christmas at thefairmont - hfm foodservice

serving you today’s industr y news and information

TM

December 2012

Christmas at the FairmontFundraiser Benefits

Scholarships, Palamanui’s New Student Kitchen

American Humane Association • Chase Family Cellars • Chateau Ste. Michelle • Creekstone Farms • Domaine SereneHudson Valley Foie Gras • Rodney Strong Vineyards • Segura Viudas • Wüsthof

is coming to Kohala Coast HI! Benef iting the James Beard Foundation

Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows68-1400 Mauna Lani Drive, Kohala Coast, HI 96743

Fri & Sat, Jan 18 & 19, 2013

A fantastic dinner prepared by: Celebrity Chefs: Jonathan Waxman, Nancy Silverton, Bruce Bromberg, Aaron Sanchez,Sam Choy, and Host Chef Clayton Arakawawith Celebrity Mixologist Manny Hinojosa

A reception featuring passed canapés complemented with�ne wines and Stella Artois beer

Select wine pairings presented with each course

Exclusive interactions with award-winning chefs

$225 Per person inclusive

$100 Per person

Friday Grey Goose Cocktail Party

Saturday Dinner inclusive tax and tip

$300 VIP Pass

Grey Goose Cocktail Party Fridayand Dinner Saturday

Jonathan WaxmanBarbuto

New York

Nancy SilvertonOsteria Mozza

Los Angeles CA

Bruce BrombergBlue Ribbon Restaurants

New York & Las Vegas NV

Aaron SanchezCentrico

New York City

Sam ChoyKai Lanai

Kahaluu-Keauhou HI

Clayton ArakawaMauna Lani Bay Hotel

Hawaii

Manny HinojosaGray Goose®

T hanks to local sponsors

Foodservice in Paradise december 2012 3

4 Operators Edge What’s Up Nationally?

19 Hawaii Restaurant Association Industry Update

20 Hawaii Hotel Lodging Association Industry Update

22 Certified Angus Beef Raising the Steaks

24 Culinary Educational Training Workshop Leeward Community College

28 Sharing Industry Perspectives Kauai Community College

32 Common Ground Kauai Ranch and Red Salt

36 Cover Story Christmas at Fairmont Chefs to dazzle diners

40 Brick Oven Pizza Branding & Standards

44 Recipes Ideas Profitable Ideas

46 Holiday Proteins Where Chefs Shop

50 Taste of the Range Sustainable/Agricultural/Educational

52 Coffee & Kona A Perfect Match

54 Coupons of the Quarter Money Makers

66 Upcoming Events Hawaii’s Industry update

contents december 2012

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4 Foodservice in Paradise december 2012

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Operators Edge

One of the simplest and easiest ways to get free advice on how to improve your restaurant or foodservice operation is by listening to what

your customers have to say. However, most of your cus-tomers may not share their thoughts with you willingly. You have to put some effort into getting it out of them.

The majority of customers who have had an unsatis-factory experience at your operation will leave without saying anything to you. They will, however, tell all their family and friends, or even post their negative experi-ence on social media platforms, thereby driving away potential customers. Therefore, it is imperative that you take action immediately with an apology, a plan to rec-tify the issue and ask the customer for another chance.

It is also helpful to get positive reviews as you can see what your operation is doing best and build on it. You can also use positive reviews to reward and motivate your staff, and as testimonials to put on your website, flyers or other promotional materials.

Getting feedback from your customers on an ongo-ing basis will keep your operation successful, and help you build relationships with your customers. Diane Chiasson, FCSI, President of Chiasson Consultants Inc., a world renowned restaurant, foodservice and retail consultancy firm based in Toronto, offers these ideas on how to get that feedback:

1. Just talk to them The simplest way to get feedback from your custom-

ers is by talking to them. It is also a great way to start

building relationships. Always ask your customers how they like your food and service, what other items they want to see on the menu, what you can do to improve their experi-ence, etc. If someone has a good idea, try it out. It will show your customers that you care.

2. Google yourselfMake it a habit to check online reviews of your restau-

rant operation on a weekly basis so that you have a good idea of what your customers are saying. If you read any negative reviews, try to make contact with the reviewers to offer an apology, tell them how you plan to fix the situa-tion, and invite them back for another meal on the house.

3. Email themCreate a database of your customers and build an email

list. Use this list to not only send them information or promotions about your restaurant, but send them surveys or questionnaires to get their input. Provide an incentive for them to take the time to provide their feedback like a free appetizer or a 10% discount on their next meal.

4. Use comment cardsComment cards are a great way for customers to express

their opinions and give you feedback anonymously. They can also be used to collect information for your database. Place a drop box that is locked by the exit of your operation, or allow customers to mail in the cards as well (just make sure you pay for the postage!). Make sure you ask for contact informa-tion, and offer an incentive for filling in the card.

5. Use online comment cardsAnother option for comment cards is to have an online

version. Ask your customers to log onto your website, type in their assigned receipt number and fill out your comment card. Again, offer an incentive for filling it out.

6. Never let an angry customer walk out the door

One of the biggest mistakes that restaurant operators make is to allow unsatisfied or irate customers to walk out the door. If you cannot handle dealing with a confrontation, hire professional consultants to train yourself and your staff on how to deal with an angry customer. Most people are willing to forgive if you apologize and sincerely want them to have a good experience at your operation.

Source: Diane Chiasson for Foodservice.com

Improve Your Business by Listening to Your Customers


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Operators Edge

5 Tips for Restaurant Interior Design

When you’re looking to create a successful res-taurant, food and service aren’t the only im-portant factors. Appealing interior design is

also key, but it can be difficult to find a balance between standing out and making customers feel comfortable.

Here are five restaurant interior design tips and se-crets for crafting a unique and memorable style:

1. Preconstruction is keyThe old adage about building a house on sand is true,

even in the case of restaurant interior design. Even the most talented designer can only do so much if the basics of your building are lacking. If you’re going to invest in the interior, don’t forget about the foundation. Even little details can make a big difference, not only in the look but also in the safety of your building. Before you start outfitting the interior, have a contractor examine the soundness of your structure and take care of anything that could become an issue, whether it’s a rotting roof, loose railings, or old insulation.

2. Work with what you’ve gotYour building makes you unique. If you’re in an older

structure, use that to your advantage rather than trying to hide it. Work with your designer and your restaurant builder to explore all possibilities and how it can work for your type of cuisine. You may find a hidden layer of historic brick behind newer wall coverings that brings a whole new dimension to the environment.

3. Remember your locationThe cuisine may be similar, but a Thai restaurant in

Annapolis, Maryland has a completely different clien-tele than one in Los Angeles. Consider your poten-tial customers and what makes the city you’re in unique, and incorporate that into your design in a way that makes sense for your restaurant. For example, using subtle nautical colors or images in a sailing town.

4. Consider all the sensesYour patrons come to you mainly

for one thing: taste. But, that doesn’t mean the other five senses should be ignored. Create a multi-sensory, ma-ny-textured experience. For example, appeal to touch with lush fabrics for booths and chair backs that are con-trasted by smooth hardwood tables.

For hearing, balance outside noise like background music and chatter with the customer’s ability to hold a conversa-tion at their own table.

5. Stick with your vision, but don’t be trapped by it

Perhaps the most important interior restaurant design tip is simply to choose a scheme and stay true to it. If you’re going for a laid back, relaxed vibe, then don’t upset it with overly bright colors or lights. But, having a vision doesn’t mean you have to fit a certain mold, and mixing styles can have a great effect. For example, using classic dark wood with clean contemporary lines, contrasting modern furni-ture with traditional Japanese artwork, or installing antique furnishings in an up-to-date, all-white color scheme.

Whether you’re doing a tenant fit out or creating a pur-pose-built restaurant structure, restaurant interior design tips like these can help you not only create a more concrete vision, but also make sure that it’s effectively made into reality. Contact an interior designer or restaurant builder near you for more information or to get started planning your design.

Source: Sally Costello for runningrestaurants.com


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Operators Edge

1. Utilize the Search Apps & Check Yourself Out

These days, almost everyone uses the search services like Google Maps, Yelp and Bing. If we need to find the nearest Buffalo Wild Wings, we simply look it up. Yet many restaurant owners and managers assume that they are included in these services. Are your address, phone number, and website accessible, correct and up to date?

• Ask• Never Assume• Ask Again!

2. Content MattersFacebook pages work really well for local customer

bases. Make a unique blog that caters to local fans who know your geographic area well and throw in some fun facts, creative characters or other interactions to keep them loyal. YouTube is a great way to involve the local diners using fun videos that showcase your restaurant’s unique menus, location or history. It’s also an easy way to invite new customers to your dining experience.

3. CouponsCurrently, Groupon is the most popular of social

commerce sites and is gaining a large number of res-taurants adopting this new form of electronic coupon marketing. Smaller businesses are dealing with some issues of being too overwhelmed by the discounts and heavy foot traffic, but perhaps many larger restaurants would love to have this complaint. In general we do not subscribe to the notion of coupons and discounts for restaurant marketing. In the long run the brand suffers. Heavy usage can train customers to only come to your restaurant when there is a deal. The pizza segment has their customers so hooked on discounts nearly 80% of all pizza purchases are from a coupon redemption. Yuck! Any given day of the week someone else, somewhere else, a competitor can run a better deal. In other words, you can’t build competitor-proof relationships and win the hearts and minds of customers with discounts; you can only rent them at best. For now, the buzz and novelty of social commerce dampens some of the brand dam-

5 Tips to Fill Your Restaurant Seats with Location-Based Service Users

age traditional coupon marketing can cause. So, if you’re bent on running discounts and coupons, use services like Living Social, Facebook Deals and Google Offers as they are leaders of the pack at the moment.

4. ReviewsConsumers are driven by word of mouth,

but it’s too easy for them to simply use reviewer sites to decide on their next dining experience. Feel free to encourage happy diners to write a great review about you on these sites. Do regular scavenger hunts on these sites for feedback and even constructive criticism. Brace yourself though for the coneheads that can’t ever say anything nice. Anyone in the public eye is a target for criti-cism and the anonymity of the web can turn some people into cyber-vandals out to deface a brand online for the sheer sport of it. Nonetheless, just as you would go out with a can of paint to retouch your restaurant facade if airbrushed by vandals, these days we have to also check for brand vandal-ism online. There are several reputation monitoring solu-tions available on the market today to help take the legwork out of it for you. And, on the positive side, be sure to reward those honest and well-intentioned reviews; whether glowing or critical something good can be learned from analyzing the reviews for recurring themes.

5. Reward the CustomerThis tip seems obvious but may be overlooked (and

herein lies the potential for you!). As the LBS apps evolve, stay ahead of the pack by offering rewards and benefits for your customers that use LBS apps. For example, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide recently offered a loyalty point bonus of 250 points per check-in (by the way, in general, the Starwood Preferred Guest program is hands-down the best loyalty program in the hospitality industry). Already, com-panies are thinking outside of the box for great marketing fun. Check out this major coup by SCVNGR and Buffalo Wild Wings which was a big success.

People are using Foursquare and SCVNGR, but what real benefits are they getting from you? These LBS apps are not just a passing novelty, and savvy, forward-looking

How effective are location based service (LBS) tools you use to drive traffic to your restaurant?


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restaurant marketers are already finding new ways to fill their tables using creative partnerships and digital market-ing campaigns. Why not your brand too?

