Masaharu Morimoto is a Japanese chef, best known as an Iron Chef on the Japanese TV cooking show Iron Chef and its spinoff Iron Chef America. He is also known for his unique style of presenting food.
The cuisine of Hawaii incorporates five distinct styles of food, reflecting the diverse food history of settlement and immigration in the Hawaiian Islands. In the pre-contact period of Ancient Hawaii, Polynesian voyagers brought plants and animals to the Islands. As Native Hawaiians settled the area, they fished, raised taro for poi, planted coconuts, sugarcane, sweet potatoes and yams, and cooked meat and fish in earth ovens. After first contact in 1778, European and American cuisine arrived along with missionaries and whalers, who introduced their own foods and built large sugarcane plantations. Christian missionaries brought New England cuisine while whalers introduced salted fish which eventually transformed into the side dish lomilomi salmon.
Loco moco is a dish featured in contemporary Hawaiian cuisine. There are many variations, but the traditional loco moco consists of white rice, topped with a hamburger patty, a fried egg, and brown gravy. Variations may include chili, bacon, ham, Spam, kalua pork, Portuguese sausage, teriyaki beef, teriyaki chicken, mahi-mahi, shrimp, oysters, and other meats. Loco Moco is also the name of a Hawaiian-based restaurant chain that serves Hawaiian rice bowl dishes.
Roy Yamaguchi is a Japanese-American celebrity chef, restaurateur and founder of a collection of restaurants including 30 Roy's Restaurants in the United States and Guam, the Tavern by Roy Yamaguchi and Eating House 1849. He is one of the founding members of the Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement.
Rick Bayless is an American chef and restaurateur who specializes in traditional Mexican cuisine with modern interpretations. He is widely known for his PBS series Mexico: One Plate at a Time.
Poke is diced raw fish served either as an appetizer or as a main course and is one of the main dishes of Native Hawaiian cuisine. Traditional forms are aku and heʻe (octopus). Heʻe (octopus) poke is usually called by its Japanese name Tako Poke, except in places like the island of Niʻihau where the Hawaiian language is spoken. Increasingly popular ahi poke is generally made with yellowfin tuna. Adaptations may feature raw salmon or various shellfish as a main ingredient served raw with the common poke seasonings.
Sam Choy is an American chef, restaurateur, and television personality known as a founding contributor of "Pacific rim cuisine". Choy is an alumnus of the Kapiolani Community College Culinary Arts program. One of his first jobs as a chef was at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. He would then return to Hawaii, where he eventually opened a chain of restaurants. Choy helped develop and popularize Hawaii regional cuisine. In 1991, Choy founded the Poke Festival and Recipe Contest.
Alan Wong is a chef and restaurateur known as one of 12 co-founders of Hawaii Regional Cuisine. They came together to form an organization to create a new American regional cuisine, highlighting Hawaii's locally grown ingredients and diverse ethnic styles. In 1992, they all came together and compiled a cookbook, The New Cuisine of Hawaii to be sold for charity. Wong and Choy are alumni of the Kapiolani Community College Culinary Arts program. Wong has several restaurants in Hawaii, as well as one in Japan.
George Mavrothalassitis is a chef and restaurateur known as one of the cofounders of Hawaii Regional Cuisine in the early 1990s. Mavrothalassitis is particularly known for individual pairings of wines with each dish in a multicourse meal.
Cesare Casella is an Italian chef, restaurateur, writer, consultant and educator. He is Dean of Italian Studies at the International Culinary Center in New York City, which is also home to The French Culinary Institute. Casella is the founder of the Italian Cooking School by Cesare Casella.
Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea is a resort in Wailea, on the island of Maui in Hawaii. It is part of the Four Seasons luxury hotels chain. It is the only resort on Maui to receive both the AAA Five Diamond Award and the Forbes Five-Star Award. It has four restaurants and bars, including one of Wolfgang Puck's Spago chain.
Huli-huli chicken is a grilled chicken dish in Hawaiian cuisine, prepared by barbecuing a chicken over mesquite wood, and basting it with a sweet huli-huli sauce.
Roy's is an upscale American restaurant that specializes in Hawaiian and Japanese fusion cuisine, with a focus on sushi, seafood and steak. The chain was founded by James Beard Foundation Award Winner Roy Yamaguchi in 1988 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The concept was well received among critics upon inception. The concept has grown to include 21 Roy's restaurants in the continental United States, six in Hawaii, one in Japan and one in Guam.
Zippy's is a fast casual restaurant chain based in Hawaii. It has 24 locations and serves American, Japanese, Chinese, Okinawan, and Hawaiian fusion food. One of their best-selling items is chili.
Hale Aina Awards are Honolulu Magazine's annual dining awards. The Hale Aina Awards are voted on by magazine readers and subscribers and published annually in the January issue of Honolulu.
Peter Merriman is a chef, restaurateur and one of the original 12 founding chefs of Hawaii regional cuisine. In 2011, he and the other Hawaii Regional Cuisine chefs were inducted to the Hawaii Restaurant Association Hall of Fame.
Bev Gannon is a Hawaiian cuisine chef, restaurateur and author. She is one of the dozen chefs credited with the development of Hawaii regional cuisine in the 1990s. Her restaurants on Maui include Hali'imaile General Store, Joe's Bar & Grill, and Gannon's. Several of her cookbooks have been published.
Mala sauce is a popular oily, spicy, and numbing Chinese sauce which consists of Sichuan peppercorn, chili pepper and various spices simmered with oil.
