Nadine Kam photos
Fourteen of Hawaii's Rising Star chefs and their mentors share a stage at the Halekulani Ballroom before heading to the lawn to plate up their specialties.

Since 2003, StarChefs.com, the online magazine for culinary insiders, has criss-crossed the country with its StarChefs Rising Stars Revue, showcasing up-and-coming chefs.

Each year, StarChefs.com selects four American markets in which to name its Rising Stars. Candidates are nominated by the StarChefs.com Advisory Board, previous winners, local media,and the StarChefs.com website, as well as through editorial research. Winners are then chosen by the StarChefs.com editorial team.

On Dec. 4, StarChefs members descended on the Halekulani Hotel, where executive chef Vikram Garg had been instrumental in pitching Hawaii as home to dozens of up-and comers. And on stage, StarChefs.com CEO said, Hawaii chefs "blew our minds," as the website's advisory board sampled cooking of 60 candidates on Oahu, Maui and Hawaii island, over what she told me was two 12-day trips over the summer, sampling from about five restaurants per day. The winner's list numbered 14, though the cutoff age to win an award is 40, and they couldn't find a winner for their sommelier award.

Also conspicously missing from the list, to me, was Christopher Kajioka, whose current home at Vintage Cave Honolulu was not yet open at the time of the sampling. But I'm sure there will be many other accolades ahead for the young chef.

During the gala tasting event at the Halekulani, hosted by Garg and co-hosted by Chai Chaowasaree of Chai’s Island Bistro, with beverage pairings from host sommelier Kevin Tomaya of Halekulani, each of the 14 winning chefs presented the dish that won them their award.

After a night of noshing, diners at the event picked their favorite dishes, and the winners, with Michelle Karr-Ueoka, center, pastry chef for Alan Wong's restaurant, named the winner for her dessert of a quadruple-layered Hanaoka Farms Lilikoi Brûlée. StarChefs.com CEO Antoinette Bruno, left, said Michelle has the distinction of being the first pastry chef to win top honors at any of their annual Rising Stars competitions, held in different cities nationwide. The award was well deserved. Coming in second was Mark Noguchi, right, of Pili Hawaii Catering and Taste Table, and in third, next to him, was Andrew Le of the Pig and the Lady. Presenting the Jade's Best Dish Award is Lex Poulos, VP Sales and Marketing at Jade Range.

The 2012 Hawaii Rising Stars Award Winners are:

CHEFS
Christopher Kulis: Capische? (Maui)
Featured dish: Australian Beef Carpaccio, Horseradish Aïoli, Radish, Lemon Oil, Fried Capers and Parmigiano-Reggiano

Andrew Le: The Pig and the Lady (Oahu)
Featured dish: Pho with Betelnut Leaf-wrapped Pork Sausages

Cameron Lewark: Spago (Maui)
Featured dish: Onaga Ceviche, Green Papaya Salad, Kaffir Lime, Coconut, and Passionfruit Flower

Nick Mastrascusa: Beach Tree at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai (Big Island)
Featured dish: Gnocchi with Oxtail Ragout

Wade Ueoka: Alan Wong’s (Oahu)
Featured dish: Oxtail “Soup” of Oxtail and Corned Beef Roulade, Boiled Peanuts, and Shiitake Mushrooms

Jojo Vasquez: The Plantation House Restaurant (Maui)
Featured dish: Australian Lamb Rack, Eggplant Purée, and Chickpea Cake

PASTRY CHEFS
Michelle Karr-Ueoka: Alan Wong’s (Oahu)
Featured dish: Lilikoi Brûlée

Elizabeth McDonald: Honu Seafood & Pizza (Maui)
Featured dish: Vegan Chocolate Mousse Cake

SUSTAINABILITY CHEF
Quinten Frye: SALT Kitchen & Tasting Bar (Oahu)
Featured dish: Octopus, Chorizo, Olives, Potatoes, Compressed Grape Tomatoes, Almonds, and Kahuku Corn Purée

ARTISAN
Doug Kocol: SALT Kitchen & Tasting Bar (Oahu) for excellence in charcuterie
Featured dish: Pork Rillette and Soppressata

CONCEPT CHEF
Sheldon Simeon: Star Noodle (Maui)
Featured dish: Hapa Ramen: Roast Pork, Poached Egg, Bamboo Shoots, Kamaboko, Bok Choi, Mayu, and Spicy Miso

COMMUNITY CHEF
Mark Noguchi: Pili Hawaii Catering (Oahu)
Featured dish: Ho’i’o Fiddlehead Ferns, Dried Cuttlefish, Kombu, Octopus, and Tomatoes

RESTAURATEUR
Ed Kenney: Town, Uptown Events (Oahu)
Featured dish: Cervena Venison Pipikaula with Bud Bucket Ice

MIXOLOGIST
David Newman: Pint + Jigger (Oahu)
Featured cocktail: The Whiskey Thatcher: Rye, Mint, Lime, and Flamed Pernod Rinse

In addition, Alan Wong, whose kitchen produced two winners, and countless other young chefs around town, won the StarChefs Mentor Award.

