TRAVELING IN STYLE : Hawaii’s New Captain Cooks : It’s now possible for the most demanding food lover to dine well in the Islands, thanks to an influx of talented chefs and the birth of a new breed of serious restaurants.

Ask travelers what they like about Hawaii and they quickly tout the winsome weather, beautiful beaches and haute hotels. Sophisticated dining is rarely mentioned. A dish like mahi mahi garnished with bananas and orchids was considered adventurous cuisine. Until recently, that is, and the birth of a new breed of serious restaurants.

Lately a number of first-rate chefs have invaded the Islands, and it’s now possible for the most demanding food lover to dine well. The quality and variety of Hawaii’s restaurants don’t yet match those in Los Angeles, but a few new establishments scattered throughout the islands now offer highly personal interpretations of Hawaiian regional American cooking. And the inventive food is served up in fashionable surroundings.

Hawaii’s culinary revolution began in the early ‘80s in, of all places, hotels. During that decade, American-schooled chefs took the helm of resort dining rooms, gradually replacing most European-trained chefs. The young mainlanders were surprised that such a paradisaical state could be so dependent on shipped-in, frozen food.

Given creative and financial license, the chefs began working with local farmers, encouraging them to grow premier produce, from baby lettuce to esoteric herbs. They formed alliances with those raising local lamb, preparing island goat cheese and aqua-farming fish.

Over time, the local cuisine has continued to evolve. This new cooking style has developed in two directions. One, sometimes called contemporary Hawaiian, emphasizes indigenous products and generally prepares them according to classic European techniques. An example of this is poached onaga (red snapper) with three-caviar sauce.

Sometimes, however, the style is taken a step further. Since the Islands are perched between the Orient and the West and its residents include Chinese, Japanese, Filipino and other Asian nationalities, the cuisine is heavily influenced by Asian ingredients and cooking styles. This has given rise to the second type of regional Hawaiian: a kind of Eurasian cuisine. For this, chefs combine Oriental and Western ingredients in dishes using both European and Oriental cooking techniques. When harmonious, this blend results in some of the most fascinating food in Hawaii. For example: Hawaiian swordfish is grilled and served with shoyu (soy sauce) ginger vinaigrette or grilled rack of lamb with tamarind plum sauce.

Today, it’s not unusual to find contemporary Hawaiian cooking in many hotels and restaurants. But despite interesting menus, execution of the ideas often leaves something to be desired. Perhaps in their haste to be trendy some establishments forget that such innovative cooking requires enormous skill (a fault many California restaurants share).

“Hawaii is slowly coming of age,” says Mark Ellman, chef and owner of Maui’s trendy restaurant, Avalon. “Give us a little time.” With chefs such as Ellman, and the creative cooks listed below, it’s easy to be patient.

Located in Oahu’s upscale Hawaii Kai suburb (about a 20- to 30-minute drive from Waikiki), Roy’s is easily the premier restaurant of the new genre of Hawaiian cuisine.

Roy’s is home base for Roy Yamaguchi, who is generally regarded as one of the finest chefs in the country. Yamaguchi made the food hall of fame as chef of Los Angeles’ now-defunct 385 North, and some faithful followers trek to Oahu just to consume his cooking.

Open less than two years, Roy’s is certainly worth the drive from Waikiki. This restaurant may be the ultimate amalgam of East-West cooking. Yamaguchi lets loose a wealth of flavors that fuse to excite--and often, ignite--the palate. Great grazing goods include crispy Chinese-chicken pizzas topped with shiitake mushrooms, pickled ginger and Japanese spice sprouts (sprouted daikon radish seed) and Louisiana crab cakes with spicy sesame-butter sauce.

Fresh island fish dominates the menu. Charred ahi (tuna) may be tossed into a salad dressed with spicy soy vinaigrette. Or the fish is seared and served with Southwestern achiote sauce and spirited shrimp salsa. Ulua (pompano) is presented with Sichuan-style shrimp, Chinese peas and scallions while a ginger-watercress sauce surrounds a sensuous duo of ono (wahoo) and oysters.