In the end, we think the trend of LBS apps is not going away, but will evolve as every other tech trend does. Your time is best served by staying in the modern marketing game, joining the LBS crowd now, insert your restau-rant brand into as many search avenues as possible, stay informed, and offer incentives for your diners to return. Be the location they will share with their friends, businesses contacts, visiting relatives, and their own customers. The importance of word of mouth hasn’t gone away; it’s just gone online.

Source: Aaron D. Allen Global Restaurant Consulting

Cost Saving Ways to Cut Waste

In this economy, there’s only so much “repricing” an operator can do to ensure profits. Here are some tips for reducing the cost of sales by eliminating waste.

A drop of 1-2% in food costs can make all the difference between profitability and loss.

• Adjust hours to coincide with the busiest and most profitable sales periods. Late nights, for instance, can be slow. If you’re not covering the cost of the labor required, close on weekends—or only stay open late on the nights that students are studying for finals or the playhouse across the street has a program, for instance.

• Check inventory carefully at every stage — deliv-ery, production, set-up, overproduction (a.k.a. “left-overs”), and so on to help stay on track.

• Consider replacing specialty flavor ingredients that are seasonal, highly inconsistent, or generate a lot of waste (such as fresh herbs) with prepared products that deliver the same impact.

• Can you reduce sizes of condiment dishes and salad dressing containers served “on the side” to eliminate unused product? Customers can always request more.

• Look at food trimmings — such as citrus rinds, bacon renderings, celery tops, mushroom stems, and

protein trim — for menu applications. Stale bread, for instance, can be turned into breadcrumbs, French toast, croutons, crostini, and stuffings. Bread puddings are a very popular dessert in these comfort-driven times, and can be made with everything from baguettes to leftover croissants, cinnamon rolls, and even jelly donuts.

• Check your garbage. A lot of production trim and un-finished food means something is wrong. More people are taking home doggie bags now, but uneaten food means that you may be able to decrease portion sizes or offer the option of a smaller portion of a favorite menu item for a scaled-down price.

• Solicit employee input on ways to drive unnecessary cost and waste from the system; both front- and back-of-house employees may have an idea you haven’t thought of.

Awareness of costs, flexibility, and creativity in finding solutions are more important than ever. You can also turn to technology for a leg up. A good point-of-sale system or internet-based food-management application can help track spillage, overproduction, over-portioning, and other sources of waste.

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Operators Edge

Is there such a thing as easy money? Yes! Read on for cost-saving, money-making ideas

you can implement at your place today to help you operate profitably.

Bar BacksImprove service, save on labor

cost and promote from within. Bar backs are the bartenders’ best friends, and if they’re well-trained and engaged, they can be the own-er’s best friend should the bartender call in sick or simply not show up. Bar backs make the bartender more efficient and productive. What’s more, invest in developing your bar back, and you’ve got your next top bartender. Soon you’ll be hiring bar backs and not bartenders, resulting in a bar team that delivers a great guest experience!

The Bar’s Achilles’ Heel Dirty glassware sends entirely

wrong message. Lipstick or grease on a glass speaks volumes about what’s happening behind your bar and in your kitchen - and it’s not a good message. Take the club soda test: Pour club soda into the glass. If bubbles adhere to the side, you’ve got a less-than-clean glass; the bubbles are sticking to grease or other material instead of rising up in the liquid. Re-visit your glass washing program and equipment and emphasize the importance of clean glassware with your staff.

If Nothing Else, Keep your bathrooms clean!

This is very important if you want to retain your female clientele, and we all know how important the ladies are to your business. If the restroom is dirty, they may not stay long and may never come back. Worse, they’ll tell their friends! Be

The Devil is in the Detailssure to clean your bathrooms thor-oughly and regularly, and check them hourly on busy nights to replenish tow-els and paper, empty trash and wipe up sink areas.

Be Prepared For SuccessStock proper bartending tools. This

is one of first things King Cocktail Dale DeGroff teaches: Chefs have their own tools; bartenders should too. Chances are good that the house will not provide them, so as a bartender, you need to put together a tool kit with the necessary tools to build great drinks: jiggers, shakers, strainers, bar spoons, muddlers, even knives. When you arrive, set up your station so everything you need is within arm’s reach and ready to go. For the operator, look for this level of preparedness and professionalism when hiring bartend-ers.

Coping With Labor PainsSchedule as a percentage of sales.

Do you know your labor costs? What you don’t know can hurt you! For most restaurants, labor costs are about 30 percent; a bar or nightclub, should be 18 - 24 percent. Owners and opera-tors need to forecast labor based on forecasted sales - you’ve got to do the math. Then, you’ve got to constantly monitor it daily and make adjustments quickly if things are out of whack.

Portioning SafeguardsWinning the battle at the point of

thirst. Improper pouring, be it spirits into a cocktail or wine into the glass or pulling a draft beer, is a constant cul-prit of loss for many bar owners. Train staff to follow recipes, use measured pouring techniques and dispense draft beer properly, and you’ll see waste reduced significantly and quickly. And don’t forget to let them know that

you’re watching and monitoring!

Measured PoursLow tech, high ROI. Yes, free pour-

ing looks cool, but measured pours deliver cold, hard cash. Using jiggers prevents over- and under-pouring, resulting in better cost controls. Now, some bartenders will complain that it’s too slow and makes the guest think the house is being cheap by watch-ing every drop. But through training and practice, the necessary speed will come, and every guest ultimately appreciates a balanced, well-made cocktail. The ROI comes in less waste and happier guests.

If you’re going to Serve Draft Beers, Do it right.

Draft is only profitable if you’re paying attention to it. Make sure kegs and lines are at the right temperature - about 38 degrees. Maintain your draft lines, which mean scheduling regular cleanings, and brush clean taps. Use beer clean glasses; make sure they’re not hot right out of the dishwasher! Finally, pour properly. Don’t open the tap until the glass is in position - at a 30 degree angle - and allow an inch of foam. Serve with a smile and watch your profits grow!

Watch For Sticky FingersImprove profits by eliminating

shrinkage. The thieves among us are creative - beat them at their own game by monitoring everything. Create variance reports, monitor bartender productivity and account for every transaction and every drop poured. Most of all let them know you’re watching. You’ll see improvements in profits right away.

Source: Donna Hood Crecca and Robert Plotkin for Nightclub & Bar


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Operators Edge

Social media publishers must adhere to the same basic editorial standards as traditional media. Companies can’t adopt the “everyone is a pub-

lisher” mantra without a broader awareness of what it means to use content to build an audience, and they can’t cherry-pick the most “fun” parts of being a publisher and discard time-honored editorial processes. Here are some guidelines:

1. Tell the truthFeature real people, real situations, genuine emo-

tions, and facts (more about that in a minute). As much as possible, your content should show, not tell. It should show your product as it exists in the world, through customer stories, case studies or client perspectives and narratives. How do you add value? Why do you matter? That is your story.

2. Use dataData puts your content in context and gives you cred-

ibility. Ground your content in facts: Data, research, and numbers are the foundation for any story. Your ideas and opinions and spin might be part of that story — or they might not be, depending on what you are trying to convey. But the more credible content is rooted in something real, not just your own beliefs. Said another way: data before declaration. In other words, if you are going to tell me what you think, give me a solid reason why you think it.

3. Cite sourcesGive credit where credit is due: If you use an info-

graphic from another company, cite the source and link to it. If you create that infographic based on someone else’s data, say that, too, Joe wrote in a piece in Mash-able. Also, if you interview someone and use what he says either directly or indirectly, attribute the ideas to that person, even if you don’t use his exact words.

4. Seek out the best sourcesKnow the difference between “on the record,” “for

background,” and “off the record”. Newspaper report-ers go to the scene of an incident to report what really happened; in the business world, you should, too. Are you blogging about a new technology? Talk to the guy who developed it, not the PR or marketing person pro-moting it. My newspaper editors used to tell me this: Find the person standing as closest to the center of a story as you can.

10 Ground Rules for Content Marketers5. Check your spelling

It pains me to have to say this, but my name gets botched all the time in social media, and I see others suf-fering a similar fate. Make sure you double-check proper name and company names and use them consistently cor-rectly. Otherwise, your work appears sloppy, and you risk losing credibility.

6. Root out opposing viewpointsAs Joe Chernov says, “There’s a name for something

with a single point of view: It’s called a press release.” In-corporate multiple perspectives when the issue lends itself to that. At the very least, don’t ignore the fact that other points of view might exist; to do so makes me not trust you.

7. Be aware of hidden agendas. If you interview a source, be clear on what agenda is be-

hind their point of view. In business, often that means you should follow the money: Who butters their bread? Are they a competitor? Investor? PR professional retained to main-tain a specific point of view? They might still be credible as a source — in fact, PR folks can be awesome background sources—but you need to be aware of any agenda.

8. EditAt newspapers and magazines, editors are the bottom

line in what gets said and where it gets said and how long a publication will dedicate to saying it. Brands need to adopt a similar economy to the content they produce and focus on producing the very best stuff in the very best way they possibly can.

9. Keep things simpleBusiness —like life — can be complicated. Products

can be involved or seem impenetrable. But your content should deconstruct the complex to make it easily under-stood: Lose the corporate Frankenspeak and convey what you want to say in human, accessible terms. A good guide-line: Assume the reader knows nothing. But don’t assume the reader is stupid.

10. Think visuallyThe visual Web is the norm — so consider how you

might add visual elements to any story you tell.

Bonus Rule: Make your customer the hero of your story. The best

content has a human element to it. Why? Because your


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readers are people, which means they will relate better to your story if you relate it to them on their level. Even if you sell something inherently boring like technology or toasters, focus on how your products or services touch people’s lives.

By the way, when you are talking about people, a good rule of thumb is this: Be specific enough to be believable and universal enough to be relevant.

Source: Excerpts; Ann Handley for Marketing Profs

In an article on www.clarionledger.com, the National Restaurant Association was reported as saying that as many as 53% of consumers will elect to get their

Thanksgiving dinner as take-out from restaurants. This could be a real boon to restaurants that have been strug-gling during the economic downturn.

If you expect to prepare and sell more take-out meals over the holiday season, make sure your food safety sys-tems are equally geared up for these activities to prevent the possibility of a foodborne illness outbreak. Let’s review the CDC’s Top 5 Risk Factors for foodborne ill-ness to make sure that we know where to focus our food safety efforts.

1. Purchasing from Approved SourcesPurchase your foods from sources that you know are

reputable, and that follow all the food safety rules and regulations. You trust them to provide you with the saf-est food possible. If any of your suppliers do not make food safety a priority, then make it your priority to find suppliers who do.

2. Cooking TemperaturesCooking foods to required minimum internal tem-

peratures is a critical step in reducing the chance of foodborne illness because the cooking process reduces pathogens in the food. Foods have different cooking temperature requirements, so be sure that all team mem-bers responsible for cooking understand these require-ments and know how to correctly check the temperature of foods.

3. Holding Temperatures - Hot & ColdTo minimize the growth of microorganisms, foods

must be kept out of the Temperature Danger Zone. The Temperature Danger Zone is between 41 degrees F and

Remember the Top Five Food Safety Risk Factors

135 degrees F. This means that the inter-nal tempera-ture of cold foods must be kept at or below 41 degrees F and hot foods must be maintained at or above 135 degrees F. The only way to ensure that you are meeting these require-ments is to take temperatures of foods with a thermometer throughout the day.

4. Use Cleaned & Sanitized EquipmentUsing equipment and utensils that are not properly

cleaned and sanitized can lead to cross contamination. Make sure that all of your food contact surfaces, prep surfaces, equipment and utensils are thoroughly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use.

