Signature Chef's Food Festival

Umami's friend Lis's friend had two tickets to the Signature Chef's Food Festival that he couldn't use, so he gave them to Lis and Lis persuaded Umami into going.  The event is a benefit for the Honolulu Firefighters Foundation and is held at Hale Kinai Ahi, the Honolulu Fire Department HQ.  It turned out to be an excellent event for foodies, great food, not too large, perhaps maybe even a bit under the radar!

Umami got there a little late, so didn't try everything, but had plenty too eat anyway.  First up, this "Curry Tempura Lollipop Chicken with Macadamia Nut Sweet and Sour Chili Sauce" from Roy's.  It's a neat little presentation, with the meat of the chicken slid to one end of the bone, flattened so it stands up, breaded and deep fried.  The curry flavoring was very strong, and sauce more to the sweet side, as those sauces tend to be, at least to Umami's palate.

Next, a quick pass through the silent auction items.  Umami bought four tickets to the UH Women's WAC Home Season Opener.  The team is scrappy, the games are entertaining, the seats are general admission so you can get really good seats because the team does not draw (yet!), the beer is served in big cups, cold and reasonable, and the food is . . . appropriate to an arena setting.  Not all the concessions are opened for the Na Wahine games (one downside of low attendance), but there's enough to graze.

Speaking of grazing, we wandered back out for more food, making a beeline to the Honolulu Firefighters for their "Braised Beef Vygytal Melange on a bed of Japonica Rice with chilled Kartoffelsalat."  Translated, this is "Chief Tomita's Beef Stew with local style white rice (i.e., sticky, but not like Thai sticky rice), and Potato Salad."  It was so good, and we grazed through it so fast, Umami neglected to get a picture.  Maybe next time!

From "Beef Stew Bowl," we moved on to "Sustainable Catch Sushi with Soy and Sansho on Shiso Rice topped with Scallion Pesto and Pickled Green Papaya Ribbons" by the Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Kapiolani Community College.  This was an amazing mix of flavors between the Shiso and the fish (which was beyond Umami's ability to identify).  The pickled green papaya basically functioned and tasted like gari, decorative, crunchy, and would have cut the heat of wasabi, if there had been any.  A very impressive dish.

3660 on  the Rise prepared "Braised Shortribs with Truffle Jus" which was good solid piece of beef and a strongly truffle flavored jus.  They had run out of mashed potatoes (one downside of being late) which was too bad for us, because it would have gone really well with the dish.

From the Sheraton Waikiki, "Kiawe Smoked Big Island Red Veal with Meyer Lemon & Tarragon Spaetzle, Kona Lobster, and Maui Goat Cheese."   Umami is struck by how lobster seems to be popping up in the sides to several of the dishes he's run across recently.  First, at Bouchon, and now in this dish and one other we didn't get a chance to try, the beachhouse at the moana's "Grilled Mongolian Flat Iron Steak with Molokai Sweet Potato and Lobster Corn Hash."

Umami's starting to believe that the way to eat lobster is as little chunks, with similarly sized chunks of vegetables (corn is ideal), pasta (tarragon spaetzle!), or rice.  A little goes a long way!

The veal was excellent.  It was a lot of red meat for Umami over the course of the evening though!

Finally, dessert (!), which was a coconut custard (very rich) on a coconut cookie (nice and chewy) topped with coconut macadamia brittle and coconut sorbet (delicately flavored . . . Umami was grateful that it was cold, because it was a warm evening!).  Umami's not positive, but he thinks this was from the Royal Hawaiian.

All in all, a good time!


The Signature Chef's Food Festival
Friday, October 1, 2010
Hale Kinai Ahi
636 South Street
Honolulu, Hawaii  96813