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What’s New at the 2019 Taste Gala?

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We’re expanding our footprint at the Old Kahilu Town Hall (Mana Christian ‘Ohana) behind Parker Ranch Center in Waimea. Culinary stations will be both inside and out, with tents located on both the windward and leeward sides of the hall. 

This year’s gala on September 7 also has some new culinary participants: Chef Bonita Lao of Laulima Food Patch, Kuleana Rum Shack and the Royal Kona Resort. Wanting to wet your whistle is the new Hawaiian Beverage Company of Kailua-Kona, which offers four craft beverages featuring local ingredients: Passionade, Ginger Beer, Olena Tonic and Cold Kona Brew.

In addition to the newbies, there’s a full lineup of chefs and their restaurants, in addition to culinary students from both Hawai‘i Community Colleges in Hilo and Kona. Just a sampling of their tasty offerings includes lamb stuffed with sweet pumpkin and homemade chorizo by Chef Allen Hess of Mai Grille. 

Marking its 23rd year, the Taste Gala has a unique format where culinary stations are assigned a cut of local, pasture-raised beef, pork, lamb and goat. Attendees “graze” among the stations, which are identified by meat cut and restaurant or resort name. Come hungry!  

Resort Debuts with Returning Chef

Chef George Gomes (right) at the 2010 Taste of the Hawaiian Range

Royal Kona Resort, located on Ali‘i Drive in the heart of Kailua Village and known for its oceanside Don the Beachcomber Restaurant and Mai Tai Bar, debuts this year with Executive Chef George Gomes at the helm. 

Chef Gomes, a HCC-Kona graduate, has wowed Taste diners over the years with his innovative uses of meat cuts. He has probably prepared them all—or close to it! This year, chef is sure to again dazzle diners with savory Braised Beef Shank, Baked Potato Ravioli and Sea Asparagus Salsa Verde. Yum!

Waimea Native a First-Timer with Kona Restaurant

Chef Bonita Lao of Laulima Food Patch. Credit: Jeremiah Choi

Chef Bonita Lao, whose parents operate Don’s Chinese Kitchen in Parker Ranch Center, comes to Taste representing her restaurant located in Kona Crossroads Shopping Center, Laulima Food Patch, and Bonita Lao Catering. 

Describing her cuisine, Lao shares, “My goal is to incorporate global flavors with modern food preparation techniques while being inspired by our land and produce here to create foods of nutritional value.” Lau says she relies on plant-based sauces for her dishes rather than those made of cream and butter.

Laulima opened in 2016 with a focus to provide healthy and sustainable food that’s made from scratch and utilizes local produce. Laulima, meaning “collaboration; hands joining together for a common goal” serves Build Your Own Farm-to-Table Bowls, bentos and sandwiches. Chef Lao is assigned Beef Top Round and is preparing Garlic Ginger Marinated Beef “Nigiri” with Coconut Rice.

More than juice at Kuleana Rum Shack

The third new participant at this year’s Taste is Kuleana Rum Shack, located at Queens’ MarketPlace in Waikoloa. Newly founded by the isle’s Kuleana Rum Works, which grows heirloom sugarcane in North Kohala and distills it into rum agricole in Kawaihae, the Rum Shack offers a full lunch and dinner menu, plus rum tasting, cocktails and a full bar. 

Kuleana will be creating their taste using Beef Sirloin Tip (knuckle). Chef Keola Valdez says they are braising the beef to make a poi stew that incorporates the restaurant’s homemade poi and sugar cane pulp from Kuleana’s rum operation.

For the complete list of Taste culinary participants and their assigned meat cuts, visit https://www.tasteofthehawaiianrange.com/ticketed-evening-taste-gala/.

Tickets are still available for the non-alchoholic Taste of the Hawaiian Range gala 5:30-7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept.7. Enjoy cuisine at 20 culinary stations featuring local, pasture-raised meats—beef, pork, goat and lamb—plus produce. Pre-sale tickets are $50 at Parker Ranch Store, during the Taste Agriculture Festival at the YMCA Minuke Ole Park behind Parker Ranch Center, or online at www.tasteofthehawaiianrange.com; ticket sales are limited to 500 and are $60 at the door if still available.

Taste Welcomes Several New Culinary Participants

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Several new restaurants are participating at the 2016 Mealani’s Taste of the Hawaiian Range: Waipi‘o Cookhouse, Waikoloa’s Daylight Mind Coffee Company, Monstera, The Fish Hopper, Ippy’s Hawaiian Barbeque and Noodle Club. They join the 30-some culinarians who will be preparing pasture-raised meats a variety of different ways for attendees.

Waipi‘o Cookhouse

Wapio Cookhouse
From left: Wapi‘o Cookhouse owner Larry Vidlak with Krystle Cabrera, manager and Chef Charven Rodrigues.
Courtesy Wapio‘o Cookhouse

Located one mile before the famed Waipi‘o Valley Lookout, this restaurant has a unique distinction of being built right on a working farm. Owner Larry Vidlak says in order to build a restaurant on the 17 acre Kanahonua Farms, he had to agree to source all local available food from the state first—before importing anything.