5. Good Personal HygienePracticing good personal hygiene is critical to food

safety. This means thorough and frequent hand washing, not working when you are ill, and preventing bare hand contact with ready-to-eat foods by using disposable gloves or some other type of utensil. Remind employees to report any symptoms of food borne illness to Management and re-strict anyone with symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea, fever or jaundice from handling foods.

If you want to learn more about reducing the risk of food borne illness in your operation, consider taking a class and becoming certified in Food Protection Management. Check with your Regulatory Authority to find Food Protection Management classes in your area.

As always, the information provided here is just a gen-eral guideline. Your local Regulatory Authority may have different requirements regarding allergens. Consult with them to learn what the requirements are in your area.


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Operators Edge

Add the Super Power of Superfoods to Your Menu

Superfoods add more than nutrient-dense foods to the menu. They bring with them menu distinction, intrigue (in some cases) and wholesome goodness.

But what are superfoods? The USDA offers no official definition, and a quick search online brings up countless and varied lists. According to the International Food Infor-mation Council, superfoods provide high levels of antioxi-dants, vitamins, minerals, fiber and phytochemicals. They come in both everyday and exotic forms. From blueberries to goji berries. From barley to quinoa. “I look at superfoods as natural foods containing exceptionally high nutrient den-sity, as well as phytochemicals and antioxidants,” says Julie Morris, natural-food chef and author of Superfood Cuisine: Cooking with Nature’s Most Amazing Foods (Navitas Naturals, 2011). “There is a gray area of what is and what isn’t a superfood. Most natural foods are beneficial, but there’s a difference in the nutrient density that sets super-foods well above other foods.” Studies tell us that diners are seeking out healthier options, and superfoods certainly dial up that delivery. “Now is a great time for chefs to lever-age superfoods,” says Chef Morris. “Consumers are more aware of them, but may still be intimidated to try them at home. They may try them at restaurants because they view superfoods as both exotic and gourmet.”

Superfoods: a PrimerThe list of superfoods is long! Rather than running

an exhaustive encyclopedia, we offer a superfoods guide that spotlights ingredients from Chef Morris’ cookbook that hold culinary interest, capture the imagination of to-day’s diner, or in some cases, offer delicious familiarity.

Acai berry• Fast Fact: grows in clusters on tall palm trees native

to the Amazon rainforest, acai has a mild blueberry flavor with a hint of chocolate

• Culinary Tip: look for frozen a pulp packs and use in smoothies, soups and desserts

Avocado• Fast Fact: a single avocado tree can produce about

500 avocados a year (although they usually average about 150 fruit)

• Culinary Tip: for added menu interest, look for small, pickle-sized avocados called “finger” or “cock-tail” avocados

Blueberry• fast facts — blueberries turn reddish when exposed

to acids, such as lemon juice and vinegar, and they turn greenish-blue in a batter that has too much baking soda, which creates an alkaline environment

• Culinary Tip: one dry cup of fresh blueberries equals two-thirds of a cup of pureed blueberries

Chickpeas• Fast Fact: chickpeas are not actually peas, but bush beans• Culinary Tip: try frying chickpeas in a bit of oil for a share-

able or side dish, topping with lime juice, salt and chili powder

Goji berry• Fast Fact: with a flavor profile that falls between cher-

ries, cranberries and raisins, goji berries are sweet-tart, and have a background plum-like flavor

• Culinary Tip: plump dried goji berries in port wine, tea or goji-berry juice

Kale• Fast Fact: varieties include Scottish curly kale, cavolo

negro (Tuscan kale) and red Russian kale• Culinary Tip: before cooking kale, marinate it to break

down the cell structure

Mango• Fast Fact: domestically, only Florida, California, Ha-

waii and Puerto Rico grow mangos• Culinary Tip: mangos shouldn’t be refrigerated until

they reach desired ripeness; try using green mango in a savory summer slaw

Pomegranate• Fast Fact: one pomegranate yields 1/2 cup of juice and

3/4 cup of seeds• Culinary Tip: garnish rice dishes with pomegranate seeds;

glaze chicken with pomegranate molasses before grilling

Quinoa• Fast Fact: not officially a grain, but a seed, quinoa was

named by the Incas as the “mother of all grains”• Culinary Tip: look to quinoa flakes for breakfast solu-

tions, such as hot cereal and muffins; for added drama, consider red quinoa, which is slightly more toothsome and hearty, but offers beautiful color

Sweet potato• Fast Fact: sweet potatoes are not potatoes; potatoes are

tubers and sweet potatoes are part of the morning glory family

• Culinary Tip: use sweet potatoes instead of potatoes in hash browns


3. Rinse the surface: Rinsing with water removes the cleaner from the surface. This is important to prepare for the sanitizing step. Any cleaner that remains on a surface may reduce the effectiveness of the sanitizer.

4. Sanitize the surface: Sanitizing reduces viruses or bacteria that should remain on the surface to safe levels. This step, often overlooked, is crucial as it reduces the risk of cross contamination. The typical tools for sanitizing are quaternary ammonium compounds -- or quats for short and chlorine-based sanitizers. A foodservice wiper or cloth that helps distribute the sanitizer on the surfaces should also be used. Paper or absorbent cloths are not well-suited for this task, as they will absorb the sanitizer and not allow it to remain on the surface. Disposable wipes designed to prolong the effectiveness of sanitizing solution are optimal.

5. Allow the surface to air dry: Air drying seems trivial. However, this is the most important step of sanitizing. In order for a sanitizer to work, it must stay in contact with the surface for a specific amount of time. Allowing the surface to air-dry will ensure it has enough time to do this. Cross-contamination may also be prevented if the surface is air-dried instead of being towel-dried.

Proper cleaning and sanitizing will help address both the perceived cleanliness of the establishment by patrons as well as the actual cleanliness, so customers will be happy to walk through your front door time and time again.

Content courtesy of SCA Tissue; Suzanne Cohen, Foodservice Director, SCA AfH Professional Hygiene

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Watermelon• Fast Fact: 44 states grow watermelons, with Florida,

Texas, California, Georgia and Arizona consistently leading the country in production

• Culinary Tip: the average 20-pound watermelon

yields about 53 6-ounce wedges, each 3/4-inch thick; the average 20-pound watermelon yields 14 pounds of edible fruit, leaving six pounds of rind

Content courtesy of Kraft Foodservice

The most important time to impress a customer is when they walk in the front door. Is your restau-rant clean? If not, customers may turn around and

never come back. Beyond this, what invisible threats may be lurking in a seemingly clean environment? These are issues that can impact the future of your business.

That’s why there needs to be just as much effort spent on cleaning and sanitizing the front of the house as there is in the back of the house. The risks of a poor inspection report from the health inspector, or worse, a cross-con-tamination incident are just too high to ignore. A patron contracting a food borne illness at your establishment can put you out of business.

In the front of the house, surfaces should be cleaned with each table turn. What is cleaned should be based on what patrons typically touch during their visit to the restaurant.

Examples include tables, chairs, and menus. Any sur-face that comes in direct contact with food, such as high chair trays, must also be sanitized.

Here are five steps for properly cleaning and sanitiz-ing surfaces:

1. Remove food from the surface: Removing food bits and spills before washing the surface will help the cleaner work better. Use a disposable paper towel or disposable cloth that can adequately pick up a majority of the liquid or food particles.

2. Wash the surface: Washing the surface removes any remaining food or other dirt. Care should be used in choosing the right cleaner as some may damage surfaces. Consider disposable wipes that are chemically treated to keep the wiper fresh by limiting the growth of odor-causing bacteria.

Cleaning Tips to Stop Germ Spread and Cross-Contamination

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With the focus on healthy menu offerings and produce-based options increasing, you may want to take a look at your salad selection to

make sure you have an array of tempting entree salads that your customers can order for lunch or a light, whole-some dinner.

And that doesn’t mean add a chef salad to the menu and call it a day. The salad section can and should get as much attention as the appetizer and entree listings, particularly in an establishment that serves lunch. In fact, according to Technomic’s Salad Consumer Trend Report, 70% of consumers surveyed would like to see more variety from the salad section of the menu.

Champps Americana, a sports bar with 56 locations in 18 states, has no fewer than 11 options on its Entree Style Salads menu section, ranging from a traditional Chicken Caesar to premium Sesame Seared Tuna. These popular salads offer an alternative to more hearty stan-dards like burgers, ribs, and sandwiches — perfect for lunchers, female diners, and anyone who wants to dine on the lighter side.

Here are some ideas for tapping the demand for entree salads:

• Take a page from toss-your-own salad concepts like Tossed and Fresh Brothers, which give customers the ultimate flexibility to design their own salads. Natural successor to the salad bar, these mix-and-match concepts put the actual assembly in the hands of an employee — usually in full view of the customer — but still allow nearly infinite flexibility.

• Caesar’s not done yet, as the popularity of this tra-ditional Romaine-based salad — said to be invented in Tijuana, Mexico, in 1924 by restaurateur Caesar Cardini — continues to prove. Variations include not only the addition of toppings such as grilled chicken or salmon, but also innovations like grilling whole Romaine hearts or subbing in a different green altogether.

Explore classic main course salads that can be adapted or tweaked to complement your menu concept, including:

• Cobb Salad - The original, created in the 1930s in Los Angeles, includes artfully arranged rows of diced chicken, tomato, avocado, bacon, hardboiled egg, and Roquefort cheese on a bed of greens

Tap the Demand for Entree Salads

• Chinese Chicken Salad - Asian ingredients like water chestnuts, Napa cabbage, sesame oil, and scallions mix and mingle with mandarin oranges, cooked chicken, almonds, red cabbage, and julienne carrots to create an all-American interplay of flavor, color, and texture

• Taco Salad - Often served in a taco-shell bowl, this flavorful Tex-Mex-style salad generally includes seasoned ground beef (or turkey), black or pinto beans, shredded cheese, salsa, guacamole and sour cream

• Spinach Salad - The widespread availability of baby spinach has made this classic salad more popular; the original includes sliced red onion, hardboiled egg, and a hot bacon dressing, but that’s just a guideline

• Steak & Blue Cheese Salad - Like a steakhouse on a plate, this newly popular salad features seared steak, sliced and served over greens with blue cheese, tomatoes, and onions

• Greek Salad - Feta cheese, pepperoncini, olives, cucumbers, green pepper, and tomatoes are de rigueur in this refreshing country-style salad, which can also include stuffed grape leaves or even a dollop of hummus

Build hearty main-dish salads around healthy grains, beans, Asian noodles, pasta or rice, instead of or in addition to a bed of greens:

• Chopped salads are extremely popular right now, and are easy to create by focusing on contrasting colors, flavors, and textures, such as savory arugula, sweet dried cranber-ries, soft butter lettuce, crunchy spiced pecans, and salty feta cheese. There should be enough of each ingredient so the patron gets a little bit of everything in every bite.

• Create a menu of entree and side dish salads around a convenient salad “base” consisting of colorful greens and other vegetables, like julienne carrots, red cabbage, and sliced radishes. Simply vary the toppings to give customers an array of choices that will be easy to execute in the kitchen.


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Operators Edge

Operators whose patrons demand healthier op-tions that still taste good can learn a lot from the new breed of nutrition-focused restaurants.

Nobody said it would be easy closing the gap between intentions and reality. American diners still seem to be hooked on their fast food, even if they feel bad about it afterwards. More than half of all diners say they plan to limit calories, but just over a third actually do it.

Moreover, according to recent NPD research, when it comes to healthy food, it’s not enough to offer fewer calories: patrons want fresh, natural, and nutritious ingredients, which they equate with a healthier lifestyle, not just healthy eating. They also demand flavor, conve-nience, and affordable pricing.

