Chef Luna Gets Straight to the Point with New Menu, Revisits Simplicity with Cucina Rustica
Wailuku, HI (PRWEB) August 30, 2007 -- Chef Paul Luna is debuting a dinner menu at Ferraro's Bar e Ristorante that gets straight to the point and trims the fat on Tuesday, September 4--only a few months after joining the restaurant at Four Seasons Resort Maui. The new menu showcases Luna's distinctive style, which expresses his taste for living and his passion for cooking.
"With this beautiful weather here, you need food very light and very straight to the point," Luna is quoted as saying in a June 7 article in the Maui News.
Straight to the point is exactly what guests can expect from Ferraro's new menu, whose language is poetically devoid of unnecessary flourish. Take the Penne Arrabbiata, which reads, "Chunky Tomato Sauce, Garlic, Red Pepper Flakes" or the Filetto di Branzino Arrostito that states "Roasted Hawaiian Seabass, Sauteed Napa Cabbage, Garlic Confit, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Warm Rosemary Vinaigrette".
"I don't think people need to chew the fat to understand what they are about to eat," comments Luna. "In fact, if I could have my way, I would take out words like 'warm' or 'infused' too. Simplicity is what cucina rustica is about, and that's what I'm going for with this new menu."
Speaking of fat, what's more appealing are the menu's missing ingredients: butter and cream. Because most of the high-end eats represented on Maui are influenced by French cuisine, finding dishes without butter or cream can be challenging.
But Luna assures that guests won't notice the cutback, rather they will taste a richer, more distinctive flavor in the food.
"Butter definitely masks the taste of food. I haven't been able to eat butter or cream since childhood, and it's probably the best thing that's happened to me as a chef," he says.
Chef Luna joined the Ferraro's Bar e Ristorante as Chef de Cuisine in April 2007. He was officially introduced to the island by Carla Tracy in "Side Orders" of the Maui News last June. To make a reservation at Ferraro's Bar e Ristorante, contact the Four Seasons Resort Maui at (808) 874-8000.
About Chef Luna
Chef Paul Luna joined Ferraro's restaurant at Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea in April 2007 as Chef de Cuisine. Previously, he was executive chef at the Oval Room in Washington D.C., a high-end downtown restaurant frequented almost daily by the capital's power politicos. In the year he was there, the restaurant received the 2006 DiRoNA award and a mention in the association's guide for charming "critics and connoisseurs alike." From 1992 to 2003, Chef Luna launched and operated three signature restaurants in Atlanta: LunaSi, Eclipse di Luna and Loca Luna. Chef Luna currently lives on Maui. In his free time he enjoys cycling, yoga, and smoking cigars. Though he speaks English everyday, he is also fluent in Italian and Spanish. For more information, visit his website at www.ChefLuna.com.
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