Hawaii has all the right ingredients to spark the next global culinary revolution, according to chef Alex Atala of Sao Paolo, Brazil’s D.O.M. restaurant, who dropped the gauntlet while here, challenging local chefs to make it happen.

The chef — named one of Time magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential People in 2013 for sparking a renaissance in Brazilian cuisine — was in town recently to present Leahi Concept Kitchen’s first Master Chef dinner. He was also the guest speaker at Kapiolani Community College’s debut chef-to-chef meeting geared toward the professional development of local chefs through the sharing of experiences, perspectives, information and inspiration.

Speaking about famed Catalan chef Ferran Adria, father of molecular gastronomy, Atala told local chefs gathered at Leahi that Adria claimed that if someone gave him 50 new ingredients, he could start a culinary revolution.

“I believe that Brazil has 25 ingredients to show the world, and I believe Hawaii has 25 more,” Atala said. “Both of us have so many possibilities to bring something new to the entire world. I still don’t know enough about Hawaiian food. My first impression before I came was like most people who imagine Hawaiian food is just pineapple.”

After tasting foods like opihi, shave ice, poke, laulau, squid luau and pipikaula — the latter he had imagined would be too oily — he said, “Now I believe in Hawaii. You guys have a new frontier. Ten years ago no one knew poke. Nowadays even Brazil has poke. With laulau there’s digging, wrapping, there’s a culture behind your food. There’s much more than a recipe.”

His island tasting expedition left him with the desire to create shave ice from frozen fish, Atala said. “Maybe it will be terrible, but I have to be game to try it, even if people say, ‘That Brazilian guy’s nuts.’”

Breaking, or expanding, the rules is what led him to his own breakthrough, when he found many aspects of his formal European-centric culinary training and mindset didn’t apply in Brazil. “We don’t have the same ingredients, so I substitute. Same thing as Hawaii.”

He also questioned why he was trying to faithfully reproduce French fare when in his heart he knew he would never best the French. He questioned using ingredients such as foie gras and truffles in Brazil, “when the best foie gras and truffles are in Europe.” Then he questioned whether foie gras is delicious at all.

“Do we think foie gras is really good because someone told us it’s good? The first time I tasted it, I didn’t like it. I had to imagine some guy coming to my country and tasting my grandmother’s food to understand that statements we are told are true may not be true.”

Over time he added more elements of Brazilian cuisine to his cooking until one day the evolution was complete and his menu became 100 percent Brazilian.

In his Master Chef dinner, Atala presented a $250-per-person showcase that included oysters, hearts of palm, onaga and local brisket with flavors of the Amazon, including a sorbet of cupuacu (a fruit related to cacao), indigenous Yanomami mushrooms, acai, sweet-sour bacuri fruit and habanero-related cumari peppers.

Contemporary chefs can support the growth of such “beautiful ingredients,” he said, becoming strong advocates for social change, environmental education and conservation.

“Restaurants are not only about feeding people. What connects 7 billion people in the world is food, and chefs have the strongest voice in the food chain.

“A lot changed in my 30 years as a professional chef. In the old days chefs had secrets. Why? We don’t have secrets anymore because of social media. Now if I have a new technique, I put it out free, and more people come to my restaurant.”

Student chefs perfect culinary skills at the Parc

Beyond the star power of visiting chefs, Leahi Concept Kitchen exists as a training restaurant for students of Kapiolani Community College’s Culinary Institute of the Pacific, and a lab for testing ideas that might find a permanent home once the school’s 180-seat fine-dining and banquet facility is completed.

Halekulani Corp. offered the school the site in the Waikiki Parc Hotel for a year, for a nominal percentage of net profits until renovations on the hotel begin in 2018. The idea was to provide students with real-world restaurant experience while bringing in top chefs from around the globe to share their knowledge.

Overseeing the kitchen is KCC culinary alumnus chef Eddie Mafnas, who created a menu that mirrors current trends in Waikiki, making it possible for students to graduate seamlessly from the classroom to a professional setting.

Diners can expect such dishes as an Ewa sweet corn tamale cake ($10), miso-glazed hamachi kama ($14) and spicy ahi wonton tacos ($15) as starters; and large plates of herb-crusted Colorado rack of lamb ($32), prime filet mignon with Hamakua mushroom gratin ($37) and pan-seared scallops ($26) with edamame puree, saffron beurre blanc and ulu croquette.

For added interest, there are specialties of Guam such as chicken kelaguen ($7), the citrus-marinated chicken blended with Hawaiian chili peppers, topped with fresh grated coconut and served with red rice; beer-battered shrimp fritters ($9); and a Chamorro-style vegetable stew ($24) made with Aloun Farms greens.

In my visits there were times a steak was overcooked, Brussels sprouts over-sauced and over-seasoned, which is not unexpected in a learning situation with the added pressure of a paying audience. Service is also awkward without the kind of one-on-one supervision I’ve seen on the floor of newly opened commercial establishments.

But dining here is dining for a good cause, and supporting the restaurant will support the development and quality of Hawaii’s dining scene in years to come. Disclosure: I offer an endowed culinary scholarship at the school.

In lieu of gratuity, a 15 percent service charge is added to bills, and the restaurant is BYOB, with a corkage fee of $10 per bottle of wine and $1 per bottle of beer.

Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.