Cheesecake Factory’s new Skinnylicious menu rollout takes all that into account, offering a separate selec-tion of under-600 calorie like its Santorini Farro Salad, Mushroom Lettuce Wraps and Shrimp Summer Rolls. The separate menu has more than 40 options that sub-in veggies for potatoes on entrees, and use such tricks as smaller portions, less cheese, and light mayo to keep the flavor up and the calories down.

Here are some concepts that are helping consumers have their cake and eat it too, by offering menus that are fast and tasty in addition to being healthy:

1. Emphasize healthy prepUFood Grill bills itself as the “unfast food,” where

“delicious meets nutritious” in a menu that includes only baked, steamed, or grilled items: turkey, bison, veggie, or beef burgers; UBowls like chicken curry masala over brown rice; wraps and sandwiches; salads; fire-grilled entrees (i.e., grilled chicken with a choice of sauces and sides such as baked UnFries); and Smuuthies in such flavors as Green Tea and Acai Superberry. The 8-unit, Newton, MA-based company recently signed an agree-ment with like-minded Euro Cafe to explore additional co-branded nontraditional locations such as airports, malls, colleges, and hospitals, where on-the-go patrons may have few other healthy options.

2. Offer customizable optionsThe menu concept at Chop’t Creative Salad Com-

pany highlights made-to-order Customer Craft salads and “salad sandwiches” that allow patrons to choose a lettuce base and four “choppings” from a list of 23 free vegetables and “crunch” items (croutons, sunflower

seeds), plus premium additions like chicken, hearts of palm, and fresh mozzarella. There are also more than two dozen dressing choices, ranging from balsamic vinaigrette to smoky bacon Russian to Spa Dijon. House-designed classic and seasonal offerings like Thai Cobb feature local and natural ingredients, rounding out the bill of fare for the company, whose units are clustered in urban New York and Washington, DC, locations.

3. Experiment with selling and service formatsAn old hand in the healthier-dining segment, 55-unit

Souper Salad is experimenting with a new Freestyle Eatery prototype that includes an expanded service format with dedicated takeout and food market areas. The menu features not only the concept’s familiar all-you-care-to-eat soups, salads, bread, and dessert items but also pizza, stuffed baked potatoes, and other hot items, and frozen yogurt in the takeout area. Restricted-diet items include vegetarian, vegan, and sugar- and gluten-free, as well as a daily rotation of five different soups and several prepared salads.

4. Look to meat-free offeringsLos Angeles-based Veggie Grill touts “perfect indul-

gence” via a menu that aims to break the stereotype of bland vegetarian food. The bill of fare is 100% plant-based, includ-ing the specially seasoned and marinated veggie proteins Chillin’ Chicken’ and Veggie-Steak. Salads, sandwiches and burgers feature these vegan-friendly ingredients in such items as Carne Asada (grilled veggie-steak, marinated in Mexican spices with Southwestern spiced vegan mayo, red onion, lettuce, and tomato on a wheat roll) and Mac-n-Cheese with quinoa pasta, vegan cheese, and toasted garlic bread crumbs. Options that eschew gluten, soy, wheat, seeds and nuts, and black pepper are identified. But on the indul-gence side, wine and beer are offered in all locations.


Four Key Concepts for Healthier Menus


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Bigger Isn’t Always Better

When you stroll down the aisles of a typical su-permarket or watch television for more than a few minutes, you are slammed with the

seemingly infinite choices of food available to the U.S. consumer. That’s why it’s tempting to offer a supermar-ket of choices on your menu. Slow down. The number of menu items on the menu is critical to cost and quality control. Vary it enough to interest the guest, but limit choices to maintain control.

Many restaurateurs make the mistake of trying to be all things to all people. On any given menu, 50 percent of the menu offerings typically produce 70 percent to 80 percent of the popularity. Theoretically, that means you might be able to dump half your items and still maintain 80 percent of your sales. Now in practice, some of those less popular items are necessary to carry your concept,

please your spouse, and/or cater to smaller but important customer groups (e.g., children, vegetarians, folks on low-fat diets). The important thing is to understand the trade-offs, and have a strategic reason for every item on your menu, not just to take up space.

Establish early what you do well, and what you want to be known for, and then do it. Size of the menu will depend upon the concept, market, operational capabilities, as well as quality and profit goals. A general rule of thumb: The more items on the menu, the higher the food cost. If, in your circumstances, you feel the need for an “extensive” menu, then make sure you design the menu with a limited inven-tory, and have strong “cross-utilization,” or use the same ingredients across several menu items.

Source: Restaurant Owner

According to NRN.com, nutrition-packed super-foods can drive sales in foodservice operations as more consumers want to eat better. In fact,

47% of consumers want more healthy restaurant op-tions. So what do you need to know about superfoods to get them on your menu and let their healthy halo shine? Here are the basics.

What are they?In general, superfoods have a high nutrient or anti-

oxidant content that may offer health benefits without being high in saturated fats, artificial ingredients, food additives or contaminants.

What foods are superfoods?Examples of superfoods include berries, nuts and

seeds in general, and dark green vegetables. Citrus fruits, fatty fish (like salmon); vegetables with bright colors and many legumes qualify too. Whole grains as a group are also considered superfoods, and perhaps the most accessible to consumers.

How do I menu superfoods?Start simply, by incorporating super-

food ingredients into your menu favor-

Superfoods for Super Salesites. If your menu already has superfood ingredients, point them out to your customers via servers or menu inserts. According to NRN, restaurant goers literally want to know what’s in it for them, so be sure they can find out why it’s good for them too. If you have a buffet or salad bar, you have an easy way to introduce new ingredients and their benefits to your patrons, so take advantage of those aspects of your operation.

For more information on the superfoods trend, or to learn more about how other restaurants have menued them, visit nrn.com.

Content courtesy of Rich’s Foodservice

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In 2007 the Hawaii Restaurant Association created a Hall of Fame event. Each year a

blue-ribbon committee selects individuals and companies that have played a significant role in the development of the restaurant industry in Hawaii. It’s a success-ful program and has been well received in our community.

Now, the Association has cre-ated a new event: The Hawaii Res-taurant Association Recognition of Employee Excellence. The program will recognize and publically honor

exceptional employees of restaurant and other foodservice operations. Winners will be named in different categories, including Server, Server Assistant/Bus Person, Bartender, Host/Hostess, Reservations/Administrative Assistant, Chef, Cook and Kitchen As-sistant/Prep Cook/Dishwasher. Each group will have three winners with the top tier receiving special recognition.

A group of HRA suppliers and restaurateurs has been organized to establish categories of eligibility and recognition standards. As well, this group will be the Selection Committee

for the inaugural event. The members include Len Delekta (Image Apparel), Biff Graper (Colliers, Monroe & Friedlander), Jim Hamachek (Kahuna’s Complex), Gordon Kiyabu (Hawaii Restaurant Association), and Jim Mey-ers (Trade Publishing).

Trade Publishing is partnering with the HRA to launch this noteworthy event which will be held in February at the Hawaii Prince Hotel. If you wish to participate or are interested in becom-ing a sponsor, please contact Sandy Miller or Roger Morey at 944-9105 or [email protected].

Hawaii Restaurant AssociationHRA Recognition of Employee Excellence

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Available at

Keep your customers coming back for the Certified Angus Beef ® brand.

For more information on the Certified Angus Beef ® brand, contact your HFM Sales Representative or call 808/843-3200 or 800/272-5268.

www.certifiedangusbeef.com

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Available at

Keep your customers coming back for the Certified Angus Beef ® brand.

For more information on the Certified Angus Beef ® brand, contact your HFM Sales Representative or call 808/843-3200 or 800/272-5268.

www.certifiedangusbeef.com

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Raising the StakesPremium Beef Drives Repeat Business, Customer Satisfaction

Strip Steak with Rigatoni and Gorgonzola Cream

A photo for this recipe is available online at: http://www.certifiedangusbeef.com/photos/5127AStripSteakRigatoniGorgonzolaCream.jpgA vertical image of the recipe is available from your marketing manager at 330-345-2333.

Ingredients1 Certified Angus Beef ®

boneless strip loin1 gallon red wine beef

stock for braising48 rigatoni, al dente 1 cup béchamel4 ounces gorgonzolaSalt and pepper

Serving Suggestions:Toasted garlic spinachand a roasted plumtomato

InstructionsClean and cut strip loin by removing vein end and splitting strip in half lengthwise; portion into steaks.

Braise the vein end in stock until tender; allow to cool in liquid. Remove beef from liquidand reduce to sauce consistency.

Reserve 1½ cups for plating.

Pull braised beef into shreds and add sauce to bind. Stuff rigatoni with shredded beef and heat in remaining sauce.

Create gorgonzola cream sauce by combining béchamel and gorgonzola until consistency is smooth. Adjust seasoning.

Season steak and grill to medium rare. Allow to rest; slice and serve steaks over 4 stuffed rigatonis that have been topped with gorgonzola cream and braising sauce.

Recipe provided by John Doherty for the Certified Angus Beef ® brand

Serves 12

Customers are popping intorestaurants across the country,seeking remarkable steaks. Researchshows they are more discerning thanever and expect good value for thedollars they’ll spend at yourrestaurant. This is your opportunityto put your best foot forward inyour service, your food. That meanskeeping your sights on quality, andavoiding the whim to merely“reduce costs” at center of the plate.

says John Doherty, a consultantfor the Certified Angus Beef ® brandand former executive chef at thefamed Waldorf-Astoria Hotel for 23years. “Spending a little more onhigher quality gets results morequickly and effectively.”

He points to the Certified AngusBeef ® brand’s high quality as exactlywhat restaurant patrons seek.Modest or higher marbling naturally

bastes the beef to ensure robustflavor, juiciness and tenderness.

“No matter the cut, it’s the bestquality available as well as the mostconsistent on the market,” he says.“The less you do with it, the moreyou can let the product speak foritself.”

Doherty likes to serve a 6 oz.portion of strip or prime rib with anaccompaniment, like sausage,grilled shrimp, stuffed chicken thighor a duo of beef. The thicker cutcomes from a split, or half, of theribeye or strip, as portioned by adistributor for optimum per-servingcost control.

He would serve a ribeye steak as asmall tornado using braised cap, forexample. Strip steak could be pairedwith rigatoni stuffed with thebraised vein end of the strip. A sliceof top sirloin pounded thin, makinga Brasiole, creates a distinctive duowith a small ribeye or strip steak.

“It’s a great way of reducing costand making the dish tastier,” hesays. Consumers actually favorribeye, strip and filet mignon on the

plate and are open to newpresentations. They have a growingpalette for new flavors and tastes.And chefs have more of anopportunity to be creative whilemanaging food costs.

A key component of a successfulmenu is a trusted distributor whocan help you protect your profitmargin. He or she can help youpinpoint the best steaks andalternate cuts, as well as pass ondiscounts when managing thecompany’s inventory. You mightalso opt for portion-control cuts toensure precise oversight of productcost and a well-managed inventory.Alternate cuts like top sirloin, shortribs or tri-tip can add diversity to themenu or attractive daily featureswhile lowering food cost. Thinlysliced steak easily adds a new layerof flavor to pasta, salads and more.

For more information on how to

maximize the power of the Certified Angus

Beef ® brand on your menu, contact your

HFM SalesRepresentative or call

808/843-3200 or 800-272-5268.

