Hawaii-born chef Jeffery Hayashi will be doing battle against two other chefs as he attempts to represent the United States at the 2019 Bocuse d’Or culinary competition in Lyon, France.
At that esteemed event, two-person teams from 24 countries compete for two days. On each day they have 5-1/2 hours to create artful and precise meat and seafood platters, often with towering components, and then must carry their platters to the judges’ table.
Hayashi and chefs Ben Grupe and Matthew Kirkley and their respective commis, or assistants, were selected by the New York-based ment’or BKB Foundation, which trains young U.S. chefs for what is widely viewed as the world’s most prestigious culinary competition. (The Hawai‘i Food & Wine Festival donates some of its proceeds to the foundation each year.)
Hayashi is the first Hawaii-born chef to make it to the Team USA Selection competition, according to the foundation.
Hayashi described the competition on the men’tor Facebook page as “a monumental challenge that tests one’s ability to his (or) her limits and shows the world that the United States remains a culinary powerhouse.”
Contacted by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser a week ago, Hayashi said, “I’ve had a whole week to process all these emotions. It was very overwhelming, trying to figure out what I’m going to do.”
An orientation session answered many of his questions and assuaged many concerns but not all of them.
“I’m excited,” he said. “I’ll see what happens when I’m stressed out and nervous, but hopefully I’ll come out of that.”
In Hawaii, Hayashi apprenticed with chef and chocolatier Philippe Padovani, worked as a chef at Il Lupino Trattoria & Wine Bar and then worked for chef Chris Kajioka at Vintage Cave. When Kajioka left the restaurant, he took Hayashi with him to help open Mourad in San Francisco.
“When I started working at Vintage Cave, that’s when my technique started to get more refined, and the way I carry myself in the kitchen got more refined,” Hayashi said.
Kajioka congratulated Hayashi the week the announcement was made. “He’s just always been very focused, always very creative and very artistic,” Kajioka said. “He found confidence and he’s just at another level.”
In a competition such as this, he said, “you’re testing yourself against the best of the best, and Jeff, he has a very quiet confidence. He doesn’t look competitive but it’s all inside.”
Kajioka, who is on the culinary council for the Bocuse this year (as is Michelle Karr-Ueoka), said Hayashi “has a huge future. He doesn’t need me to say ‘good luck’; he knows what he’s doing and can accomplish anything he wants to, for sure.”
Hayashi is now executive sous-chef at Mourad, where his commis for the competition, Brionna Morrison, also works. Chef-owner Mourad Lahlou “gave me … his full support. He’s probably the one that pushed me over the edge to actually go for it. … He gave me the confidence,” Hayashi said.
Hayashi, Morrison and their fellow competitors will face off in Las Vegas in November for a chance to become Team USA. The winning duo goes on to the Americas competition in Mexico in 2018 to learn which team will go for the gold in Lyon in 2019, hoping to repeat the 2017 Team USA win.
“I just don’t want to let anyone down, that’s my biggest worry,” said Hayashi. “I wouldn’t want to let my co-workers down, my family down, my country down. That’s my motivation. I will push to make sure I’m at a certain caliber.”
Send restaurant news and notes to erika@staradvertiser.com or call 529-4303. Follow Erika Engle on Twitter at @erikaengle.
