New brunch battle, same result

Defending champions Chef Lee Anne Wong of Koko Head Cafe and Chef Sven Ullrich of the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa earned a three-peat as Hawaii Food & Wine Festival “Battle of the Brunch and Bass” winners Sunday at the Outrigger Reef Waikiki Beach Resort.

Their winning dishes both included local organic kalo. Ullrich’s presentation was savory, a crepe filled with kalo and Big Island chicken, served with a kalo-coconut compote, purple basil, crispy Maui onion rings and pitaya salsa. Wong’s sweet take featured a rum-honey kalo cake, which she also referred to as andagi, made with organic kalo flour, Big Island fruits and a coconut creme. Both plates featured hot-pink dragonfruit.

Husband-and-wife team Wade Ueoka and Michelle Karr-Ueoka created nine dishes using different parts of sustainably raised pork, shown on a diagram diners were given along with their brunch dishes.

Chefs Celina Tio of Julian restaurant in Kansas City, Mo., and Colin Hazama, of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, battled with her longanisa sausage with local vegetables, sunny-side-up quail egg and sizzled garlic sauce; and with his Kona lobster “BLT” with kiawe-smoked Kahlua bacon, Kona lobster scampi, Ho Farms ‘tomato raisins’ and truffle eggs, as well as a “shot” of champagne sabayon, three-caviar Wailea Ag relish and Bloody Mary powder.

The “bass” battle, between the Waimanalo Sunset Band and Pu‘uloa, vying for a regular gig at the Outrigger’s Kani Ka Pila Grille, was won by Pu‘uloa, from Ewa Beach.

Travel Channel host Adam Richman served as emcee, and his gregarious personality and witty adult humor generated a great deal of audience laughter as he announced the winners of each battle.