“Regardless of what you’remaking, the better the qualityyou start with the better the

end product will be”


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view at Roy’s but his one line cook job was gone. “Unless you can do pastry,” he said. She said “yes!”

She’s been saying that ever since. At 22, as sous chef at Roy’s Hawaii Kai. At 24, as executive sous chef at Roy’s Hawaii Kai. In subsequent years as opening chef at Roy’s

Jacqueline LauAfter hearing her introduction, chef Jacqueline Lau

shook her head, “That couldn’t be me,” she said, smiling. She had just heard how, arriving in Hawaii at age 19, on a whim, to visit a friend, she plunged into a career then rare for women: as not a hostess, not a pastry chef, not a garde manager cook, but a line cook, and then an execu-tive chef. It has been 25 years of change, of develop-ments she never expected, of relationship with a mentor, Roy Yamaguchi, she could never have predicted.

Lau, corporate chef of Roy Yamaguchi restaurants for the past 12 years, a member of the Yamaguchi team for more than 25 years, told the students it had not been an easy road. Once, applying for a line cook position, she was told by an executive chef, “women belong with lettuce.”

She didn’t buy it. Neither, apparently, did Roy. Although she got her first chance with him because, at previous restaurants she had worked in pastry, her goal was the line. She had worked dishwasher, prep, pastry assistant and she had staked her one day off on an inter-

Culinary Educational Workshop & Chef “Talk Story” Session held at LEEWARD COMMUnITY COLLEGE

At Leeward Community College, it’s culinary students heard the stories of their lives — or the lives they might live, if they follow the examples of the speakers they met.

By Wanda A. Adams


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George Mavrothalassitis and sous chef Mickey Murakami

Excitable and voluble chef George Mavrothalissitis brought with him his quiet and serious Mickey Mu-rakami; the two couldn’t be more different except in one sense — both are intensely serious about making and eating great food.

Marseille-born Chef “Mavro,” as he’s known, said when he arrived in Hawai’i more than 30 years ago, he found the food in high-end restaurants uninteresting, but what was “inland,” in local mom-and-pop ethnic restaurants, was “fantaaaaatic!”

Food writers then, he said, didn’t look any farther than the tips of their noses, but chefs — including the dozen that would make up the Hawaii Regional Cuisine Group, Mavro

Maui restaurants, as part of the opening teams at Tokyo and Guam. Whatever he has asked, she has said “yes.”

That included the inaugural Hawaii Food and Wine Festival in 2011, which would involve moving literally thousands of pounds of food and ice and equipment, more than 80,000 pieces of plateware, dozens of crème-de-la-crème chefs, fielding hundreds of specific requests.

Things would land by the 40-foot-truck palette-load in Roy’s parking lot and she’d have to make sure they got where they were supposed to be. Lau modestly claims organization is not her best thing, but, she said, “what-ever happens, you just keep your composure — chefs who change their minds, presenters who need something that wasn’t mentioned before, we always said, ‘yes,’ no matter what.” We wanted this to be a pleasant experience for all the participating chefs.

She was delighted when chefs would comment that they couldn’t believe it was the first of what has now be-come a series (The third annual festival dates are Sept. 5-8, 2013).

But Lau, who grew up in the San Joaquin Valley and has always married her Latino roots to Yamaguchi’s new Asian style, was not there to brag on the pinnacle of her career: She had a message for the students. Her message was a simple one: Work.

She worked three jobs at a time when she started. She is realistic in her message: “The career path you’re on is not generally the most profitable but you don’t do it for the money. You do it for the love of learning. When I stop learning, I’ll leave. It hasn’t happened yet.”

She offered a blunt assessment of what it takes to work for a chef with as clear and firm a vision as Roy’s: It’s not easy.

“Roy was on a mission. I have had my eyes opened many times over; he has high, high, high expectations,” she said.

“Some people stick it. Some people don’t.” She laughingly told of people who’d excuse themselves for a bathroom break and never come back, leave their knives and everything and just walk out.

“Watching Roy made me a better leader. It opened my eyes to what it takes,” she said.

Her advice: “When you find someone who can teach you, stick with them, even through the hard times, even when you think they — or you — are nuts. Don’t give up easily because you don’t know where you’re going to go from it.”



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s diners and don’t “turn” tables (one party gets the table for the entire noontime or evening), and when you consider that a meal at a three-star is just short of an investment on a new car, you can see what a star means.

Murakami is a Kapi’oiolani Community College student, who came onto Mavro’s staff as a lowly underling, rising as others left. “He has not graduated because I will not let him,” Mavro said, laughing. He let Murakami go back to school once for two weeks, but then called him back; he needed his quiet perfectionism too much.

Petite Nice employs only 16-17 people in the kitchen. They served perhaps 40 guests per service. And the cooks came from parts as far-flung as Japan and Brazil, speak-ing only kitchen French. , Many, like Murakami, are volunteers or low-paid temporary help. This system of working for something close to free for a period of time is an integral part of the economic system that supports the Michelin Star restaurants.

Murakami arrived in Franche determined to do well. He arrived at 8 a.m., thinking he’d be the first. Passedat was

among them — were realizing that there were amazing ingredients available, fresh fish at the United Fishing Agency auction, techniques not being used in the hotels’ “Continental” restaurants.

Now, “People don’t come here just for the beach and the scenery. They come to eat!”

Recently, James Beard Award-winning Mavrothalassi-tis sent his young associate, Murakami, to Mavro’s native France to do a two-week free “stage” (pronounced STAH-jj, an internship) at Petite Nice, a three-star Michelin restaurant owned by Mavro’s friend, Gerald Passedat.

To be a three-star Michelin restaurant in France is a circumstance few outside the culinary field can under-stand. Chefs work literally for generations to move from one to three stars. Only the fewest of the few make it. The stars are granted only until the next anonymous visit by the Michelin investigator. A single star means an automatic 50 percent explosion in business, Mavro said.

When you consider that many of these places are open only for one or two meals a day, seat less than 50


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wstrapped in a “Continental cuisine” mode — a steak, seafood

in a cream sauce, a roast chicken, maybe a schnitzel, such as he was forced to feature every week. But chefs like Dikon knew there was more in Hawaii and they began to sneak it onto menus, grow their own gardens (as he did), offer specials that features Island-style dishes, and Hawaii Regional Cuisine was born.

Today, Dikon does a cuisine that’s all his own. It’s a blend of his time in such wide-ranging spots as Vermont and Florida, his wife’s native home of Ecuador, his brother-in-law’s olive orchard in Italy, his 18 years in Hawaii. When he cooks, anything can happen.

On this occasion, he’s been given a new product to play with: Compart Family Farms Duroc Pork. The pork is red-dish in color, the meat well-marbled with clean, white fat. The meat, Compart representative Steve Mulryan told the students, is almost beefy. The “Other White Meat” cam-paign of some years ago left Americans with little choice in pork: dry, tough meat or meat that had been shot full of saline solution. Pork is not actually meant to be white, he said, but pink to red in color, depending on genetics, feed and marbling.

This pork has been bred (from both red-haired and a white-haired breeds) and fed rich feeds to restore to pork something that’s long been lost — tender texture and full flavor. Dikon was eager to see what it could do.

As he worked he was planning to roast some apple ba-nanas, then use them to garnish slices of seared pork topped with an Asian sauce and served over an Asian salad.

In the end, however, he decided to pan-braise the pork in shoyu, fish sauce, Shriracha, black bean sauce and water. He quickly tossed together a salad of mesclun greens, grated green papaya and a tart vinaigrette of ginger, Thai bird chili, Meyer lemon and palm sugar (which he grated).

The resulting dish sang and the pork was a return to childhood: melting, not dry and stringy at all.

For lunch? A sort of kalua pork, filling pan-grilled tortillas with a variety of garnishes and four different salsas, including a fresh poi (less than 24 hours old) he recently encountered.

Delicioso!

Wanda Adams is an Oahu-based freelance writer. She is the author of “The Island Plate: 150 Years of Recipes and Food Lore from Hawaii,” a local bestseller. She is the author of four subsequent books; the latest, released in October, is “Celebrations Island Style” from Island Heritage.

already there. Murakami and the others worked 18-hour days. The precision expected came as a revelation to him: “It has to be perfect. Their idea of a brunoise (a dice) was 100 times as smaller than they require in culi-nary school.” Prep took four hours. Then lunch service. Then four hours dinner prep. Then dinner. “There’s never a time when people are standing around looking for something to do.”

When Murakami talks about Petite Nice, or other dining experience he had in France, his tone is as rever-ant as that of a priest. Petite Nice takes a cutting edge contemporary approach and, he said, he experienced combinations of ingredients, flavors and textures he could never have imagined. He has a goal now: to go back, to work in another Michelin three-star.awai HaH

“I sent him to France to get the virus and he got it,” Mavro said, proudly.

Roger DikonChef Roger Dikon isn’t a speech-maker; he’s a story-

teller. And he’d rather cook than do either.After outlining his meandering career for the Lee-

ward Community College students, he leapt into cook-ing, doing a cooking demo and then preparing lunch for them. Dikon is now executive chef of Roberts Hawaii, turning out 1,000 meals a day — one banquet, one plated meal — for mostly visitors, to whom he hopes to give a taste of the Islands.

But Dikon certainly has the chops for a long introduc-tory biography.

A ski bum cook who earned his living at resorts around Vermont and Colorado, he landed in Hawaii through the aid of a mentor (thus emphasizing again to the students the importance of finding the right door-opener) to open the then-new Kapalua Resort. In fact, the Kapalua was so new, there was nothing for him to do there, so he was sent to the sister-resort at Mauna Kea on the Big Island, where he got into fishing, eating local food, and enjoying an Island lifestyle. It was a happy accident that led to a career that might not other-wise have happened.

“If I have one message for you all, it is to travel as much as you can. Try other foods, how they prepare them. We can teach you in school but it’s not the same as experiencing the food in the place, how they prepare it,” he said.

When he moved here, he told students, resorts were



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quality ingredients.” George Mavrothalssitis, chef and proprietor of restaurant

Chef Mavro in Honolulu, and a founder of Hawaii Regional Cuisine, echoed the sentiment, saying that great food is made with great ingredients. Mavro was born in France, where a simple tomato filled his heart with joy.

“Everyzing zey use in France is unbelievable,” says Mavro, his accent is filled with reverence, and hangs on the “o”. “A tomato smells like a tomato. From one yard away you can smell the tomato.”

Jacqueline Lau, corporate chef for Roy’s, shared how she overcame struggles as a female chef in a male domi-nated industry. From being told that, “women belong with lettuce” to being mistaken for Roy Yamaguchi’s wife by male contemporaries, Lau never stopped think-ing outside the box.

Culinary students at the Kauai Community College got to hear from industry experts this November in “Can We Talk Story?” a work-

shop presented by HFM Foodservice. Celebrity chefs from Oahu joined top chefs from Kauai to share their industry perspective.

Vikram Garg, executive chef of Oahu’s Halekulani Hotel, spoke about sourcing locally and cooking glob-ally. The philosophy incorporates Hawaii-grown ingre-dients with cooking techniques from around the globe. “There are no boundries” Garg explains.

Garg reminds the students that culinary artistry is more than creating art on a plate. It’s about flavor, mas-tering the basics, and always learning, while keeping the essence of the food recognizable. He adds, “If you can’t get it locally, then find out where you can get the highest

KAUAI COMMUnITY COLLEGE – “Can we Talk Story?” with the Chefs

By Marta Lane


cooked potatoes, hay, corn and a vitamin mineral supplement. All feedstuffs are vegetar-ian and the beef cattle are never administered antibiotics or growth stimulating hormones.

