Peter Merriman’s Schwenker

Summer is coming to a close, but the grill is in full swing, literally, at Merrimans’ Waimea.

In our Chefs Recommends feature, in which we asked 47 chefs for their favorite dish at their own restaurant and what they eat when they eat out, Peter Merriman recommended the schwenker-roasted beef ravioli.

Yup, schwenker. Try to say that without giggling.

The German schwenker is a swinging grill, hung over a fire bowl. And, like swinger parties, the more people participating, the more fun. Neil Murphy, Merriman’s executive chef, says when they light it up, a bunch of them push the grill back and forth over the fire. It’s interactive, it’s communal, anyone can give it a swing—when Murphy first heard about it on NPR, he had to have one.

“Waimea has always reminded me of Germany and Austria in a Sound of Music kind of way,” he says. “Mountains, green hills, wind, blue sky, sheep. I thought this would be perfect.” He searched the Internet but couldn’t find one to buy, so he commissioned Ethan Froney, one of the only blacksmiths in Hawaii, to forge one for Merriman’s. It took Froney 10 months to make it, and chef Zach Sato of Merriman’s Waimea has been lighting it every day since. He fuels it with kiawe wood and grills everything from goat to beef to vegetables. Says Murphy, Sato’s “become quite a schwenkmeister.” That’s master schwenker to you.

Merriman’s Waimea
65-1227 Opelo Road, Waimea, (808) 885-6822