In StarChefs.com’s long-running tradition, guests at the event were given the opportunity to vote for their favorite dish of the night. As the favorite of the evening's tasters, Michelle Karr-Ueoka will receive a Jade Range 18” commercial plancha. Because she's a pastry chef, wondering if her boss Alan Wong has dibs on the range?

Tickets for the event were $95 to $125, and a portion of the evening’s tickets sales will be donated to the Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Kapiolani Community College.

Next year, StarChefs.com will take their search for rising stars to Philadelphia in February, New York in April, the San Francisco Bay Area in June, and the Carolinas in December.

Christopher Kulis led his restaurant, Capische?, on Maui to win Steelite's Restaurant of Distinction Award. When I took this photo, I broke up the swarm of women around him, and they were like, "You have to be in the picture." I was like, "No, I can't be in my photos," and they were like, "Oh, you have to! He's so handsome!" Then they were all saying how good-looking he was and how he was the most handsome chef in the batch, then all the guys around started getting into it. Chris took it all with humor, and having set him up for that, I quietly slinked away.

Halekulani executive chef Vikram Garg was instrumental in bringing the Starchefs competition to Hawaii. To whet appetites prior to early award announcements, he prepared this Petrossian Royal Shassetra caviar and lemongrass panna cotta.

During the tasting event that followed the award announcements, Vikram also served this spiced sumac-marinated Australian lamb chop over hummus. A favorite with many, but as host chef, his dish wasn't eligible for the Rising Stars vote.

Christopher Kulis's Australian beef carpaccio with horseradish aioli, crisp radish, lemon oil, fried capers and Parmigiano-Reggiano. In addition to his work at Capische?, he recently started Stir, a personal chef company, and The Salt Box, a high-end picnic basket caterer.

Andrew Le's phó ga with slow-poached farm egg and bo la lot. Sublime and so well-balanced.

Andrew also offered a refreshing chilled cucumber salad over paiai.

Michelle Karr-Ueoka's winning Hanaoka Farms Lilikoi Brûlée features layers of lilikoi crémeux, lilikoi sorbet, lilikoi brûlée and cap of tuile sealed over the martini glass rim with a blow torch. But that wasn't all she offered. Sweet lovers also found assorted cookies, vegan chocolate and truffles at her table.

Michelle's husband Wade Ueoka, also with Alan Wong's, presented a risotto-like "oxtail soupe" of boneless oxtail and corned beef roulade, with boiled peanuts, shiitake and ginger-scallion oil. Being Chinese, for me it brought together the best of two worlds, oxtail soup meets cold ginger chicken sauce. Yum!

Nick Mastrascusa of Beach Tree at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai presented gnocchi with oxtail ragout below, with a display of the simple ingredients, above. It inspired me to try my own experiment with gnocchi for dinner today. I always enjoy it at restaurants, but never tried making it. The gnocchi has been shaped, and a beef ragout is simmering on the stove. Can't wait to see how it turns out in a few hours.

I had Nick's gnocchi at Beach Tree when I was at Hualalai for another event and it was so fabulous. Of course when you're at the restaurant, the plating is much more elegant than at a crowd event.

Quinten Frye of SALT Kitchen & Tasting Bar presented a fiery pupu of tako, chorizo, olives, potatoes, grape tomatoes, olives and Kahuku corn purée.

Sheldon Simeon of Star Noodle on Maui, offered his Hapa Ramen. Again, the presentation left something to be desired when compared to the actual dish, below, which I enjoyed at the restaurant in May. First of all, there's no clue as to why it's called hapa.

Star Noodle's Hapa Ramen features one side black sesame mayu, one side white Star pork dashi topped with roast pork, kamaboko, bok choy, poached egg, bamboo shoots, Napa cabbage and spicy miso.

Pastry chef Elizabeth McDonald of Honu Seafood & Pizza on Maui shared her vegan chocolate mousse cake, made with garbanzo flour and potato starch, with mousse layers of chocolate and silken tofu.

