The Hidden Culinary Star of Lānaʻi

LānaʻiLānaʻi City is actually not a city, but rather a quaint village on Hawai‘i’s least populated accessible island. With nearly all of Lānaʻi’s 3,200 residents residing here, it revolves around Dole Park—a town square surrounded by charming, low-rise buildings from the early 1900s, when the island was known as the pineapple capital of the world.

There are no traffic lights and only a few local businesses, including a market with excellent poke, a Korean café serving a notable burger, an art gallery, and a movie thMytour recently updated by Larry Ellison, the tech mogul who acquired 97 percent of the island in 2012 for an estimated $300 million. Ellison also owns about a third of the buildings in Lānaʻi City, including the Hotel Lānaʻi, a two-story white clapboard building. This 11-room hotel offers Wi-Fi but no TVs, and houses the Lānaʻi City Bar & Grille.

The restaurant, occupying most of the ground floor, was given a modern makeover last year with a sleek, contemporary color scheme and stylish black booths—a dramatic shift from its former quaint decor. In November, Jimi Lasquete, a chef with experience under Alice Waters and Michael Mina at San Francisco’s Aqua, took charge. Locals say he has elevated the restaurant from serving average dishes like roasted chicken to offering high-end cuisine.

Sashimi plate from Lānaʻi City Bar & Grille Image courtesy of Lānaʻi City Bar & Grille

On a summer evening, I indulge in the pohole fern namasu, a creative take on the classic cucumber and carrot salad, featuring local fiddleheads and drizzled with a sesame vinaigrette. The next course, blistered green beans from a Maui farm, is accompanied by an unforgettable Hong Kong-style black bean sauce. By the time I taste the vibrant gojuchang dipping sauce with the popcorn shrimp and house-made chicharrones, I’m amazed—how often does one encounter such exquisite cooking in a relatively secluded locale?

During the meal, Lasquete makes his rounds, engaging with diners, a habit he developed from his time at the Evans American Gourmet Café in Lake Tahoe. He highlights the sauces I’m raving about and credits his Filipino father, a former Navy chef, for honing his palate; he also acknowledges the Korean home cooks from Newark, California, who taught him the meticulous art of making kimchi, a cornerstone of the pan-Asian cuisine he’s crafting here.

When Lasquete first visited Lānaʻi with his girlfriend in the summer of 2016, he was immediately captivated by the island. “The tranquility here was incredible,” he reflects. “The people I met on the ferry, returning from shopping on Maui, were so kind and reflective of the small-town charm. It reminded me of my own upbringing, my cousins, and my family.”

Three years prior, Lasquete had relocated from California to Hawai‘i to work at Bev Gannon’s renowned Hali‘imaile General Store on Maui, before taking a break from the restaurant scene. He then became a produce broker, gaining insight into the fruits, vegetables, and meats from Maui’s farms and ranches. Missing the kitchen, he found his trip to Lānaʻi transformative. He reached out to a friend working for Ellison to inquire about job opportunities on the island. “You stopped cooking?” she asked in surprise. Fortunately, Ellison’s management company, Pūlama Lānaʻi, was seeking someone to oversee the Lānaʻi City restaurant. “You’ll have to prove yourself,” his friend said, leading Lasquete through a series of interviews culminating in an intense cooking challenge—six courses—against other contenders.

Jimi Lasquete Image courtesy of Lānaʻi City Bar & Grille

Lasquete was the clear choice, tasked with delivering “top-notch food at prices that suit the locals,” as he puts it. Looking around, I see a mix of hardworking locals and a few former mainlanders who now call the island home.

Documents related to Ellison’s purchase—executive chairman of Oracle and currently the seventh-richest person in the world, according to Forbes—indicate his intent to collaborate with the Lānaʻi community to shape the island’s future. In addition to the restaurant upgrade, he installed an Olympic-size public pool and established a historic preservation office within Pūlama Lānaʻi. Despite Ellison’s two resorts being the island’s main employers, their dining options remain out of reach for many locals, a need that Lasquete is addressing with Lānaʻi City Bar & Grille.

Lānaʻi, similar to Ni‘ihau, has a rich history of private ownership. Historically, Hawaiians, including those on Lānaʻi, used land in divisions that could be used but not owned. In 1862, Walter Murray Gibson, an entrepreneur and newly minted Mormon leader, began purchasing land on Lānaʻi with church funds (he was later excommunicated for embezzlement and other offenses). By his death in 1888, Gibson had acquired most of the island, which was passed down to his descendants.

Following unsuccessful attempts at sugarcane farming and sheep ranching, Lānaʻi was sold in 1922 to James Drummond Dole, who had been building his fruit empire for two decades. He transformed the island into a pineapple plantation and constructed Lānaʻi City for his workers, along with a guesthouse for friends. The Dole family owned the island until 1985, when billionaire David Murdock acquired Dole’s parent company Castle & Cooke, and with it, Lānaʻi. Pineapple cultivation ceased, replaced by two resorts—one near Lānaʻi City at Kō‘ele and the other at Mānele Bay.

Patio at Lānaʻi City Bar & Grille Image courtesy of Lānaʻi City Bar & Grille

At a public forum a year after Ellison acquired the island, his representatives revealed his ambitious goal: to transform Lānaʻi into the world’s “first economically sustainable, fully green community.” Plans are underway for a desalination plant and the restoration of ancient fishponds. The Four Seasons Resort Lānaʻi at Manele Bay recently completed a $450 million renovation, while The Lodge at Koele is in the midst of an extensive remodel that has been ongoing for two years. Pūlama Lānaʻi also invested in a cutting-edge, USDA-approved butchering trailer to utilize meat from the island’s approximately 30,000 invasive axis deer, introduced in the 1920s. Each week, the game management team provides Lasquete with a pair of deer, which he incorporates into his dishes, including a signature venison loin with black cherry cabernet demi-glace and a bolognese sauce that makes use of every part of the animal.

Since joining the team, Lasquete has been enthusiastically training his new staff. Although they were already skilled cooks, they quickly mastered the more intricate techniques he introduced, such as the three-day preparation of demi-glace. Once The Lodge at Koele reopens, its guests will be near Lānaʻi City Bar & Grille and will likely hear about Lasquete’s exceptional culinary talents in this unexpected setting.

Ann Herold, a James Beard Award-winning journalist, resides in Los Angeles and frequently visits Hawai‘i with her Honolulu-born spouse.