Poultry and meat are also treated to a Yamaguchi twist. A dazzling Thai curry-Cabernet sauce is spooned over grilled lamb from the private island of Niihau. Pork T-bone is offset by grilled pineapple and silken Madeira sauce spiked with ginger.

If diners can divert their attention from Roy’s irresistible food, they’ll delight in an gorgeous view. The upstairs dining room (a lively bar is downstairs) is surrounded by windows that look out to the wedge of the Pacific Ocean between Koko Head and Diamond Head craters. Inside, exotic flower arrangements provide bursts of bright color for a peach-and-white minimalist decor. The frenetic kitchen is open to the room, and the feeling--noise and all--is not unlike dining at Spago.

Most of Roy’s clientele is locals, and they’re a harmonious mix of corporate bigwigs grabbing a power meal, chic, hand-holding couples and women garbed in old-fashioned muumuus celebrating birthdays with their families.

Roy’s, 6600 Kalanianaole Highway, Honolulu; (808) 396-ROYS. Dinner for two, food only, $40-$65.

Over on the Big Island, the fans of cross-cultural cooking head to CanoeHouse, an open-air restaurant with an enchanting view of waves tumbling ashore and stars ablaze in night skies. Located at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows, CanoeHouse is casually elegant and attracts a mix of resort guests and local devotees. Chef Alan Wong can’t help but understand Pacific Rim cuisine; he himself is a microcosm of the Pacific Rim: half-Chinese, half-Japanese, born in Japan and raised in Hawaii. Wong counts an apprenticeship at The Greenbrier and three years in the kitchen of Lutece among his credits.

At CanoeHouse, koa-wood dining tables are adorned with chili-pepper water, a Hawaiian-style hot sauce. Guests nibble on Hawaiian chili-pepper lavash (bread spiked with chilies) and Portuguese macadamia-nut sweet bread. Making a selection from the generous list of appealing appetizers always presents a delicious dilemma.

Smart diners choose the pupu platter, a sampling of several selections. No flaming spareribs or teriyaki skewers here; instead, the chef prepares tidbits such as succulent roast duck brushed with hoisin sauce, mounded with avocado and nestled in a bed of chili-scallion chips (crunchy crackers flavored with scallions and chilies). The crisp-skinned duck served with the crackers provides the ideal textural contrast to smooth, creamy avocado, while sweet hoisin cools the palate heated by fiery chips.

The pupu platter, which changes regularly, may also include curried-chicken lumpia with rich coconut-ginger cream. Spicy crab summer rolls (an uncooked spring roll with a rice paper wrapper) soak up Thai sweet-sour sauce and lightly fried opakapaka (pink snapper) wrapped in nori (dried seaweed) is devoured with refreshing Japanese cucumber relish.

Wong’s main dishes are less inventive than his pupus , yet still please. Few baby backribs are more tender and infused with more flavor than CanoeHouse’s glistening, hoisin -glazed ribs stacked in a heap and sprinkled with crunchy scallions.

CanoeHouse, Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows, 1 Mauna Lani Drive, Kohala Coast, Island of Hawaii; (808) 885-6622. Dinner for two, food only, $50-$80.

About a half-hour’s drive from the Mauna Lani Hotel--in the tiny town of Kamuela--is a free-standing restaurant called Merriman’s. Owner and chef Peter Merriman previously worked at Mauna Lani and garnered much mainland press for his freewheeling interpretations of Hawaiian food. He quickly became known as one of the pioneers of the new cooking style.

Less than two years ago, he opened his own enticing restaurant in paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy) country. Not only does Merriman highlight Hawaiian fare, he prefers to cook with only Big Island ingredients. Merriman is such a purist that he has scaled coconut trees to ensure the success of the spicy coconut sauce that accompanies his fish of the day. His modest menu includes such appetizers as local goat cheese baked in phyllo and drizzled with island orange sauce. New England-style fish chowder is enriched with breadfruit, while hot spinach salad is tossed with pipikaula , Hawaiian jerked beef that tastes a little like pancetta .

Merriman’s is not only interesting to eat in, it’s also interesting to look at. The contemporary dining room showcases an open kitchen so guests can catch a glimpse of the chef at work. Green plants provide a soothing contrast to peachy-pink walls. An art deco painting of couples dancing under the moonlight with Diamond Head as a backdrop is bathed in soft light. It’s easy to feel good at Merriman’s.

