Crunchy Golden Lobster Potstickers and Lakanilau Roll

To say I enjoyed my evening at Roy’s would be an understatement. I loved it!

Flaming tiki torches light the way to this Hawaiian-inspired restaurant, centrally located in the Playhouse district. Theatre goers rejoice! Roy’s is just a block from the Playhouse on the corner of El Molino and Colorado.

Christopher George is not just the chef; he is a partner who has worked with Roy Yamaguchi for a decade.

Kim Chee Spiced Sea Scallops

“I want to create value,” says Chef Christopher.  “What we’ll do is put that value in great food and great presentation and just an overall great experience from the moment you walk in to the minute you get that dessert.”

Chef is CIA trained (that’s Culinary Institute of America not covert ops!), and he has a lot of influence over the menu. There are tried and true Roy’s favorites, but the rest is all Chef Christopher.

Filet Tartare

To begin our meal I indulged in a Hawaiian Martini, a little taste of pineapple and a whiff of coconut blended with vodka to create a light refreshing drink. Crunch Golden Lobster Potstickers arrived at our table. The potstickers had a definite lobster flavor and were set off by the slight heat of a Togarashi (Japanese 7 spice) Miso butter sauce.

Lakanilau Rolls followed a dynamite crab, tempura asparagus and avocado roll topped with Kobe beef. There

Roasted Garlic Herb Broiled Hawaiian Ono

were definite layers of flavor here. The first taste was the crab and sea followed by the smoky beef. This is one to share with your tablemates.

Kim Chee Spiced Sea Scallops made an entrance. I had all but given up on scallops recently; too many times I had to endure rubbery hockey pucks with little or no flavor. Roy’s scallops were the bomb! Large, tender and flavorful, they had a bit of heat and tart from kim chee and were topped with black tobiko (flying fish roe) that popped when bitten into and lent a briny punch to the scallops.

A Filet Tartare rounded off our appetizer course. Chopped beef filet was topped with a raw quail egg and garnished with capers, lomi tomatoes, mango catsup and basil crostini.  All blended together on the palate to form a delicious mélange of flavors and textures.

Roasted Garlic Herb Broiled Hawaiian Ono with Caesar grilled romaine and onion marmalade was brought to our table. The ono was served medium rare “cool on the inside, sashimi-like,” said Chef. Combined with the sweet onion marmalade, this made a very luscious dish. I don’t usually wax philosophical about vegetables, however, the Caesar grilled romaine was out-of-this-world good. continued