Local contestant might return to TV’s ‘Food Network Star’

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COURTESY FOOD NETWORK STAR

Hawaii resident Amy Pottinger was the 10th contestant to be cut in Season 13 of the TV show “Food Network Star.”

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COURTESY VICTOR VESA

The Joy of Sake Kickoff Party and Media Tasting was held June 30 at Ravish in The Modern Honolulu. Along with a wide variety of sakes were small plates, which included a seared pork belly bao bun with grilled eggplant skewer.

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Amy Pottinger of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam was eliminated from the televised “Food Network Star” competition Sunday but could come back if her turn during the online-only “Star Salvation” competition, immediately following the show, was deemed successful.

Viewers will find out on this weekend’s episode (6 p.m. Sunday).

Pottinger was disappointed to be cut from the show, which she called a “really enriching, once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience.” Nine people were cut before her during the stiff competition.

Before the show began its Season 13 run, Pottinger could not reveal the outcome of her time on the show, but told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in May that she planned to begin culinary training at the Gros Bonnet Culinary Academy in the fall.

— Erika Engle, Star-Advertiser

Shatter a record, taste premium sakes

If sake makes you joyous, make it a point to attend the Joy of Sake on Friday at the Hawai‘i Convention Center, where you can add your voice to a kampai toast that organizers hope will set a new world record. While you’re there, you can peruse 382 competition-level sakes that include dozens of gold awardees, 190 premium daiginjo selections and 217 labels not available in the U.S., then taste what’s most appealing.

To add to the enjoyment, 21 restaurants will serve up sake- inspired pupu. These include Basalt’s sake- and lemongrass-cured salmon gravlax with creme fraiche, BLT Steak’s Makaweli Ranch venison carpaccio, Cakeworks’ Mousse Aux Chocolate with Hawaiian chili pepper-scented lilikoi sauce, Umami Teppan Kingyo’s kurobuta yakisoba and, in a preview for a winter opening, Miki noodles with ham hock, marungay and egg from chef Sheldon Simeon’s upcoming Calabash restaurant.

The event runs 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. At 8 p.m., the goal is for 1,500 people to raise a glass and shatter Japan’s record of a 1,000-person toast.

Tickets are $95 advance, $145 early access (5:30 p.m.) at joyofsake.com, or purchase regular-entry tickets at the door for $105. The convention center is at 1801 Kalakaua Ave.

Following Honolulu, the 17th annual festival will head to New York for a September event, then conclude in Tokyo in November.

— Joleen Oshiro, Star-Advertiser