With some background working with cattle, Vidlak bought the farm acreage in 2010 and put in some fencing. A barn came next and then he decided to build the restaurant. “I got into the food service business by accident,” he laughs. The farm produces grass-fed beef, lamb, bananas, avocados, mangos, coconut, cherries, papaya, lilikoi and herbs.

With a menu big on locally produced food, Waipi‘o Cookhouse serves fresh, smoked meats for breakfast, lunch and dinner. “The brisket and ribs are prepared here in a seven-food barbecue pit with two double doors and three racks. I get up at 3 a.m. to light the fire and oversee the barbecuing. We smoke the breakfast sausage, which is seasoned with our herbs.”

At the culinary helm is Chef Charven Rodrigues, who has acreage down in Waip‘o Valley that provides the hoio (edible fern), lu‘au leaf and watercress used in menu items. Vidlak adds, “We serve fresh Hawai‘i eggs and all our burgers, lamb and beef are from our ranch. We have a certified imu in the ground to prepare kalua pork.”

Waipi‘o Cookhouse is preparing beef brisket for Taste; follow the restaurant on facebook, www.facebook.com/Waipio-Cookhouse.

Daylight Mind Coffee Company Waikoloa

Ash Danao
Chef Ash Danao
Courtesy Daylight Mind Coffee Company

While Daylight Mind Chef Ash Danao has already participated in Taste three times with the former Keauhou Beach Hotel, the new Waikoloa location of Daylight Mind at Queens’ MarketPlace is making its debut.

A native of Honaunau in south Kona, Danao boasts culinary stints at Keauhou’s Akule Supply Company and his own former restaurant, Rolls With It. He is also a winner at a past Sam Choy’s Keauhou Poke Contest.

The menus are the same at both the Kona and Waikoloa Daylight Mind restaurants and chef describes them as having a “local, farm-to-table atmosphere.” Daylight Mind serves pasture-raised beef and chef says his favorite cut is the boneless short rib.

“Once you try our loco moco breakfast/lunch or braised short ribs with demi for dinner, you’ll understand why,” he confides. Chef is preparing beef cross rib for Taste.

For info on both locations, visit http://daylightmind.com.

 

The Fish Hopper

Pedro Almazan
Chef Pedro Almazan
Courtesy The Fish Hopper

Executive Chef Pedro Almazan of Mexico City brings his American-style cuisine to Taste for The Fish Hopper. A seafood and steakhouse restaurant located on Ali‘i Drive in Kailua-Kona, The Fish Hopper is popular for macadamia-crusted mahimahi, fresh ahi, bone-in ribeye and New York Steak. The restaurant is renown for award-winning, “Monterey Style” clam chowder. You can get it for takeout—up to 10 gallons at a time!

The restaurant uses local beef for its specials and chef says flavorful and tender rib steak is his favorite local beef cut. Chef is assigned ground beef for Taste.

Chef Almazan got into the food service business while living in Monterey, Calif., working as a line cook with the local Fish Hopper. Before coming to Kona, he also worked at Bubba Gump’s in Monterey and Honolulu.

Find menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner at www.fishhopper.com.

Monstera

Located upstairs at The Shops at Mauna Lani, Monstera is popular for sushi and has menu items typical of noodle houses and izakayas (Japanese pubs). Open for dinner nightly, Monstera offers a wide selection of sushi, specialty rolls, sizzling platters, small plates and hot and chilled noodle selections prepared under the supervision of Chef Norio Yamamoto.

Trained in Tokyo, Chef Yamamoto is a master sushi chef who has more than two decades of experience working in the culinary industry. Debuting at this year’s Taste, Monstera is assigned beef chuckroll. For details, www.monsterasushi.com.

Ippy’s Hawaiian Barbeque

Food Network star Ippy Aiona is not new to Taste, but his Hawaiian Barbeque restaurant is. Chef Aiona previously represented his Three Fat Pigs gastropub at Taste, but this year he’s preparing feral pork with his BBQ plate lunch restaurant in mind.

Offering counter service in the Queens’ MarketPlace food court, Ippy’s Hawaiian Barbeque serves BBQ ribs and more served with Ippy’s specialty sauces. Favorites include The Gravy Burger, Roasted Pork with Crispy Onions and the Grilled Mahi Burger with passionfruit tartar sauce. For info, visit www.facebook.com/IppysHawaiianBarbeque.

Noodle Club

Chef Edwin Goto, owner of long-time Taste participant Village Burger, is debuting his new eatery, Noodle Club, and assigned beef shank. Both restaurants are at Parker Ranch Center in Waimea.

With the same sustainability focus at Village Burger, Noodle Club “supports local farmers and ranchers…one bowl at a time.” Local pasture-raised beef is on the Noodle Club menu: rib-eye is marinated in teriyaki, skewered and grilled; the Bowl of Seoul soup features braised beef brisket and the Big Pho King Bone stars beef bone marrow. Find Noodle Club at www.facebook.com/noodleclubwaimea.