Earlier this summer, I attended a wine dinner organized by Mara restaurant, started by the TableOne Hospitality group (Michael Mina, et al) and now run by the local DB Restaurant Group. A little over a year old, it’s one of the newer restaurants in Honolulu.
Located on the ground floor of the Renaissance Honolulu Hotel & Spa, the wine program is run by second-generation sommelier Kale Furuya, son of Hawai‘i’s first Master Sommelier Chuck Furuya. Since opening a little over a year ago, Kale has arranged several wine dinners, including this dinner celebrating the wines of Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant with Joanie Bonfiglio, western regional sales manager.

Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant
Kermit Lynch started with a retail wine shop in Albany, Calif. in 1972 eventually importing wines directly from Italy and France focusing on small producers whose wines were authentic to the region. Currently, Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant includes National Distribution supplying wine distributors in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Nova Scotia, both a California and New York Wholesale Department and a retail wine store in Berkeley. The wines are transported from each winery in temperature-controlled trucks then shipped to the U.S. in refrigerated containers to maintain the quality and provenance of the wines. I’ve been sampling wine for at least four decades and can confidently state that if you see the Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant sticker on the back label, there’s at least a 90% chance it’ll be an exceptional wine!

Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant
1605 San Pablo Ave
Berkeley, Calif. 94702
(510) 524-1524
info@kermitlynch.com
Open Tuesday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Mara Honolulu
Mara Honolulu was created celebrating the cuisine and Mediterranean way of life so the menu is influenced by Greece and Italy. The restaurant has a casual décor with a separate bar area and an open kitchen with both indoor and outdoor dining plus a smaller private dining area. Because the DB Restaurant recently took over operations, the restaurant will be rebranded as Sera though both the Mara and Sera Websites are still active. Because this wine dinner was based on Kermit Lynch’s Italian wine portfolio, the menu was all Italian. The approximate prices for each wine from Kermit Lynch’s retail store in Berkeley are listed though newer vintages may be on the shelves.

First Course
Insalata Primavera

Spring Vegetables, Burrata, Basil

2022 Punta Crena Lumassina Frizzante ($26)
2022 I Pastini “Rampone” Minutolo ($26)

We started with burrata cheese with asparagus and beans on a lemony vinaigrette. Both white wines paired nicely with the burrata with enough acid to cut through the buttery cheese yet harmonizing with the vinaigrette.

Second Course
Raviolo al Uovo
Golden Fertile Egg Yolk, Ricotta, Brown Butter

2019 Villa di Geggiano Chianti Classico ($35)
2019 Podere Campiano Chianti Classico ($34)

Next up was the Uovo, which is basically a large ravioli filled with a ring of herb spiced ricotta cheese surrounding a raw egg yolk. It’s gently poached in water to cook the fresh pasta but still leaves the yolk runny. The acid in both chianti cut through the rick yolk and ricotta yet had enough body to stand up to the sage brown butter sauce.

Third Course
Lamb Shank
Salsa Verde, Spinach Gnudi

2022 Giulia Negri “Pian del Molle” Nebbiolo ($35)
2021 Grottafumata “Lato Sud” Rosso ($47)

The main course was a braised lamb shank served with fennel, onions and spinach. By itself, the lamb was perfect with the Nebbiolo, but when taking a bite of lamb with the vegetables, the Lato Sud also balanced the licorice flavors of the fennel.

Dessert
Tiramisu
Lady Finger, Mascarpone

To end the meal, a tiramisu enrobed in dark chocolate was a perfect finish to this Italian-inspired meal.
If this dinner sounds like something you’d love but don’t want to make the trip to the 50th, the TableOne Hospitality group includes two restaurants in their portfolio located in San Francisco: Bar Sprezzatura in the Financial District, which serves lunch during the day and aperitivo and cicchetti (small bites) at night and La Societe Bar & Café in the Hyatt Regency Downtown SOMA serving breakfast, dinner and cocktails. And of course, you can always make that drive to Berkeley to Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant to replenish your wine cellar…

Ryan Tatsumoto is a graduate of both the University of Hawai‘i and UC San Francisco. He is a retired clinical pharmacist and a budding chef/recipe developer/wine taster. He writes from Kane’ohe, HI and can be reached at gochisogourmet@gmail.com. The views expressed in the preceding column are not necessarily those of the Nichi Bei News.

Ryan Tatsumoto, Nichi Bei News

The Gochiso Gourmet is a column on food, wine and healthy eating. Ryan Tatsumoto is a graduate of both the University of Hawai‘i and UC San Francisco. He is a recently retired clinical pharmacist and a budding chef/recipe developer/wine taster. He writes from Kane’ohe, HI and can be reached at gochisogourmet@gmail.com. The views expressed in the preceding column are not necessarily those of the Nichi Bei News.