"Iron Chef" Masaharu Morimoto has teamed up with the Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort & Spa to open Morimoto Maui, when the hotel opens in the summer.
The restaurant will be Morimoto's first on Maui and second in Hawaii (He has a restaurant in Waikiki), said Michael Stephens, general manager of the resort Monday.
The restaurant will be a mixture of Japanese and Western, integrating traditional culinary techniques from Japan with local, Hawaiian ingredients, a news release said.
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“Iron Chef” Masaharu Morimoto will be opening up his first restaurant on Maui in the summer at the Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort & Spa.
Morimoto Maui will be open daily for lunch and dinner under the direction of Morimoto.
Rockwell Group is spearheading the design of the restaurant, which will have a 57-seat interior dining area, 56-seat outdoor terrace and a 23-seat terrace bar. Morimoto Maui will be steps from the beach.
"Guests can also enjoy a full beach-dining experience outside, as well as unwind over cocktails in the terrace bar as they watch the spectacular Maui sunset," the news release said.
Morimoto is renowned as the star of "Iron Chef" and "Iron Chef America." In addition to his Hawaii restaurants, Morimoto has opened Morimoto restaurant in Philadelphia in 2001, Wasabi by Morimoto at the Taj Mahal in Mumbai in 2004 and Morimoto-XEX in Tokyo in 2005. He opened Morimoto New York in 2006, a news release said.
Born in Hiroshima, Morimoto trained in a sushi restaurant before moving to the United States in 1985 at 30. He polished his craft in the Big Apple and attracted the attention of "Iron Chef" producers, who invited him to become a Japanese Iron Chef, the Food Network website said.
He also wrote a cookbook "Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking" published in 2007.
"This exciting collaboration will enhance the resort experience," said Stephens. "We could not be more pleased to welcome Chef Morimoto to Andaz."
Stephens said the restaurant will open when the hotel does, sometime in the summer of next year. The 297-room Andaz resort, the former Renaissance Wailea Beach Resort, is fronted by Mokapu Beach. It sits on 15 acres in Wailea.
