Chew with the crew

Meals aren’t simply about consuming food. They serve all sorts of purposes — social, cultural and nutritional. The dinner table, for instance, is invaluable to quality family time.

But isn’t the restaurant staff meal an exception? In that setting, where the entire business is built upon delicious food, aren’t meals strictly about what’s on the plate?

As with most matters, it’s not that simple. To start, just as in home pantries, budget is of primary consideration.

"We eat together every day at 2 p.m., and the chef cooks just for us. But it’s nothing special — just depends on what we have," said Jeffrey Li, owner of Fook Lam, a restaurant in the Chinese Cultural Plaza, explaining that he and his crew of 20 to 30 eat whatever there’s a surplus of in the kitchen.

Most often the meal is "homemade" food such as pork hash, salty egg or stir-fry items not on the menu.

No matter what, though, "it always tastes good — everyone’s happy," he said.

Across town, at Alan Wong’s restaurant on King Street, the chef is carrying on a tradition he learned as a young staffer at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia: the chef’s table.

"The entire culinary brigade sat at one long table, and we ate our meal together," recalled the chef.

Wong said the meal is like that of a family gathering. "Whenever you can sit down and talk together and enjoy each other’s company, it’s a cool thing."

But in Wong’s kitchen the meal is more than just a community builder. It’s an educational experience.

"We have a lot of cooks not from Hawaii, about half of our 30 cooks, so we try to plan employee meals that are ethnic. It can be as simple as chicken long rice, hekka or Thai curry. But it’s something they’re not used to eating," he said. "The first thing I want the mainland kids to know is the ingredients we use here in Hawaii — shoyu, chili pepper water. They think soy sauce is soy sauce, miso is miso. They’re not. So it’s like two birds with one stone, teaching them what local taste is and what local dishes are.

"My No. 1 popular dish is a ginger-crusted onaga. If you make cold ginger chicken, a light bulb will go off. That’s the inspiration for the dish. My seared ahi is served with Asian slaw and a soy vinaigrette. It has crunchy veggies and won ton pi — that’s from somen salad and Chinese chicken salad. So when they taste the original dish, they see the roots of the dish they’re making."

Not far from Wong’s venue is a restaurant where basic local fare reigns supreme. At Zippy’s McCully restaurant, assistant manager Kevin Pacheco is a champion of the company’s wellness program. Pacheco creates recipes for McCully’s healthful employee plates and shares the most successful ones with other outlets in the chain.

Zippy’s employees are given a meal allowance. They select from a list of menu items and the healthful plates if they’re made available; each restaurant’s participation in the wellness program is optional.

The McCully crew’s top healthy pick is Pacheco’s grilled garlic chicken, with brown rice and tossed salad. Also on the lineup are grilled garlic fish, grilled garlic chicken salad, tofu salad and sini­gang, a Filipino soup.

Pacheco says the healthful meals are built from a sole, budget-friendly ingredient that Zippy’s purchases in bulk. Items have included tortillas, watermelon, pollock and chicken.

"The company gives you the ingredient and says to be creative with it," he said.

The McCully program kicked off with ahi belly last summer. Pacheco created three marinades for the fish — ginger, garlic and miso — and had the workers taste-test the different versions. Garlic won, hands down.

"I use recipes from my family, then improvise to make them work for work," he said. "A ginger fish marinade turned into spicy garlic."

After he creates a dish that he likes, Pacheco contacts Zippy’s human resources department, which oversees the wellness program, to taste the dish. If they like it, he’s approved to forward the recipe to participating restaurants.

Pacheco has traveled to other locations when called to help them develop menus. He says each site’s preferences are different.

"At some stores they’ll simply salt and pepper the fish. But the sini­gang is popular in various stores," he said.

Pacheco says the wellness program began as a conditioning class for employees participating in a Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure. Then two Zumba trainers who worked for Zippy’s began holding classes. When employees started asking for healthful food, the company initially provided fruit, yogurt and granola bars.

Pacheco got involved when he was approached about joining the program.

"It all started because I’ve always been on the biggish side, and two years ago I started watching what I ate and I exercised," he said. "An employee assistance coordinator saw I was doing well and asked me to participate."

Pacheco’s love of cooking fueled his initiative in developing recipes.

"I’m always experimenting with different things in the kitchen," he said. "It’s neat when the employees come back from their break happy. They anticipate their break and say they look forward to the meal."

Li of Fook Lam agrees that staff meals help morale.

"Why do we eat together? Because we’re working like brothers and sisters, so we eat together and talk story," he said. "What I thought was, ‘We eat together like friends.’

"It’s been eight years since I started (the restaurant), and we have nearly the same crew. Maybe this helps."