Finished beef cattle

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“I thought cooking meant being in a restaurant all day and walking outside to check the weather,” says Lau. “But passion and drive can move you forward to opportunities that enable you to travel, meet chefs and make friends.”

Besides cooking brunch for president Obama, Lau coordinates events such as a Roy’s twentieth anniversary celebration that lasted three days; a 300 person dinner on a pier; and a 1,200 person luau in Nebraska.

Lau is the chef coordinator for the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival, a non-profit event bringing Hawaii’s best chefs and international greats together for four days. The event benefits Hawaii culinary students and the Hawaii Ag Foundation. “Hawaii’s cooks, farmers and ranchers are what this event is trying to push forward,” says Lau.

Yamaguchi and Alan Wong developed the event in 2010 to showcase regional products, and to show food lov-ers around the world that Hawaii has more than beaches. Indeed, local food is thriving in Hawaii, as farmers, ranchers and fishermen are being sought out and acknowl-edged. This event has become very important to our State because it brings revenue in to our hotels, restaurants and shops. It is all about putting Hawaii on the map as one of the best food destination vacation spots.

Some Hawaii chefs work directly with farmers, and as a team, they push the limits of what grows well in Hawaii. Take Mavro’s tomatoes for example. They are notoriously difficult to grow in Hawaii, but partner-ships and demand had spurned farmers to cultivate new techniques.

“This year we had over 60 chefs from five coun-tries,” says Lau. “I ordered 600 pounds of tomatoes. The only way I could pull that off was with a lot of planning. It’s a huge undertaking involving a team of chefs, committees, and purveyors, but everyone comes together to showcase Hawaii.”

The last speaker of the day was Tom Andersen of Ameristar. He told the story of Hawaii Ranchers Beef. Hawaii Ranchers Natural Beef made its debut in Hawaii restaurants in December, of 2011 a top quality beef prod-uct originating in Hawaii, finished at mainland feed lots and brought back to the islands.

In this innovative program, beef cattle born in Hawaii on island ranches throughout the state will be shipped to Country Natural Beef (CNB) in Boardman, Oregon where they graze on pasture in designated areas, sepa-rate from other cattle in CNB’s program.

The beef cattle, still owned by Hawaii ranchers, graze on natural grasses in large pastures for 14 to 18 months. Three months before harvest, the beef cattle feed on

George Mavrothalssitis

Jacqueline Lau

Vikram Garg

Tom Andersen



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sis processed and fabricated by AB Foods, Toppenish, Washington, and shipped back to Hawaii for distribution by HFM Foodservice. Portion con-trolled cuts and value added beef prod-ucts is processed by Ameristar Meats, Spokane, Washington.

“While this program involves many companies and many steps in the process, the resulting Hawaii Ranchers Natural Beef product will be consistent in quality and available throughout the year,” said Sara Moore, president of the Hawaii Cattle Producers Cooperative Association (HCPCA) spearheading this project.

“CNB meat is on the lean side, reach-ing USDA grades of “high select” and “low choice” with consistent quality. Our goal is to provide Hawaii consum-ers with good quality meat that originate on island ranches. This program will help us sustain ranching in the islands,” said Moore, who is also the manager for Kealia Ranch on The Big Island.

HCPCA and its Hawaii Ranchers brand represents 50 ranches in the state of Hawaii that have more than half of the state’s breeding cows and bred heifers on 455,000 acres of grazing lands. A dozen of these ranches belong to Country Natu-ral Beef, a beef marketing cooperative that allow family ranchers to own and control their beef from birth to plate.

Big Island: Doleico Ranch, Kealia Ranch, Egami Ranch, KK Ranch, Gay & Robinson Ranch, Ponoholo Ranch, Kahua Ranch, Palani Ranch and Parker Ranch.

Kauai: Aakukui Ranch, Kauai Ranch, Jurassic Kahili Ranch and Princeville Ranch.

Tom further explains that during this visit to Kauai, he and the other chefs will be headed to visit one of those ranches, the Kauai Ranch after the workshop.

A Kauai-based food writer. For more information, visit TastingKauai.com.

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On the day of our visit with the Chefs, the Café was closed so we brought lunch in from Merriman’s in Poipu as we dined with the owner Chris Jaeb and Director, Al-lison Smith.

The lunch was amazing, Executive Chef Mark Arriola, brought his fresh-from-the-field lunch courses out which got more creative as they progressed. The afternoon at Common Ground ended in a tour of the gardens.

The next stop was Kauai Ranch. Six ATVs are bar-reling down dry, dirt roads through Kauai Ranch. HFM Foodservice has arranged a tour of the 4,300-acre prop-erty located in upcountry Kapaa, where 1,200 acres are reserved to raise cattle for Hawaii Ranchers Natural Beef. The scene is pastoral: emerald mountains, rolling hills, albizia trees and cows roaming the range.

Nestled at the gateway to Kilauea’s most beauti-ful hidden treasures is an organic garden unlike any other. Both entertaining and educational,

our 30-minute guided tour took us through beautiful edi-ble landscapes and lush tropical gardens. Ths interactive walk makes you think about the importance of organic farming and the principles of permaculture design in ef-fect. Farming using methods that meet our current needs without inhibiting the needs of future generations—commonly referred to as sustainable agriculture.

All produce grown in the garden is served in the Com-mon Ground’s Garden Café. Using organic, seasonal, wholesome ingredients sourced from our own gardens, we create delectable meals that taste wonderful and support our commitment to local community and sustainability.

Not your typical Chef Day…..Common Ground, Kauai Ranch & Red SaltThe north shore of Kauai’s field to table experience. By Marta Lane


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wstradition while maintaining stewardship of the land.

Back on the ATVs, we approach a shallow stream. Driv-ing down a 45-degree slope, the rocky bottom fills my field of view. Vikram Garg, executive chef of Oahu’s Halekulani Hotel is just ahead, Darilyn Fernandez of HFM Foodservice is in the passenger seat. A fat tire on Garg’s ATV slips on a wet rock. The vehicle leans precariously to the right before Garg pulls it to the left and safely out of the stream.

Cresting the top of a hill, Leanne Kamekona, execu-tive chef of the St. Regis Princeville, turns around in the drivers seat. A smile wraps around her face and she flashes a shaka. Mark Arriola, executive chef of Merri-

man’s in Poipu, sits next to her. “We are partnering with Hawaii Ranchers Natural Beef

for our burgers,” says Kamekona. “About 80 percent of our ingredients are from Hawaii, including goat cheese from Kauai Kunana Dairy.”

Clouds of red dirt obstruct our view as ranch manager Jeffery Rivera leads us through a tangle of guava trees. We emerge on a moist, grassy patch. Majestic peaks rise from the other side of a canyon, its floor 500 feet below.

Owners Tom and Bonnie Mc-Closky bought Kauai Ranch in1999, and the watershed along with it. Kealia River and Kapahi Stream run through the property, which houses two reservoirs built by the defunct Lihue Plantation.

“When you and I met last Novem-ber, we were just starting to kick off the program,” Tom Anderson, vice president of Ameristar Meats says to Rivera. “The feedback from the customers has been amazing.”

Partnering with Country Natural Beef, HFM Foodservice, and Ameri-star Meats, Hawaii Ranchers Natural Beef (HRNB) features Hawaii born, Mainland-finished beef. HRNB is a program launched by the Hawaii Cattle Producers Cooperative Association. HCPCA enables ranchers to maintain ownership of their cattle, making it economically possible to preserve ranching


ranchers,” says executive chef Melanie Nowels.“I’ve worked all over the Mainland,” says Arriola, “and

Hawaii farm to table cooking is to the extreme. You can get a lot here. We get ahi and mahi from Kauai; we use farm-ers from Kauai, the Big Island and Maui, and HRNB strip loin. At Merriman’s, we think of ourselves as the end of the chain, we carry it from seed to plate.”

Dinner was outstanding, we would all call it a great way to spend a Monday, a day where most chefs rest and enjoy a day off!

A Kauai-based food writer. For more information, visit TastingKauai.com.

Kamekona is not alone. Many Kauai restaurants value the quality of ingredients grown and made in Hawaii.

We were all covered in red dirt, everyone needed a shower and a glass of wine. Next stop Red Salt, Koa Kea in Poipu. “At Red Salt, we source locally whenever possible,” says executive chef Adam Watten. “We take a lot of pride in sourcing about 75 percent of our produce from Hawaii.”

Roy Yamaguchi is committed to using local, sustainable products, and at Roy’s Poipu, Kauai Shrimp as well as ribeye and New York strip steak from HRNB are on the menu. “I have enjoyed meeting and working with our farmers and


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Fundraiser Benefits Scholarships, Palamanui’s New Student Kitchenby Fern Gavelek

KOHALA COAST—It’s a festive culinary arts extravaganza Saturday, Dec. 8 when 20 top local chefs and confectioners present enticing entrees

and decadent desserts at Christmas at the Fairmont-Dining with the Chefs. The event will kick off with the lighting of The Fairmont Orchid’s spectacular coconut Christmas tree.

The holiday gala is 5:30-8 p.m. at The Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii and benefits local culinary scholarships and the Equip the Kitchens campaign for the future Hawaii Com-munity College-Palamanui campus. In its 24th year, Dining with the Chefs is presented by the American Culinary Federation (ACF) Kona Kohala Chefs Assn.

“Our local chefs pull out all the stops at this event and prepare spectacular culinary offerings,” says Devin Lowder, Kona Kohala Chefs president. “Each one tries to outdo the other in taste and presentation. It’s a holiday for the tastebuds.”

Participants include a Who’s Who of West Hawaii’s top chefs and confectioners: Hubert Des Marais of The Fairmont Orchid, Peter Pahk of the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, Clayton Arakawa of The Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows, James Babian of Four Seasons Resort Hualalai,

Chefs to Dazzle Diners atChristmas at the

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David Abrahams of Red Water Café, Sten-nis Hirayama of Tommy Bahama’s, Ken Schloss of Huggo’s, Nancy Edney of Tropi-cal Dreams Ice Cream and Cathy Smoot Barrett of Kailua Candy Company—to name a few.

Chefs use primarily locally sourced ingredients to prepare tantalizing cui-sine—all accompanied by handcrafted ales, wines and 100 percent Kona coffee. On display will be specially crafted ginger-bread houses; the eye-popping creations are the work of local culinary students under the direction of Pastry Instructor Fernand Guiot. This year’s gingerbread display will have a vintage Hawaiian look.

After voting for their favorite ginger-bread house, attendees can enjoy jazz under the stars by the Kohala Quartet and par-ticipate in an exciting live auction. Bid on exclusive, private dinner parties and recep-tions presented by local chefs and premiere, luxury hotel accommodations.

Also available by silent auction are local products, activities and dining opportuni-ties—perfect for holiday gift-giving.

Ticket prices are $85 and can conve-niently be purchased online at www.kona-kohalachefs.org. They are also for sale at Kona Wine Market, Clark Realty/Kona and Kailua Candy Company. Phone 329-2522 for info and to charge tickets by phone.

Special event room rates of $249 for Par-tial Ocean View and $239 for Garden View are offered, including breakfast for two and self-parking at The Fairmont. Contact reservations for details at 808-885-2000 or 800-845-9905 and mention “Christmas at The Fairmont.”

For updates, visit Christmas at The Fair-mont-Dining with the Chefs on facebook.

