So a week ago, my friend Barbara Cobey mixologist at Sarento's on the beach in Wailea emailed me to come down to have breakfast at the south Maui restaurant right on the beach at Keawakapu at 830 am, be there or don't be there. I chose to be there because Sarento's was just embarking on their breakfast menu, Executive Chef Geno Sarmiento was supposed to be there but was tied up with another function, oh well no problem eh?
So me and my sidekick Sascha Bauml left the Lahaina side at 745 in the morning, and whipped it to the south side really quickly, as a matter of fact when we pulled into the gravel parking area next to Sarento's we noticed that Barbara was pulling in also.
After a few small chit chatting we walked into the outside dining area, the ocean was calm, beach goers were all over it, paddle boards, sunbathers, dog walkers, runners, swimmers, and some bikinis, man, what a place for breakfast.
We sat down, the waiter got us a table, all three of us sat down, had some coffee, and when we found out that Chef Geno couldn't make it, in comes the owner of Sarento's Aaron Placourakis, we are introduced as Barbara tells Aaron that me and Sascha were there to sample the food and hang out a bit, Aaron was cool, dressed in a t shirt and shorts, you would not think this man was owner of one of the world's picturesque restaurants, he actually could be some actor dude on vacation, you know those soap guys, but also, he could be an NBA coach, or... reality is, he paddles his boat in the ocean quite often, a water man, an athlete in his earlier days, and still is actually.
As we got to know Aaron, he's a lover of life, his family seems to be of the utmost importance to him, his family is definitely number one on the list, and then it is his restaurants, the one we were at Sarento's, and he has Nick's Fish Market in the Fairmont Kealani, and SONZ Swan Court at the Hyatt in Kaanapali, and the original Sarento's in Honolulu, all these fine dining establishments are under the Tri Star Restaurants.
Placourakis is a well spoken individual, he comes across as intelligent in his business, he knows what works, and that is offering his patrons a great experience from the time they are greeted at the front door, in is own words, "This restaurant is our home, we treat everyone like a special guest here." See him in action, he's pulling out chairs for his guests and getting them water, coffee, and conversing with them, personally I thought it was cool, how often do you see owners, well established owners of restaurants doing that? Some owners of restaurants I know are never around, playing golf, and not paying attention to the operations at all. And those my friends are the ones that don't have a business any longer. Take it from me, I know how a restaurant makes it, it's all about the people, customers and employees, you take care of them, you got a winner, Placourakis made his own mold, and tossed it somewhere.
But he does find time to travel back to Greece where he has family. "I go back and visit, the place is beautiful, the landscape, the people and the food," he says like a kid. "But, I tell you what, there's no place else to do business than right here," referring to Maui and Hawaii in general, and being an avid water man, Wailea is perfect, telling stories of paddling around Molokini on a good day. He seems to be a well balanced individual, always talking about his love for family and food, and when he talks about the restaurant biz, it's not work but more like fun. His cell phone rings, "Hey I'll be up there and we'll harvest the cabbage." He hangs up and starts talking about the good life. And the good life is just being happy, and the feeling I get from him is this, even if he didn't own this business, he'd still be happy, even if he didn't have much money, he'd be happy, as long as he had his health.
"I try to take my six year old son everywhere I can, he loves hanging out," he says. "That kid is my shadow." Placourakis has older kids, but he lights up when he talks about the little dude, and Barbara injects also that the little dude is cute. Hey, Placourakis is alright in my book, it's not easy running a business, it's hard work, got to make people happy, keep up on trends, but when it comes to numbers and the bottom line, being a business person can be overwhelming, but Placourakis balances his life out just right, after a lot of years, Tri Star is still kicking ass.
So after a few minutes of just shootin the breeze, I find out Placourakis has a great sense of humor, I told him, "Hey Aaron I'll race you on the water one day, you with your boat that you paddle, and I'll have a boat but with an Evinrude outboard motor, he slaps my gut and tells me, "Make that two Evinrudes." Hey I got a sense of humor, I can laugh at myself, sometimes. And then he pokes fun of me because I'm wearing my Dodgers cap.
"I hate the Dodgers, never did like them," he says. "Hey I went to UCLA, and when I was there, Pauley Pavilion was brand new, that's where the Bruins play hoops." So I asked him when he was there did the Bruins win anything? "No, they didn't, the Wooden era was done with." I also asked him if he went to any alumnae functions, maybe kicking back with Kareem Abdul Jabbar or something, maybe having a beer with Bill Walton. "Nah, why? I'd rather stay here." Okay, good answer, why would he want to go there? He's got it made in Wailea, who needs to go to L.A.?
All in all, Placourakis was just a fun conversationalist and happy guy at the breakfast table, then he had to go and mingle with the other guests, he said his alohaz and he went on his way. So we ate our food, Barbara had her Club Benedict, Sascha had his Huevos Rancheros and pancakes, buttermilk pancakes that is, and I had my Pacific Benedict, it had asparagus spears, and chunky crab meat, it was nuts man, nuts!
