Food blogger Amy Pottinger of Honolulu will get a second chance to prove herself a worthy host of a cooking show while competing on this season’s “Food Network Star,” which premiered June 10.
The self-taught cook authors a blog called “Caviar and Crayons” from Hickam Air Force Base, where she lives with her husband, a pilot, and their two children. Originally from Seattle, Pottinger moved to Hawaii after living in Florida, Alaska and Texas, which have all influenced her culinary style, though Mexican food has become her strong point, she said.
A contestant in last year’s “Food Network Star,” Pottinger and another contestant survived three rounds in the spin-off “Comeback Kitchen” that ran May 27 to June 10, hosted by Valerie Bertinelli and Tyler Florence. That gained them a second chance to compete on this season’s “Food Network Star,” led by celebrity chefs Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis, which aims to choose a new cooking-show host.
Pottinger said the key difference in her performance in “Comeback Kitchen” was being able to “stay out of my head,” and not listen to her own hypercritical, perfectionist dialogue. She said Flay reassured her that under pressure, he, too, tended to “get worked up and talk really fast.” Pottinger said she was a lot less nervous on set since she had been there before and was surrounded by former contestants with whom she was familiar.
She praised hosts Bertinelli and Florence as “incredible” and said she realized contestants were privileged to receive advice from chefs with such high credentials.
She had prepared for the first season by memorizing a lot of recipes and techniques, but on the second go-around, Pottinger “tried to get one or two baking recipes in my head” that could be improvised according to what the competition required.
Going more on instinct, Pottinger added, “I cook by taste, I cook from the heart.”
— Pat Gee, Star-Advertiser
GIRLS’ NIGHT OUT KICKS OFF MONTH OF MIXOLOGY EVENTS
In July, the International Market Place is celebrating Mixology Month, and to start things off right is featuring a preview courtesy of the Hawai‘i Food & Wine Festival. Girls’ Night Out — Thirsty Thursday Tastings will commence 5:30 to 9 p.m. June 28 on the Grand Lanai.
The special event, tailored specifically for women, pairs beverages with not just food, but a retailer as well, presenting fashion brands available at the market place. Restaurant-retailer pairings include Eating House 1849 by Roy Yamaguchi and Intermix, Flour & Barley and Surf Line Hawaii, Herringbone and Trina Turk, StripSteak and Vilebrequin, and Yauatcha and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Representatives from each retailer will discuss the story behind their brand, and each dish will be paired with a cocktail created by festival master mixologists Jen Ackrill, Chandra Lucariello, Dave Newman, Kyle Reutner and Alicia Yamachika. They will provide guests with an expert’s perspective on the pairings.
The evening will conclude at Saks Fifth Avenue where attendees will have dessert and a special night cap. Guests will leave with a gift from each retailer.
Tickets to Girls’ Night Out is $75, available at hfwf.me.
BURGERS GO ETHNIC AT THE STREET IN WAIKIKI
Starting Wednesday, the husband-and-wife team from MW restaurant will grill up multicultural fare for the Everyman at Burger Hale, a new addition to The Street Food Hall by Michael Mina.
Chefs Wade Ueoka and Michelle Karr-Ueoka present a menu of hamburgers imbued with the ethnic flavors of Hawaii’s diverse cultures: think a kim chee burger chock full of Korean spicy pork and onions, a pipikaula burger with Hawaiian beef jerky, a Southeast Asian burger served with chili-lemongrass eggplant.
The menu takes the lineup of burgers one step further with an array of loco moco selections as well.
Karr-Ueoka, pastry chef extraordinaire, adds her touch to the offerings with an inventive shave ice milkshake sure to dazzle the taste buds.
Burger Hale is among a dozen restaurant concepts featured at The Street, a 6,900 square-foot space on the ground floor of the International Market Place in Waikiki.
