Hawaii: Where to Eat Like a Local

Not a bad setting for a foodie fest. (Photo: Thinkstock)

The fourth annual Hawaii Food and Wine Festival is taking place this week, with the goal of promoting local produce in a state that imports 85 percent of everything it eats.

The festival launched on Friday with a six-course dinner on the island of Hawaii — the Big Island — at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort and Spa. (The festival week continues through Sept. 7 with events in Honolulu, on the island of Oahu.) Festival attendees began their week-long tour of Hawaii eating native lobster, beef, and duck canapés in a rock-walled garden set beside a lava field, fringed with Frangipani trees. But the big revelation here was the local food. Most visitors who visit Hawaii will never taste the local delicacies. I was determined to break that habit.

Meet Auntie Healani, Aloha Ambassador at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott. (Photo: Ben Widdicombe)

“The most important thing is that we’re bringing international chefs here to cook with local product,” said leading Honolulu chef and restaurateur, Alan Wong, who co-chairs the Festival with James Beard Award-winner Roy Yamaguchi.

The Big Island’s unique, mountainous geography — it boasts 11 of the world’s 13 climate zones in an area the size of Connecticut — accounts for most of the wide variety of local produce.

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Organic fruit and vegetables aplenty at the Farmer’s Market in Hilo. (Photo: Facebook)

The rainy “Hilo side” collects clouds blowing in from the Pacific; it also grows tropical flowers, macadamia nuts, fruits, and spices. A full selection is on display the Farmers’ Market in Hilo’s old town — open seven days a week, but best on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Here, papayas are three for $8, and elaborate anthurium arrangements go for $5.

During my visit to the Farmer’s Market I started with a coconut smoothie ($3), but my favorite discovery was Ka’u (pronounced kah-oo) coffee. Less well known than its neighboring coffee district, Kona, Ka’u has been racking up awards for its punchy, rounded flavor.

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The Saturday Market (pictured here on a Wednesday) in old town Hilo features bargains like locally grown anthurium arrangements for $5. (Photo: Ben Widdicombe)

Hilo’s other must-try delicacy is the strawberry mochi from Two Ladies Kitchen. The fruit is surrounded by a layer of bean paste and then coated in a smooth, sweet confection.

Mochi comes in several different varieties, but the strawberry version is a local obsession. A sign behind the counter reminds customers that, like other Hawaiian fruit products, mochi cannot be taken to the mainland — making Two Ladies Kitchen a site of foodie pilgrimages.

Ask residents where they like to eat, and they’ll probably nominate the Hawaiian Style Café, an unpretentious fixture that’s famous for its gigantic portions — like the pancake “side,” which is the size of a turkey platter.

Signature recipes include saimin (a kind of overloaded ramen bowl) and the loco moco, a classic dish of meat (usually a hamburger patty) served over a fried egg and rice, slathered in gravy. It is the only meal you’ll need to eat all day.

Across the mountains, the “Kona side” of the Big Island gets a fraction of Hilo’s rainfall. Among the arid hills there you’ll find Parker Ranch, one of the nation’s largest cattle ranches.

The ranch is in Waimea, a short drive up the mountain from the Waikoloa seaside resorts. Its increased elevation and rich volcanic soil make it a hub for organic farming.

Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort‘s executive chef Jayson Kanekoa hosts “Chef Shuttle” tours of Waimea producers who supply the hotel. Stops include Mike Hodson’s Wow Farms for tomatoes, strawberry grower Luis Rincon, and the Waimea Farmers’ Market.

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“Here, you can’t stop things from growing,” one stall-holder said, in the lush grass field that holds the market. “You have to pull the cucumbers out before they get too big to sell.”

After my own exploration, I could identify the produce from Waimean farmers that featured prominently in the Food and Wine Festival’s opening night dinner.

Marcel Vigneron’s mouth-watering Trio of Beef. (Photo: HFWF)

“[Chef Wong] sent me an email to tell me what I would be preparing, and also a product list,” said the LA-based Marcel Vigneron, who created a beef course that included vegetarian “bone marrow,” made from native hearts of palm. “As a chef, I have to say it is one of the most impressive product lists I’ve ever seen. It’s incredible things, all local, and you know that when you get here, it’s going to be of the highest quality.”

Sherry Yard’s delicious “Baked Hawaii.” (Photo: HFWF)

Memorable dishes of the evening included buttered Big Island abalone with a ravioli of local mushrooms, created by Mark Pomaski of the Full Moon Café in Hilo, and the show-stopping dessert: a “Baked Hawaii” (chilled baked pineapple with meringue, locally-made ice cream and spun sugar), created by Sherry Yard of the Helms Bakery in Los Angeles.

Are six courses really enough? (Photo: Travis Okimoto)

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