Fern Gavelek CommunicationsRead column at www.spectatorron.comPublic Relations / Editorial Services / Freelance WritingEmail: [email protected]


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‘ono for. It never deviated.This is in part due to the fact that the new owners bought

the help of longtime owner Earl Demas and his family and rehired all the Brick Oven staff. “He could have just handed over the keys and walked away, but he stayed, he helped us out,” said Corey Aguano.

The success of its restaurant, despite its out-of-the-way location, long lines and the wait involved in serving a

In restaurants, they say it’s all location, location, location. But it’s also branding, branding, brand-ing: When they hear your business name, customers

know who you are, what you do, what to expect.In buying Kaua’i’s 35-year-old Brick Oven Pizza in

tiny Wailua three years ago, Corey and Nalani Aguano and their partners Dustin and Kim Gummerus and Me-gan Rice, bought a brand.

Kauaians born and raised, all of the partners, along with the rest of the Orchid Isle, knew what they were getting: a family-oriented restaurant built around fresh, made-order pizzas, a “Cheers”-style neighborhood place “where everybody knows your name,” and the food was not only reliably good but reliably exactly what you were

Brick Oven Pizza…..The Ooh & The Ahhh’sBy Wanda A. Adams

Brick Oven Pizza889 Kamokila Blvd., Units 205-206; open seven days, 11 a.m.-10 p.m., pupu/beer hour 2-6 p.m. ($10 pitchers) To-go orders: 674-8561


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cooked-to-order menu, was due to Demas’ insistence on exacting standards.

“He was very strict, very particular,” said Aguano, who came to the restaurant business by way of law enforcement and his own investment business. His wife, Nalani, had worked as a bookkeeper in restaurants, and in the front of the house. Neither of the other partners had foodservice backgrounds.

But they listened to Demas. They listened when he taught them to make the light, flavorful dough that is at the heart of the classic Red Brick Oven pizza. They listened as he taught them to prepare the housemade sausage, red sauce and salad dressings, how to layer on ingredients without overloading the pizza so it emerges crisp and yet packed with flavor surprises. “If you put too much on,” Aguano said, knowledgably, “everything slides off, the dough gets gluey.” Ask him about deep dish pizza and he says, with just the trace of a smile. “Only thin. Only thin.”

Demas was “very specific, right down to the brands

you use,” Aguano said.A particular concern was the choice of flour for the pizza

dough. When, about a year ago, Corey Aguano wanted to switch to HFM Foodservice as a primary food supplier, he said, laughingly, he put his salesman and the baking division through the ringer to make sure the formulation, particularly the texture of the grind of Hawaiian Bak-ers Special and Whole Wheat Flours, would be right. He checked with Demas, who is now an on-call consultant, before making the switch.

“We pride ourselves on keeping everything we learned from him the same,” said Aguano.

But, as they acquired a second location, in Kalaheo, and their latest, on O’ahu in Kapolei, the partners smartly added changes that would keep customers happy. There had al-ways been beer and wine available at Brick Oven Pizza, but they tucked a full bar into the new locations too make the wait for a table more pleasant. At Kapolei, three big-screen TVs are tuned to sports channels.

A few appetizers and new salads appeared, including


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A pupu version of the 10-inch pizza, made either with plain garlic butter sauce and cheese or in a decadent bacon version, and served with two dipping sauces, is just $7.65. Other pizzas range from $11.50-$16.70 for the 10-inch, with toppings ranging from basic sauce and cheese to their signature “Super.” This last is their star, combining salami, sausage, mushrooms, black olives, green olives, seasoned beef, pepperoni, smoked ham, Portuguese sau-sage, bell pepper, tomato sauce and cheese on a white or wheat crust. Whew!

The thin crusts are framed in Brick Oven’s signature twisted rim — and even that plain dough is a taste- and texture-pleaser.The average table at Brick Oven spends $14-$15 per person, including a meal and drinks.

But it’s not the food, the Aguanos have found, that is the biggest challenge. It’s that which cannot be so rigidly controlled: people. Their staff has swelled to 150 people, “an everyone has their personality, “ said Aguano. He tries to rule with a benevolent hand, “but when UH is playing, I can’t give everyone the day off!”

He’s learned to become a watcher, hovering near the ser-vice window, observing and listening as the front and back of the house interact, observing the treatment of customers. And he knows this: “You look for skills, yes, but the im-

“pizza bread” — a world of pizza ingredients (pick 3), from anchovy to zucchini — topping a slice of French-style bread slathered with sauce and mozzarella cheese. This item can fly right out of the kitchen, without the 8-10 minute baking time for pizza.

Aguano estimates that, if they’re not busy, his work-ers can deliver a fresh-from-the-oven pizza in 20 min-utes — a minute or two for order and delivery, a couple of minutes shaping the dough and scattering the ingre-dients, 8-10 minutes in the oven. But don’t hold them to that on a Friday night.

Another of Demas’ rules : They don’t sell pizza by the slice. “It just can’t be kept fresh. Its sitting under the [heat lamps,], it gets soggy. We make it to order. That’s the way Earl had it and that’s the way our customers expect it.”

They do, however, make pizza in a variety of sizes (10-, 12- and 15-inch) and the 10-inch is large enough for lunch for two small eaters, (especially with the generous house salad; $4.50 with greens, kidney beans, garbanzos, carrots, tomatoes and croutons) . It makes a great shared pupu for a table of four or a single serv-ing for a heartier eater. Families can be happy with a 15-inch and sides.

Corey Aguano

Operator News & Views


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portant thing is pride, pride in what they’re doing. And you can’t teach pride, it comes from the upbringing and if they have it, they have it. And if they do, I will work hard to keep them.”

Just the day before his interview with Foodservice in Paradise, Aguano had been looking at a space he liked in Kane’ohe, so the Windward side will likely be served with a Brick Oven Pizza outlet early next year.

He said he could have taken two bays at the strip mall in Kapolei (the restaurant is just ‘ewa of the library, on Kamokila, Kapolei’s main business drag).

But the owners decided to start small, in a rela-tively rural part of the Island (“it feels more like Kaua’i

out here, slower than Honolulu”) and — well — “proof” their business dough before tackling downtown Honolulu.

Kane’ohe, with its country identity and strong local customer base, feels like the right second O’ahu step, he said. “Reminds of us Kaua’i, all green,” said Aguano, who, with his other partners, rotates through all three loca-tions, so that someone from the ownership team is pretty much always in one of the three spots.

One thing he’d like to see at the next loca-tion — Kapolei is too small — is a long-es-tablished fixture on Kaua’i — a twice weekly pizza/pasta/salad buffet with dessert pizzas (cream cheese, chocolate caramel or cream cheese cinnamon and sugar!), $15 all-you-

can-eat. They just don’t have room in the 3,000-square-foot Kapolei location because the buffet table is long and loaded.

And how does Aguano like his pizza? He laughs and ad-mits it: Like all of us, his favorite is cold pizza, eaten stand-ing up in the kitchen as a midnight snack, or for breakfast , right out of the fridge before everyone else gets up.

Wanda Adams is an O’ahu-based freelance writer. She is the author of “The Island Plate: 150 Years of Recipes and Food Lore from Hawai’I,” a local bestseller. She is the author of four subsequent books; the latest, released in October, is “Celebrations Island Style” from Island Heritage.


Cold Soba Noodle Chicken Salad

Targeted Food Cost: $3.95Suggested Menu Price: $12.75Food Cost 31%

A mixture of salad greens, fresh vegetables and cold soba noodles, topped with grilled teriyaki chicken and peanuts and drizzled with an Asian peanut butter, coconut dressing.

Recipes

California 3 Cheese Mexican Omelette with Crispy Corn Tortillas


An extra big omelette filled with tasty onions, chiles and lots of cheese, then topped crispy corn tortillas.

Featured Recipes

French Toast With Maple Pecan Butter


Maple Pecan Compound Butter is added to a traditional favorite to create an exciting twist to French toast. This new recipe is sure to become a house specialty.

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Minted Summer Fruit Salad with Honey and Poppy seed Dressing

Targeted Food Cost: $.3.75Suggested Menu Price: $12.95Food Cost 29%

A delightful and refreshing salad featuring Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, oranges and honeydew that is highlighted with the right amount of honey and poppy seed dressing.

Grilled Salmon Over Spicy Asian Cucumber Slaw

Targeted Food Cost: $6.25 Suggested Menu Price:$24.95Food Cost 25%

Flavorful sesame peanut sauce is mixed with red and green cabbage, red bell pepper, green onions and carrots to create Asian cucumber slaw and then topped with a delicately grilled salmon fillet.

Teriyaki Steak with Stir Fry Vegetables


This delightful steak dish is flavored with a rich Teriyaki Glaze and served with tasty stir fry veggies.

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Never did the term, “location, location, loca-tion,” fit in the food industry well as it did for the October HFM Foodservice Protein Show.

As chefs from Oahu, Maui, Kauai and The Big Island walked through the door of the Outrigger Canoe Club in Waikiki, their first comment was “Wow!”

Barry O’Connell, president and CEO of HFM Food-service, and Michael Flores, vice president of sales and marketing, were there to meet and greet chefs who were well acquainted with the organization, as well as those attending for the very first time. The number of chefs in attendance was quite impressive, all interested in seeing new and exciting entrees to serve this holiday season.

The setting had the look and feel of a welcoming island home, sliding doors open to the ocean, cool breezes wafting back the fragrance of the sea, mixed with lobster and beef and bacon. Display tables and food stations filled the dining room of the members-only club. Organizer of the event, Darilyn Fernandez, Marketing Manager, directed the traffic flow to product tasting and protein seminars.

Where Chefs Shop For Holiday Proteinsby Lynn Cook


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Chefs arrived in waves, a mirror image of the surf beyond the terrace. After their first round of the tables they were ready to share their thoughts on the protein that pleased their taste buds. Keith Kong of Duke’s Waikiki and Diane Vicheinrut, general manager of Hula Grill, started the “rave wave” about the Applewood Smoked Duck Bacon from Maple Leaf Farms. Kong called the product “unique”. Thinking out loud, he said he might try it on pizza. Again picking one of the hot items of the day, his other top choice was the Hawaii Ranchers natural pas-ture raised beef. “We have already featured their beef in a special Kona Brew dinner. Now I am looking for a way to include the beef on the regular menu.”

The beef that topped the list, according to Kahua Ranch president, Tim Richards, is well traveled.

Born and raised on the Big Island, the animals are shipped to the mainland to dine for 100 days on grass. He said the most often asked question is “why don’t we ‘finish’ them here?” One of his answers, to the Hawaii State Legis-lature and others, is that the drought has been devastating. “If someone can legislate rain then the grasslands will return and we may have an opportunity to keep them home.”

Thomas Muromoto, executive chef of the Ka’anapali Beach Hotel, praised the set up of the show, saying that HFM did their usual good job, as always with class, adding that “they give us a real forecast of what it is going to cost us to keep our level of quality.”

Joey Macadangdang, executive chef, and Mark Urquidi, sous chef of Roy’s in Ka’anapali, Maui, agreed that “in this comfortable setting we really don’t feel like we are working.” They enjoyed the travel from Maui, adding that this event was an opportunity to see, taste and talk about newer products that may not have reached their island, agreeing that the frozen Big Island Abalone was new and attractive and “tasted like fresh.”

Chef Elmer Guzman of the Poke Stop is a fan of the contacts that are made at the HFM shows, “they give us options in the center of the plate, ideas on catering and portion size,” adding with a smile, “ they have lots of toys to play with.” He joined the duck bacon fan club describing how he would use it on slider


products but always learns something new, like the flat-iron pork, calling it “an important approach to a cut that

would be otherwise lost.” His suggestion for the delicate flavored frozen abalone was that the tiny, shinny shell makes a great memento to take home. Michael Carba, food and beverage manager of Paradise Grill, was pleased with the lobster prices and the time he had to discuss products with the seafood purveyors.