Placourakis uses humor in his conversations
as he looks out into the ocean, his second home.
Sarento's Huevos Rancheros
Sarento's Pacific Benedict
Sarento's Buttermilk Pancakes
So me and my sidekick Sascha Bauml left the Lahaina side at 745 in the morning, and whipped it to the south side really quickly, as a matter of fact when we pulled into the gravel parking area next to Sarento's we noticed that Barbara was pulling in also.
After a few small chit chatting we walked into the outside dining area, the ocean was calm, beach goers were all over it, paddle boards, sunbathers, dog walkers, runners, swimmers, and some bikinis, man, what a place for breakfast.
We sat down, the waiter got us a table, all three of us sat down, had some coffee, and when we found out that Chef Geno couldn't make it, in comes the owner of Sarento's Aaron Placourakis, we are introduced as Barbara tells Aaron that me and Sascha were there to sample the food and hang out a bit, Aaron was cool, dressed in a t shirt and shorts, you would not think this man was owner of one of the world's picturesque restaurants, he actually could be some actor dude on vacation, you know those soap guys, but also, he could be an NBA coach, or... reality is, he paddles his boat in the ocean quite often, a water man, an athlete in his earlier days, and still is actually.
As we got to know Aaron, he's a lover of life, his family seems to be of the utmost importance to him, his family is definitely number one on the list, and then it is his restaurants, the one we were at Sarento's, and he has Nick's Fish Market in the Fairmont Kealani, and SONZ Swan Court at the Hyatt in Kaanapali, and the original Sarento's in Honolulu, all these fine dining establishments are under the Tri Star Restaurants.
Placourakis is a well spoken individual, he comes across as intelligent in his business, he knows what works, and that is offering his patrons a great experience from the time they are greeted at the front door, in is own words, "This restaurant is our home, we treat everyone like a special guest here." See him in action, he's pulling out chairs for his guests and getting them water, coffee, and conversing with them, personally I thought it was cool, how often do you see owners, well established owners of restaurants doing that? Some owners of restaurants I know are never around, playing golf, and not paying attention to the operations at all. And those my friends are the ones that don't have a business any longer. Take it from me, I know how a restaurant makes it, it's all about the people, customers and employees, you take care of them, you got a winner, Placourakis made his own mold, and tossed it somewhere.
But he does find time to travel back to Greece where he has family. "I go back and visit, the place is beautiful, the landscape, the people and the food," he says like a kid. "But, I tell you what, there's no place else to do business than right here," referring to Maui and Hawaii in general, and being an avid water man, Wailea is perfect, telling stories of paddling around Molokini on a good day. He seems to be a well balanced individual, always talking about his love for family and food, and when he talks about the restaurant biz, it's not work but more like fun. His cell phone rings, "Hey I'll be up there and we'll harvest the cabbage." He hangs up and starts talking about the good life. And the good life is just being happy, and the feeling I get from him is this, even if he didn't own this business, he'd still be happy, even if he didn't have much money, he'd be happy, as long as he had his health.
"I try to take my six year old son everywhere I can, he loves hanging out," he says. "That kid is my shadow." Placourakis has older kids, but he lights up when he talks about the little dude, and Barbara injects also that the little dude is cute. Hey, Placourakis is alright in my book, it's not easy running a business, it's hard work, got to make people happy, keep up on trends, but when it comes to numbers and the bottom line, being a business person can be overwhelming, but Placourakis balances his life out just right, after a lot of years, Tri Star is still kicking ass.
So after a few minutes of just shootin the breeze, I find out Placourakis has a great sense of humor, I told him, "Hey Aaron I'll race you on the water one day, you with your boat that you paddle, and I'll have a boat but with an Evinrude outboard motor, he slaps my gut and tells me, "Make that two Evinrudes." Hey I got a sense of humor, I can laugh at myself, sometimes. And then he pokes fun of me because I'm wearing my Dodgers cap.
"I hate the Dodgers, never did like them," he says. "Hey I went to UCLA, and when I was there, Pauley Pavilion was brand new, that's where the Bruins play hoops." So I asked him when he was there did the Bruins win anything? "No, they didn't, the Wooden era was done with." I also asked him if he went to any alumnae functions, maybe kicking back with Kareem Abdul Jabbar or something, maybe having a beer with Bill Walton. "Nah, why? I'd rather stay here." Okay, good answer, why would he want to go there? He's got it made in Wailea, who needs to go to L.A.?
All in all, Placourakis was just a fun conversationalist and happy guy at the breakfast table, then he had to go and mingle with the other guests, he said his alohaz and he went on his way. So we ate our food, Barbara had her Club Benedict, Sascha had his Huevos Rancheros and pancakes, buttermilk pancakes that is, and I had my Pacific Benedict, it had asparagus spears, and chunky crab meat, it was nuts man, nuts!
Placourakis uses humor in his conversations
as he looks out into the ocean, his second home.
Sarento's Huevos Rancheros
Sarento's Pacific Benedict
Sarento's Buttermilk Pancakes
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