I love vintage menus for what they tell us about life in earlier times. But as far as eating those same dishes? Due to limited availability of ingredients then and technological advances now, I have a feeling food tastes much better today.

So when it came time to devise a menu for “The Night They Opened the Royal,” the 90th-anniversary gala for The Royal Hawaiian resort, executive chef Colin Hazama took his cue from the hotel’s Feb. 1, 1927, grand-opening menu, but came up with dishes palatable to 21st-century diners.

While century-old dishes such as medallions of sweetbreads Wilhelmina, salade Lurline and mousse of foie gras Princesse spark the imagination, they do little to stir modern appetites because we have no taste memory of such dishes.

“If I put out the same menu today, I don’t think it would do well,” Hazama said. “People would be wondering what I was thinking. People who come to our events have certain expectations, like they want to see some kind of fish and some kind of beef.”

That was not the case 90 years ago when hotel guests mixed and mingled with the creme de la creme of Honolulu society, including Territorial Gov. Wallace R. Farrington and royal descendant Abigail Kawananakoa. Some 1,200 guests paid a whopping $10 each — the equivalent of about $130 to $140 today — to dine on the dishes listed above, as well as squab-chicken casserole and supreme of mullet Albert. (To compare, a New Year’s feast that year at the Montmartre in Hollywood, including lobster, sole, ravioli, turkey with chestnut dressing, chicken and filet mignon, was $3.)

Sweetbreads might have been a celebratory delicacy in its day, but few would swoon over the organ meat today. Even more problematic was the offering of Green Turtle Kamehameha. The animals are protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and to harm one risks civil penalties of up to $25,000, criminal fines of up to $100,000 and imprisonment for up to a year.

Hazama spent about nine months on research and found that 1920s fare had much in common with the 1970s in terms of a reverence for classic French preparations, and food that was simple and refined. That is the spirit he’s bringing to the menu for “The Night They Opened the Royal,” which takes place March 3 in the resort’s Monarch Room, a benefit for the ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) Association in Hawaii.

The vintage menu aims for a balance of meat and seafood dishes, starting with a trio of light appetizers. Replicating the briny aspect of turtle soup will be hors d’oeuvres dubbed A Blast From the Past — a baby abalone and alii mushroom tart; chilled lemon verbena-scented Kona lobster; and a Fields of Paradise salad of charred Ho Farms baby carrots, pea tendrils and Mari’s Gardens baby chioggia beets.

Ease of travel today gives chefs access to the richness of multicultural food traditions that led to a culinary fusion unimaginable to their forebears.

“In the 1920s and ’30s, there was no such thing as infusing Asian flavors into French-style cooking,” said Hazama, who draws on these elements in his menu, with its themes of “A Taste of Royalty,” “Epicurean Journey” and “Royal Bakery.”

Dishes to be served: Fanta-Sea World, comprising shichimi-cured kampachi and Hawaiian bigeye ahi with braised Wailea hearts of palm, smoked trout caviar and Ululoa spicy greens; Modern Pink Palace, featuring slow-roasted green-and-pink peppercorn prime beef tenderloin, port-stained foie gras, poached moi and three-potato gratin with Ho Farms tomato, alii mushroom fondue and VSOP Cognac essence; and ending with pastry chef Carolyn Portuondo’s Lilikoi White Chocolate Flexi- Ganache with compressed lavender strawberries, ginger-mango pate de fruit and kaffir lime cremeux.

The 1927 soiree featured a show depicting Kamehameha the Great’s arrival on Oahu. A pageant of 15 canoes carried warriors, oarsmen and kahili bearers.

This time around, the Royal will welcome a who’s who of island entertainers, including Robert Cazimero, Marlene Sai, Nina Keali‘iwahamana, Kelly Boy and the DeLima ohana, Danny Couch, and Tihati Productions. Proceeds from a silent auction also will benefit the ALS Association in Hawaii.

In a way, moving ahead with the past may put Hazama at the forefront of a new food movement aimed at reclaiming the classics and returning to culinary common sense.

In confusing times, “People long for rustic dishes, simple braises,” he said. “Everything is going back to the classics.”