It seemed so unattainable that it wasn’t even on chef Ron de Guzman’s list of career goals.
Maui-based chef Sabra Ricci knows her appearance will be especially rarefied.
Chef-restaurateurs Chris Kajioka and Anthony Rush were scheduled for their event well before their Senia restaurant was named a Best New Restaurant semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation Awards.
The chefs, as well as Maui’s Sheldon Simeon, all will be cooking at the culinary temple of America, the James Beard House in New York.
Simeon’s appearance, reported in Crave last week, was the result of a win in TV’s ”Top Chef” competition. It unfolds tonight and can be viewed via jamesbeard.org/ kitchen-cam.
Many Hawaii chefs have cooked at the Beard House over the years, but there has been a marked upward trend. Four nights will feature Hawaii chefs in 2017, up from two (Isaac Bancaco and Shaymus Alwin) in 2016 and one (Jon Matsubara) in 2015.
De Guzman scored his invitation after a Beard House board member had dinner at his restaurant, Stage. “She liked the dinner so much, she asked for me and then and there asked me if I wanted to cook at the Beard House,” de Guzman said. He answered affirmatively, because, duh, “and a couple months later she comes back with emails and requirements and it is a long process.”
His dinner, on March 25, will showcase local farmers and ingredients, and some “touches” that highlight his Filipino culture. “Filipino cuisine has taken off on the mainland,” he said. His menu will include pork belly adobo and Kona kampachi kilawin, a sort of Filipino-style ceviche. Also featured will be appetizers such as kalua pig arancini and his take on a poke bowl.
De Guzman has never been to New York, and “I’m trying to take my Stage crew, to reward them, and they know the dishes,” he said. Master sommelier Michael Jordan of Jackson Family Wines also will accompany Team Stage to pour the wines.
Ricci, a private chef on Maui, said she is “blown away” by the opportunity. “I’m heading into sort of the winter of my career,” she said. Her clients have included A-list celebrities and royal families.
“A good friend of mine out of Charleston (S.C.), he’s done many dinners at the Beard House. He was talking to one of the people there about why private chefs aren’t acknowledged,” she said. As a result, on May 4 Ricci and her friend Brett McKee will prepare a Beard House meal themed “Charleston meets Maui.”
The duo’s menu includes kalua pork dumplings with ginger-sesame vinaigrette and miniature classic Southern tomato pie among the hors d’oeuvres, and a specialty cocktail from Maui-based Ocean Vodka.
The first course is redolent with Hawaii ingredients, including Kula baby greens, Maui onion, Alii Honey, Surfing Goat Dairy cheese, macadamia nuts and a lilikoi-vanilla bean vinaigrette. The second course is all Charleston, featuring low-country shrimp ceviche, and the menu goes on, topped off with dessert of a pineapple crisp, accompanied by pineapple sparkling wine from Hula o Maui.
Hall Wines of Napa, Calif., will provide most of the pourables, as owner Kathryn Hall is among Ricci’s clients.
The pre-holiday opening of Senia by chefs Kajioka, Rush and Rush’s wife, Katherine Nomura, set off a whirlwind for the business partners.
The restaurant opened to rave reviews, and on Feb. 15 came the announcement that Senia was a James Beard semifinalist.
“We were completely floored. We’ve only been open for so long,” Kajioka said.
“Looking at the list (of semifinalists), that list was crazy. The restaurants are so good, and that’s the standard we hold ourselves to; and to be considered at that level, it’s very humbling. … Peer respect is everything. And so are happy guests.”
The nomination in the category of best new restaurant means Hawaii is on the highest culinary level, he said. “That’s really important for us. We’re out in the middle of nowhere, and a lot of people don’t necessarily travel to eat here, but there’s a big eye on Hawaii right now.”
Kajioka and Rush will cook at the Beard House on Nov. 9 in collaboration with the Hotel Wailea, with a tentative theme reflecting the hotel’s membership in the global Relais & Chateaux association of luxury hotels, villas and restaurants.
The Kajioka-Rush menu for the Beard House still is in development, but it will showcase local ingredients, Kajioka said.
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