Honeymooning in Hawaii is a beautiful thing. Before I had the opportunity to plan other couples’ amazing vacations, FKGuy and I went to Hawaii on our Honeymoon. With ten days on Maui and Kauai, we had a fantastic trip. Ordering wine doesn’t usually lead to a quirky only-on-an-island story, but, this time was different.
One evening, we chose Avalon as our dining venue of choice. It received amazing reviews, and yet, was laid back, just as you’d expect from an island restaurant. Shortly after our trip in 1997, Mark and Judy Ellman closed Avalon and proceeded to open up several other (presumably awesome) Hawaiian restaurants and taco shacks. We’ll have to get back there to check them out.
The night we had dinner there, we arrived and were promptly seated in the airy dining room. Our server came over to see what we would like to drink, as we had been perusing the wine list. We noticed a bottle of Bonny Doon Pacific Rim Riesling fit nicely in the budget (somewhere around $20). Our server asked if we would like to taste it first, as they also had the wine by the glass, and there was no sense in getting a whole bottle if we didn’t like it.
Sure. He brought over a glass of the wine. Not a taste, but a whole glass. It was light, slightly sweet and would go nicely with the food, so we ordered a bottle. He came back with two glasses and a bottle. As he poured a taste from the bottle, to make sure it was fine, half of my original “taste” sat unfinished. Without missing a beat, he picked up the half-finished wine, poured it into the new glass and proclaimed “waste not, want not!” and immediately left the table.
While we can all probably agree that was not exactly proper wine service, in a casual restaurant, with a cheap bottle of wine, it suited the mood perfectly. Waste not, want not!