Merriman’s, Opelo Plaza, Route 19, Kamuela, Island of Hawaii; (808) 885-6822. Dinner for two, food only, $40-$60.

Kauai has never been known as a gastronomic haven. This sleepy island is best visited for its greenery, waterfalls and secluded beaches. Yet Jean-Marie Josselin is one chef who may make a definitive dent in Kauai’s image.

Josselin, who rose to prominence as chef of Rosewood Hotels’ Crescent Court in Dallas and the Hotel Hana-Maui, most recently worked at Kauai’s Coco Palms Resort. Last year, the French chef won the National Seafood Challenge as well as the Hawaiian Seafood Championship. Recently, he opened A Pacific Cafe in Kapaa.

The restaurant has already established a strong word-of-mouth reputation. In true East-West fashion, the kitchen is replete with a wood-burning grill, rotisserie and wok from which are prepared a small daily menu of intriguing selections: steamed Vietnamese spring rolls with basil-peanut dip; lemon soup with barbecued chicken won-ton; baked onaga with horseradish-thyme crust and plum-ginger sauce; grilled ehu (orange snapper) with mint-papaya sauce.

A Pacific Cafe, Kauai Village on Kuhio Highway, Kapaa, Kauai; (808) 822-0013. Dinner for two, food only, $40-$60.

Food lovers staying on Maui flock to Lahaina’s Avalon, where chef/owner Mark Ellman whimsically brings together some of the best elements of Pacific Rim cuisines. Ellman, who once co-owned a California catering company called “Can’t Rock and Roll, But Sure Can Cook,” truly can cook. Kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, tamarind, Thai fish sauce and kecap manis (Indonesian palm sugar and soy sauce blend used in sauces and marinades) are but some of the exotic ingredients adding distinctive flavor to his food.

Nearly three years old, Avalon has that casual-chic, across-the-street-from-the-ocean feeling of Santa Monica’s Ivy at the Shore. Pastel walls are adorned with original Maui art. Island-print fabrics add pizazz to bamboo chairs.

Ellman is a whiz with a wok. Doused with garlicky black-bean sauce, whole, deep-fried opakapaka is so good it’s inevitably picked at until it’s bare bones. Friday and Saturday nights are the best evenings to dine at Avalon: Week-ends are when Ellman prepares Chinese duck. Mahogany-glazed, crisp-skinned and free of fat, the tender bird is stuffed inside light and airy Chinese steamed buns and brushed with spicy plum sauce.

It’s a rare diner who’s too full to order Caramel Miranda, Avalon’s tongue-in-cheek-named dessert. Fresh tropical fruits and coquitos (baby coconuts) are drenched in an intense caramel sauce, warmed through and crowned with plump scoops of macadamia nut ice cream.

Avalon, 844 Front St., Lahaina, Maui; (808) 667-5559. Dinner for two, food only, $45-$70.

Back on Oahu, smack-dab in Waikiki is La Mer, tucked inside the ritzy Halekulani Hotel. Perfectly positioned at the water’s edge, the teak-and-rattan room is located on the second floor of the hotel’s historic 1930s-vintage main building. Floor-to-ceiling shutters open to salty ocean breezes and the hypnotic pounding of the waves. Diners may be in the heart of Hawaii’s busiest beach, but this isolated setting provides blessed tranquillity.

French chef George Mavrothalassitis, who trained with Alain Senderens and the Troisgros brothers, adheres to French culinary techniques and presentations yet incorporates island ingredients in his cooking. As such, he is one of the few non-American chefs in the vanguard of the new Hawaiian cooking movement. Take his warm Norwegian salmon. It’s smoked with over native kiawe wood and napped with shallot-chive sauce. Kumu , a reef fish usually featured only in local Chinese restaurants, is cooked in parchment with seaweed, basil and shiitake mushrooms. Lanai venison achieves an earthy yet elegant presentation when served with chestnut, celery root and sweet potato puree.

La Mer, Halekulani Hotel, 2199 Kalia Road, Honolulu; (808) 923- 2311. Dinner for two, food only, $80-$105.