Nadine Kam photos
The first course from Ryan Manaut's Chaîne des Rôtisseurs' Jeune Commis International Competition menu at Oahu Country Club: ahi tartar with tempura asparagus tips, prawn ceviche, lime gelee and wasabi foam. Guests were to mix the accompanying ogo, green onion, white onion and kukui nut in with the fish. This was paired with Brancott Estate Sauvignon Blanc, 2011.

Ryan Manaut, a young chef that joined the staff of executive chef Alfred Cabacungan at Oahu Country Club, was a winner in the prestigious Chaîne des Rôtisseurs' Jeune Commis International Competition, and tomorrow is the last day members can sample the menu he presented in Berlin—with a few tweaks, considering chefs are constantly trying to improve their work— along with fantastic wine pairings by sommelier Randy Ching.

After winning the Hawaii competition, followed by the national competition in May, he traveled to Berlin last month, and in his first international competition, placed 4th among entrants from 22 countries. This marked the first time that any young chef from Hawaii has competed in the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs' Jeune Commis International Competition.

Like the cooking shows "Iron Chef" and "Chopped," chefs in the competition were presented with mystery baskets full of ingredients from which they were to create their meals. After winning the Hawaii competition, Manaut was coached by Kapiolani Community College Culinary Arts associate professor Alan Tsuchiyama, who also sent him several lists of ingredients weekly to prepare Manaut for anything that might come up.

At the competition, chefs—working alone in the kitchen—had a half hour to come up with their menus, and three hours to cook. Manaut said Tsuchiyama had tried to stump him with ingredients like sauerkraut, Jerusalem artichoke and pike, but in practice, he said he was able to come up with a menu in less than half an hour each time.

In competition, the ingredients may have stumped other chefs, but most turned out to be daily fare for any local chef. All chefs were given the same ingredients, and they had to incorporate all in a three-course meal: two racks of Irish lamb, 12 shrimp, 600 grams of ahi, raspberries, blueberries, kalamansi, baby spinach, Thai asparagus, mini carrots, mini zucchini, snow peas, Kenya beans, 12 eggs, 11 Tablespoons of cream, and chocolate. Typical pantry ingredients were also made available to them.

Before entering the competition kitchen, all chefs' belongings were checked to ensure no one sneaked in any secret ingredients.

Ryan Manaut in the Oahu Country Club kitchen with his dessert of chocolate-raspberry layered cake with blueberry semifreddo, candied kalamansi and Chambord whipped cream.

The challenges, he said, were that "all the stove top burners were electric, not the standard gas burners we use. That made temperature controls very hard when trying to make my dessert. I ended up overcooking the semifreddo once, wasting valuable time doing it again.

"I also wasn't used to their little combi-ovens. These are great little ovens that can both bake and steam your product. However, all the directions for the oven were in German so I had to just press buttons and hope for the best. That tactic resulted in burning my cake, so once again, I had to waste time remaking it. Even retrieving spices from the pantry was a chore since they were all labeled in German. I had to open each container to see what was inside."

But, it all turned out well, and considering that prepping and completing the competition has filled three-quarters of his year, he said he's taking a break from thinking about any more contests for now.

In the meantime, I was fortunate to be able to sample the menu as a guest of Chaîne Honolulu chapter Vice Charge de Missions Dr. Thomas Sakoda and his wife Ryuko.

The OCC dinner began with pork gyoza with kabayaki glaze.

Following the appetizer at top of page, we were presented with the entree of roasted balsamic crusted rack of lamb roulade with lamb jus, roasted peppers and basil, and mashed potatoes, baby courgette (zucchini) and carrot. This was paired with Gigondas, Les Pallieres "Les Racines," 2008.

Ryan plates the semifreddo. The experience of the chocolate-raspberry layered cake and blueberry semifreddo were enhanced by Randy Ching's pairing of Banyuls, Domaine La Tour Vieille, 2010.

Ryan's grandmother Alison Manaut said she was always happy to be one of the guinea pigs for his cooking experiments when he was growing up.

Dinner ended with OCC's Belgian chocolates.

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The dinner marked my second visit to OCC in a week. Earlier, I'd been invited to lunch by a member, and we tried one of the newer items on the menu, a lobster-avocado sandwich.

Amuse bouche of fried prosciutto with avocado puree.

Pasta with mushrooms and basil.

The lobster sandwich.

Nadine Kam photos
PR woman Kristin Jackson, left, in her other life as Kiss My Grits restaurateur, with Kim Oswald. Kiss My Grits was a double winner in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser's 'Ilima Awards. The public voted it "Best New Restaurant," and critics gave it one of 22 Critics Choice Awards.

