Hawaii Hospitality - January/February 2014 - (Page 8)

Part 1 in a series highlighting our homegrown food and beverage superstars who are an important part of the increased attention Hawaii is receiving in the national culinary arena. BY LEE SCHALLER Making a Name for Themselves-and for Hawaii If you are a fan of television's wildly popular Food Network, you probably already have experienced a sense of pride at seeing our local guys and gals-experienced professional chefs and young newcomers to the industry-gain more and more national acclaim, honors and awards for their skills. And their warm personalities and natural "aloha spirit" charm doesn't hurt. Judges at times are amazed as they see Hawaii chefs actually help their competitors in stressful situations instead of displaying the usual "we're here to win it at any cost" more aggressive behavior. The Hawaii competitors quickly become viewer favorites and endear themselves to the judges, even if they do not win the final showdowns. PHOTO COUR TESY OF TIM CADIENTE URTESY OF PHOTO CO OD AND HAWAII FO L IVA WINE FEST Cooking Up Kudos Our local food and beverage superstars have appeared on such Food Network shows as Chopped, Iron Chef America, Cupcake Wars, The Great Food Truck Race, Flying Knives, and Ready... Set...Cook! In addition to the Food Network shows formatted to showcase competing chefs, there are those that are not cooking competitions, but which are formatted to highlight outstanding dining establishments and their chef owners. Our local eateries and their chef owners have starred on quite a few of these, with the episodes filmed on location along with the show's hosts. They include, for example, Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives; Rachel Ray's $40 a Day, and The Best Thing I Ever Ate, to name just a few. It's not just the Food Network that courts and loves our local food and beverage folks. They also have appeared on the Bravo Channel's The Next Food Network Star, and Top Chef Masters as well as the Travel Channel's Man v. Food Nation and Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations plus the Cooking Channel's Unique Eats. In this series, we will showcase some of Hawaii's Food & Beverage Superstars plus several local eateries, from fine dining to laid-back local- and even food trucks-who have and are making big waves on a national culinary level. Awesome Honors In addition to filling you in on who has appeared on national TV competitions and what dining spots are being featured where, we also will be talking about the highly prestigious awards and honors our Food & Beverage Superstars and some of our restaurants are garnering. These will 8 Hawaii Hospitality ■ January/February 2014 encompass highly acclaimed local and regional awards as well as national and even international honors. We leave you, in this introduction to our new series, with a few photographs and graphics just to give you a clue as to what's to come.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Hawaii Hospitality - January/February 2014

Talk Story with George Szigeti
Maui Ho‘okipa No Ka Oi
Hawaii’s Food & Beverage Superstars
All Systems Go!
Featured Department: Engineering
New Restaurants
Clean Talk with Rose
News Briefs
Association News
Marketplace

Hawaii Hospitality - January/February 2014