The Hilo farmer who grows palm hearts suggested we try the new Alan Wong restaurant, the Hualalai Grille, at the Four Seasons Hualalai Resort. Since it was a bit of a drive from our condo we decided to go for lunch. We ordered two items which featured palm hearts. A cold tomato soup arrived without the soup so one could see the rosette of thin cucumber slices, topped with a rosette of palm heart slices beneath the cylinder of guacamole. Around the edge were five frozen cherry tomatoes and around the rim of the bowl was a dusting of green wasabe. The waiter then poured in the two soups, red and yellow tomato. As tasty as it was pretty. Following the soup was a caesar salad served in a toasted parmesan cheese basket, sitting on serving of roast pork. We also tried the cobb salad, which included chopped palm hearts, other greens and veggies, with shrimp. Palm hearts are crisp, slightly sweet, tender crunchy vegetables with a delicate light taste that is nothing like the canned variety. For more information about them, check out the farm’s website, www.waileaag.com. For dessert we had lilikoi (passion fruit ) cheesecake and chocolate macadamia crunch bars. Both were scrumptious.
The Four Seasons is a very posh resort, but visiting the restaurant for lunch was less expensive than a lesser place for dinner. The open-air setting and the beautiful grounds added to a spectacular meal. Photos of the two palm hearts dishes below.