Kauai dining: Where to go gourmet on the Garden Isle

Kaua'i may be called the Garden Island, but it hasn't alway been easy for diners to sample local produce, unless they bought some at a sunshine market and cooked it up themselves. And it's been a long time since Kaua'i, the least populous of the four major Hawaiian Islands, has won acclaim from visitors for truly innovative cuisine, even as old favorites such as Roy's and the Beach House have retained their followings.

Now a new crop of creative chefs is howling that there's more to Garden Isle dining than reliable if uninspired resort fare and cheap poi. For those travelers who like to splurge on at least one special meal per vacation, these half-dozen cutting-edge restaurants that have opened since 2009 all offer memorable menus — and their locales ain't bad, either.

With nearly a year at Spain's renowned El Bulli to his credit, Red Salt executive chef Ronny Sanchez was the first to spice things up, so to speak, when he opened his restaurant in the new Ko'a Kea Hotel & Resort in April 2009. Named for the traditional seasoning harvested a few miles south, Red Salt has elevated presentation, as with a checkerboard ahi poke, and expanded local sourcing, including farmers market vegetables in a green curry with grilled marinated tofu and coconut creme fraiche. Its salad of Kalaheo baby greens comes with Big Island hearts of palm, macadamia nuts and tomatoes in an avocado vinaigrette. The local flavor continues through desserts, such as a "roadside guava" panna cotta and truffles with ingredients such as Kaua'i coffee and, of course, red salt.

A mile west, in the new Kukui'ula Village development, from Ko'a Kea (the former Po'ipu Beach Hotel), Hawaiian Regional Cuisine co-founder Peter Merriman caused excitement a year ago when he finally expanded from the Big Island and Maui to Kaua'i. Merriman's Kaua'i is distinctive in offering both mountain and ocean views, including gorgeous sunsets, and advertises that 90 percent of the food is locally grown or caught using sustainable methods. Some recurring Kaua'i ingredients: goat cheese from Kunana Dairy Farm and greens from Kailani Farm, both near Kilauea, and kalua pig from M & H Kaneshiro Farm in Koloa. From the Big Island comes Kahua Ranch's filet of beef (served with Kaua'i oyster mushrooms, white sweet potato puree and Maui onion jam) and grass-fed rib eye (with truffled Parmesan fries, blue cheese butter and dressed Kilauea watercress.)

For those who can't afford Merriman's dinner prices — meat and seafood entrees range from $28 to $39, with a vegetarian entree of Kaua'i oyster mushroom and Anuhea asparagus linguine for $19 — the downstairs Merriman's Market Cafe has less expensive options and is open for lunch. And if you have access to cooking facilities, or interest in a picnic, you can also assemble your own market-fresh meal at the new Kaua'i Culinary Market held from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays in Kukui'ula Village. Locally grown produce, homebaked goods and other island-made food is for sale, while notable chefs (Sanchez and Merriman have already participated) give cooking demonstrations at 5 p.m.

Twenty years ago, another Hawaiian Regional Cuisine co-founder opened shop on Kaua'i, but much to the dismay of his legion of fans, Jean-Marie Josselin closed his vaunted A Pacific Cafe in 2005 to concentrate on his Las Vegas outpost, 808. In May of this year, he returned to the Garden Isle as a neighbor of Merriman's, with a new name for his restaurant — Josselin's Tapas Bar & Grill — and a new focus, "country French, seasonal Provencal and Asian dishes." But they're still made with seasonal, locally produced ingredients, creating a menu that varies daily based on availability.