“Just checking out the products,” is what Mi-chael Huang said the day was for him. As the chef of Kahuna’s Sports Bar & Grill at MCCS Marine Base, his job was often to serve up wings for 600. “Still,” he said, “I like to know what is new to keep ideas fresh.” He did mention that the products would be top of mind for his family owned Puka

buns to top a patty of ground duck. His comment, echoed by many, was that seeing other chefs and “talking story” was something that didn’t hap-pen often. “We can say hey, check out that booth because even if we all use the same ingredient the results will all be different.”

Moving on through the tasting tables, Chef Richard Barnes from Maui Fish & Pasta agreed on the first pick of the day, duck bacon, saying he would take it directly to his breakfast menu. James McDonald, executive chef from Pacifico, i’o and The Feast at Lele, said he was familiar with most of the


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Plate Lunch in Kalihi. The semi-circle of chairs in the meet-

ing rooms were full when educational seminars on protein followed one upon the next. In the seminars the chefs had the opportunity to hear reports on the state of the industry and the impact the financial markets world-wide. Slide presentations punctuated each seminar with dramatic facts and figures, raising questions the experts were there to answer.

Tim Richards, president of Kahua Ranch Hawaii, presented the Hawaii Ranchers Beef Discussion, explaining the process of raising cattle in Hawaii. Tom Andersen followed with a Purchase Right in 2013, presenting facts and figures, both amazing and disturb-ing, about the impact the down economy and “big box”

buyers had on each individual food service outlet. Steve Mylryan’s Natural Pork Market Discussion included a serving of natural “flat iron” pork.

“Overall, events like this are a remind-er for us of what’s up for the season and the new fiscal year,” summed up Hilton Hawaiian Village Executive Chef Jeffrey Vigilla. “This is a valuable show with pre-senters who give us first hand knowledge of the growing cycle time, the availability of product through the year and what oth-ers are doing in the market.” His favorite of the day, the fresh frozen abalone, and of course, what he called the “interesting duck bacon.”

HFM’s Michael Flores summed up the overall intent of the day. “We want the chefs to feel comfortable, not pres-sured. Cases of products may be sold here but the day is

really about building relationships.” He was pleased to hear the many positive comments on the venue, agreeing with HFM president, Barry O’Connell, that the large product shows of past years are dated. Both chefs and suppli-ers commented that the natural setting enabled something not usually found in air conditioned convention halls – natural light and warm Hawaiian air that allowed food sampling to be true to the taste of the product.

Hawaii journalist and co-author of four cook and story books with Chef Sam Choy: Sam Choy’s Kitchen, Sam Choy’s Poke, Sam Choy’s Hawaiian Luau, Sam Choy’s Poke



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ing our food. The 2012 Taste staged 35 culinary stations, 25 island-made product booths and 15 educational displays. Attendees used a Graze Your Way map to strategize their visits at the 75 offerings.

Taste’s format of assigning chefs a variety of meat cuts fulfills its goal of educating both chefs and attendees that all the cuts of grass-finished beef can be enjoyed. In addi-tion, with more of the animal being used, there is less waste and the value of the product goes up—a plus for the local livestock industry.

Officially proclaimed by Hawai‘i County as Mealani’s Taste of the Hawaiian Range Day, Sept. 21st offered perfect “grazing” weather

for hungry attendees at the 17th annual agriculture festival that sprawled both inside and out of the Hilton Waikoloa Village.

Over 1,700 attendees enjoyed innovative cuisine us-ing healthy, forage-fed meats and a cornucopia of local-ly grown fruits, vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, honey and beverages. Meats on the menu include 22 cuts of dry-aged, grass-fed beef—everything from tongue to tail—plus lamb, mutton, goat, pork and wild and domestic boar. Each culinary station received a whopping 100 pounds of meat to create the dish of their choice.

The use of different meats—and meat cuts—is all part of the culinary adventure when local ranchers, farm-ers, restaurateurs and eager eaters celebrate a bounty of locally produced food. While “tasting,” festival goers met a wide range of Hawai‘i’s food producers at gaily decorated vendor booths and talked story with the people who make a living growing and produc-

Grazing at Taste of the Hawaiian RangeStory and photos by Fern Gavelek


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Seven of the 35 culinary participants were first tim-ers, including The Fairmont Orchid, Hawai‘i and new Executive Chef Hubert Des Marias, who recently came to the Kohala Coast from Kenya.

“I like grass-fed beef for its flavor profile and health-ful benefits,” says Des Marias, who was named one of “America’s Ten Best New Chefs” by Food and Wine Magazine. He prefers “simple preparation” to let grass-fed beef “speak for itself.” For Taste, the Fairmont pre-pared a tasty “Tongue and Cheek” dish: tamarind-glazed

beef cheek and sweet potato laulau with pickled lomilomi beef tongue and mustard greens salad served with Waimea tomatoes and a golden pineapple turmeric salsa.

Pre-Taste activities included a grass-fed beef nutrition lecture for culinary students and industry pro-fessionals by Dr. Joannie Dobbs of

UH-Manoa’s Dept. of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences. James Babian, executive chef of Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, expertly led the 2012 installment of Cook-ing Grass-fed Beef 101. He whipped up tasty Grilled Tri-Tip with Kiawe-Smoked Kabocha Pumpkin and Braciole de Manzo or Italian beef roll to the delight of 50-some hungry attendees and 100 culinary students.

With a mission to provide a venue for sustainable agricultural education and support of locally produced ag products, Mealani’s Taste of the Hawaiian Range is rooted

in small business participa-tion, sponsorship and in-kind donations. Find a list of the 2012 supporters and partici-pants, details on the Mealani Research Station—where Taste began—plus where to get grass-fed beef on the Big Isle and recipes at www.TasteoftheHawaiianRange.com. Save the date for next year: Friday, Oct. 4, 2013. See you there!

Fern Gavelek CommunicationsRead column at www.spectatorron.comPublic Relations / Editorial Services / Freelance WritingEmail: [email protected]

Island-Braised Lamb Sliders by Sam Choy’s Kai Lanai


Kona coffee pioneers that included many of their parents, grandparents and even great grandparents.

It was from this discussion that the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival was cultivated.

Most of those early Festival organizers are no longer with us, but two Kona icons – Norman Sakata and Alfreida Fujita – have nurtured the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival for nearly 40 years.

The Kona Coffee Cultural Festival, Hawaii’s oldest food festival, unites farmers, artisans, culinary and beverage con-noisseurs with ten days of events and programs that extend the reach beyond the coffee cup to include arts and culture,

Little did missionary Samuel Ruggles know that he would be starting a worldwide movement when he planted Kona’s first coffee in 1828. And little did

he know that coffee and Kona were a perfect match. The Kona land is rugged and so are its people. Kona

with its rich volcanic soil (this means rocky), hard-work-ing family farmers, and perfect climatic conditions have made for nearly 200-years of world famous coffee.

From its humble beginnings, the Kona coffee indus-try has grown to more than 650 independent farms with many ranging in size from three to seven acres. Kona coffee is a global brand that commands premium prices in the competitive coffee world.

Agriculture is a hard scrabble business and growing Kona coffee is no different. The Kona coffee industry has had its ups and its downs over the past two centuries. Large Kona coffee plantations went bust over a hundred years ago and the lands were broken up into smaller one to five-acre family farms run by newly arrived Japanese immigrants. While today’s coffee farms have a diverse mixture of ownership, many Kona coffee farmers can trace their farming history to their ancestors.

Rooted in TraditionIn 1970, a group of Kona coffee farmers got together

to discuss ways to honor their Kona coffee cultural heri-tage and to recognize the accomplishments of the early


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Coffee and Kona— A Perfect Match by Laura Aquino


the estate Kona coffees for sale today are grown on Kamehameha Schools lands including Arianna Farms and organically grown Kona RainForest Coffee was the cup of choice at the White House when it was served at the National Governors As-sociation dinner in 2006.

To order Kona coffee from either of these winning Kona Coffee Cupping Contest farms, email them directly at Kona RainForest Farms [email protected] or Ari-anna Farms ‘Ono Kona Coffee [email protected]

Cooking with Kona CoffeeThe rich, smooth flavor of 100% Kona coffee was the

showcased ingredient at the KTA Super Stores Recipe Contest. Amateurs, professionals, students from local high school culinary programs and Hawaii Community College West Hawaii Culinary Arts program competed with savory entrée or tasty dessert entries. Some competitors chose to enter both, a tricky but beneficial strategy as festival-goers were treated to samples of recipe entries.

Kenichi Pacific and Four Seasons Resort Hualalai were big winners in the professional entrée division. Culinary students used local ingredients provided by Kamehameha Schools and Kamehameha Investment Corporation under a new initiative to provide financial support to help defray recipe ingredient costs.

Samuel Varron won both college culinary divisions with a 100% Kona Coffee Crusted Pork with Kona Coffee Cream Sauce and a 100% Kona Coffee Baklava.

The 2013 Kona Coffee Cultural Festival scheduled for November 1-10.

The Kona Coffee Cultural Festival is designated as a ‘Major Festival’ by Hawaii Tourism Authority and is made possible by the major corporate support of UCC Ueshima Coffee Co., Ltd., Kamehameha Schools, Alaska Airlines, Kamehameha Investment Corporation and KTA Super Stores. The Kawakami Family of Captain Cook Fund at the Hawaii Community Foundation, Hawaii Community Fed-eral Credit Union and numerous other corporate and com-munity donors also provide Festival support and funding.

For more info on the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival log onto www.konacoffeefest.com, follow on Twitter @kona-coffeefest or friend on Facebook.

entertainment, and a hefty infusion of community spirit. This November’s 42nd Annual Kona Coffee Cultural

Festival immersed attendees in a Kona coffee extrava-ganza that included such favorites as the prestigious Kona Coffee Cupping Competition, KTA Super Stores Kona Coffee Recipe Contest, UCC Ueshima Coffee Co. Kona Coffee Picking Contest, art exhibits, farm tours, and cultural events that honor Kona’s nearly 200 years of coffee heritage. With every harvest, the Festival honors Kona’s cultural heritage and recognizes the accomplish-ments of Kona coffee pioneers, farmers and artisans.

Cupping Kona’s CoffeeWhat is a cupping competition you might ask? Cup-

ping is the industry’s way of evaluating coffee charac-teristics—aroma and fragrance, flavor, acidity, body, sweetness and aftertaste.

One of the Kona Coffee Festival’s signature events is the prestigious Kona Coffee Cupping Competition, where coffee grown solely on farms in the district of Kona compete to see which Kona coffee farm has stand-out “Kona characteristics.” Like the vineyards of France and Napa Valley, every Kona coffee farm’s terroir has faintly different characteristics and a unique personality carefully cultivated by the farm’s owner. It was up to an internationally recognized panel of cupping judges to sniff, slurp and taste their way through the entries look-ing for this year’s cupping winner.

Kona RainForest Coffee won the coveted Kona Cof-fee Cupping Competition Classic Division, beating out more than forty other entries. Arianna Farms Ono Kona Coffee repeated its win in the Kona Coffee Cupping Competition Crown Division for its third Kona Coffee Cupping award.

The Kona Coffee Cupping Competition is sponsored by UCC Ueshima Coffee Co., Ltd. of Japan and Kame-hameha Schools. It’s interesting to note that many of

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