and I both like to create dishes on the fly so we were thrilled to incorporate our findings. Then we hit the jackpot. Live Oak Farms in Petaluma. They had the most incredible produce in their farmstand. $100 was all it took to clean them out. Heirloom tomatoes, purple bell peppers, amazing yukon potatoes, herbs, onions, all farm fresh and grown biodynamic. Biodynamic is the way to go. It treats the entire farm or vineyard as one living organism. When you farm with this kind of care and attention, the produce thrives and you can literally taste the difference. Check out the books by Nicolas Joly for more. It’s bonkers. We stopped by Della Fatoria for a little coffee and pastries then headed back to the villa to prep. It was then that I learned that Sarah is actually a wizard…

We got to the villa and dropped off the groceries in the spacious kitchen and I set off to get some more cast iron and some bamboo for our live fire. In the hour that I was gone, Sarah prepped everything!  Chickens were stuffed with fennel and herbs, the meat was trimmed, shrimp were cleaned, veggies cut, salads prepped, and the berries macerating. Wizardry. We lit the fire, hung the meat, and started shucking oysters as the guests arrived from wine tasting. Let’s just say that there was mezcal and crowing involved. My good friend Raphael opened wines like a madman and charmed the guests. He took the night off from his michelin starred restaurant to work with us in a field. Rafa’s a legend.

Guests gathered around the fire and snapped photos and asked questions. We sliced bites from the fire and Rafa poured amazing wine. We had couches on the lawn and they lounged and sipped champagne and told stories from the weekend. The anticipation grew as the whole tomahawk ribeye basted in the smoke. We set up a huge harvest table in the middle of the lawn and started composing the dishes. We pulled out the bread we made in the fire and dinner was served at dusk with the first stars starting to show. A warm night in Sonoma was the perfect setting for our live fire feast. Sarah and I described the menu and thanked the guests for the opportunity to cook for them. We soaked in the moment. This is what lifes about. Amazing moments with the ones we love.

Until the next adventure…how about Patagonia in April, Sarah?

Chef Yeshua Goodman and Sarah Glover

All photos by Michael Carr

Wines of The House of Roederer

Cristal is now a house-hold name. In our house, it’s much more. It’s a family invitation to a bigger picture of why we do what we do. We recently had the pleasure of partnering with one of our most cherished producers from the other side of the world, the wines of the house of Roederer. Jean Baptiste’s approach to biodynamic winemaking struck a cord with us and we were compelled to create a menu that would stand up to and respect the great wines of Roederer. Biodynamic farming takes into account the moon phases and treats the whole vineyard as a living organism. It’s this thoughtfulness and attention to detail that got us inspired to create a menu with that same accord.

We hunted and gathered under a full moon. Gathered salt during times of high winds following high seas, a technique done for centuries that we are honored to use in our cooking. Deep sea fished and dove for lobster when the oceans were calm, the night before our event. And the event itself, fell on lunar new year. The story was tied into a bow for a really fun group of guests that attended a sold-out event.

A local seaweed butter and spiny lobster emulsion was served with 2008 Cristal, one of the best vintages in recent history. Fresh Ehu wrapped in Ti leaves with Domaine Ott Rosé. Dry aged venison and local oyster mushrooms paired beautifully with 2014 Chateau de Pez. This was a menu for the books; a once in a lifetime experience that can never be duplicated. Until the next adventure, we’ll be watching the tides and planning our next collaboration.

KIAWE Outdoor Presents: Pūlehu With Sheldon Simeon

Our Chef Collaboration Series continues with Pūlehu featuring Chef Sheldon Simeon. Take part of a whimsical experience and a journey into the mind of one of the most imaginative Chefs of our time. Let us tell you the story of a chef that knows no limits and experience for yourself the flavors of an often forgotten era; Plantation inspired cuisine taken back to its roots over open flame.

VIP Early Access:  come play with us in the fire and get a glimpse of the creative genius that is Chef Sheldon.  Hang out with the chefs and sneak a few bites from the fire.

Please book your tickets below!

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FEATURED: Frolic Hawaii - Best Things We Ate This Year 2018

Having a write up on your business is always good, it’s even better when it’s positive, and even BETTER than that is when it’s from your friends! Frolic Hawaii was kind enough to feature our little cooking operation in their Best Eats round up for the year. We are so grateful to be included amongst an illustrious list of cutting edge food crafts people.

It was simple, rustic and primal — and the best thing I ate this year. — Rebecca Pang

Infinite Aloha to the Frolic team!

KIAWE

Read: https://www.frolichawaii.com/stories/best-things-we-ate-hawaii-year