“We just wanted something homey,” Sheldon Simeon says of his new Wailea restaurant, Lineage Maui, where the Top Chef favorite serves comforting dishes like lauya (pictured above), a hearty soup from the Philippines he grew up eating on Sundays in his Hawaiian-Filipino home.
“The restaurant is right down the street from several fancy hotels, so we wanted to showcase an off-cut, like beef shank,” Simeon says, “something that’s going to take time to cook properly.” The shank bones are left in the final dish for optics and broth flavor, but adventurous diners are more than welcome to dig out the marrow.
“Bone broth with ginger is already warming and soothing,” Simeon says. “We always have herbs left over from other dishes, so we throw those in, too.” Lemongrass, Thai basil, and cilantro help to Hawaiianize the classic Filipino dish.
The soup also includes heaping piles of cabbage, bok choy, and potatoes—the latter of which come from Oprah Winfrey’s Maui farm.
While lauya is sometimes made with pork, Simeon decided to showcase Kunoa Cattle Company grass-fed beef, raised on farms on Oahu and Kauai. “It’s all-natural and has no antibiotics,” he says.
On the side are condiments for guests to add to taste—minced garlic, scallions, and chili paste—plus two small bottles of chili vinegar and XO sauce. “You just douse the beef shank in all those ingredients,” Simeon instructs, “especially the chili vinegar.”
