Note: This is a regular feature we're planning to run. We'll be talking to chefs about where they eat when they're not cooking, barkeeps about where they drink, pro surfers about where they teach their kids to ride, and all other stripes of Hawaii experts for their best advice and tips.

Chef George Mavrothalassitis is chef/proprietor of Chef Mavro restaurant in Honolulu. He won a James Beard Award in 2003 as the Best Chef in Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest and his noveau French / Hawaii influenced cuisine has been hailed by Food & Wine, Wine Spectator, Gourmet, the New York Times and many other publications. Suffice it to say, the man can cook. His lilikoi cream-filled malasadas will drive anyone to drink...more desert wine. Hawaiirama interviewed the Chef, who hails from Provence in the South of France, about where he likes to nosh when he's not behind his own stove.

"I'm always looking for a late dinner after we close the kitchen. We go to a lot of Japanese because its so good in Hawaii. My favorite place is Izakaya Nonbei. My all-time favorite is the nato with ahi, green onion and quail eggs mixed together. It's totally delicious. You eat it on a sheet of nori and you put the natto inside. I also like the miso eggplant. They carmelize the miso and they put it on the eggplant. The sliced beef tongue is very fine and simple. I like the oyster shooter with quail egg inside. It's fantastic. The Japanese use a lot of ponzu and I love it. We go to Imanas Tei mostly for sushi. The nigiri and my favorite is uni and ikura (salmon roe) and I like very much the eel unagi and toro. We are talking about late dinner at this place. Sushi Sasabune is another favorite. Yohei is very close in quality to Sasabune. It's a little bit more traditional. I love them both.

Aside from Japanese, I eat Chinese, also. I like the Szechuan side of the menu at Maple Garden. It's my favorite local place. They have wonderful spicy chicken dishes.
And, of course, I do still like French. I go to Le Bistro in Niu Valley. It's even more French than I am. I love his lamb Provencal and his chicken. He has a totally classic French nouvelle cuisine and the crispy apple tart.It's all very traditional and very well executed."

—Alex, 07/02/06