Work on the annual Diamond Head Theatre and Honolulu Star-Advertiser 'Ilima Awards officially begins in June, but the work actually continues all year as we eat our way through many, many restaurants and take notes on what was memorable and what we liked best.

June is when I and fellow food and entertainment writers—Joleen Oshiro, Nina Wu, Elizabeth Kieszowski, Jason Genegabus and Betty Shimabukuro—start comparing notes in advance of the October announcement of award winners, and soon after, we start fanning out to make sure the restaurants are continuing to perform well.

We try to include mix of restaurants high, low and spots in between for diversity that reflects the entire dining scene. Of course, for the restaurants, it helps to have a visible profile throughout the year to remind us who's out there. There are many more restaurateurs who go about running their restaurants in a low-key way, and I admit we always miss a few of these. I already have a few in mind that didn't make the book this year but deserve another look next year. And, of course, it helps to open before August, when our decisions are finalized.

Click book for a look inside.

If you're wondering why I disappear from Facebook and Twitter all summer, it's because of the extra task of helping to write the book. The reward is the annual 'Ilima Awards ceremony that took place Oct. 8, a benefit for the theater, that begins with cocktails and a DHT song and dance performance honoring the award winners.

This year marks the 17th annual awards, which started in partnership with the Honolulu Advertiser before our papers merged.

On stage, Loretta Ables Sayre—straight from her star turn in "South Pacific" on Broadway—joined the cast and cracked up the audience with a particularly suggestive number sung to the tune of "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You," which had her getting up close and personal with a few of the representatives from Kiss My Grits, Prima, Lahaina Grill and Amasia, which included the Lahaina Grill rep burying his head in her bosom.

Other highlights included "Funny Girl" star Isabelle Decauwert singing about food to the tune of the musical's "Don't Rain on My Parade," and Tricia Marciel bringing hilarity to the otherwise bittersweet tune of "The Way We Were," sung as "The Way We Dined."

And, a representative from 3660 on the Rise provided one of the most entertaining moments of the night during the finale, when the members of the youth ensemble Shooting Stars got him to his feet and he joined in, rather well, on matching their dance moves.

Then, it was all about tasting, and the ultimate reward was hearing from guests that they enjoyed sampling from restaurants that they hadn't heard of prior to that night.

Kiss My Grits offered a generous combination of catfish, okra and black-eyed peas, along with grits and hush puppies, below, that all threatened to fill a diner up before hitting any other booth. I missed the bread pudding that came later.

Alan Takasaki, left, is the chef-owner of this year's Critic's Choice of Best Restaurant, Le Bistro. He was cooking up shortribs, below:

Azure executive chef Jon Matsubara with his inspired sambal clam banh mi and liquid brandade.

Diners accustomed to grabbing a plate were caught off guard when Matsubara placed the cracker-style "banh mi" in their hands, instructing them to take a bite, then follow with a sip of the chowdery salt cod brandade.

The stack of small brandade cups caught the eye of our 'Ilima Awards book page designer Joe Guinto, who admired their architectural form. (more...)

Nadine Kam photos
Kapiolani Community College Healthy-licious cooking competition winners Shianti Leighton, left, and Vanesa Lyn Agustin, were congratulated by Pat Duarte, CEO of Kahala Nui, a Life Care retirement community. The students were charged with coming up with a nutritious and tasty meal worthy of the community.

Kahala Nui, the senior retirement community, hosted its second annual Healthy-licious contest on Oct. 6, presenting Kapiolani Community College Culinary Culinary Institute of the Pacific students with creating unique healthy recipes for seniors.

As Kahala Nui CEO Pat Duarte explained, the elder demographic presents a growing niche in the culinary world, as physical changes demand rethinking the way people eat.

"Nutritionists tell us all this delicious food we eat is not good for us. As we age, this all catches up with us," he said, adding that the ideas of living a healthy lifestyle and enjoying life are not mutually exclusive.

Many would be loathe to give up deliciousness to buy two or three more years of life, so he said the aim of the competition is to encourage young chefs to develop dishes that are both healthy and flavorful, adding that there will likely be increasing demand for their talents in the healthcare industry, whether in the kitchen of senior living homes, hospitals or nursing homes.

Winners Vanesa Lyn Agustin and Shianti Leighton presented garlic lemon chicken topped with lemon zest and accompanied by sauteed red cabbage, butternut squash and soy beans. They said they chose bright colors to compensate for seniors' diminished palate, believing that seniors would see the visually stimulating colors and remember what these foods tasted like when they were younger.

The judges' tasting portion of the dish.

He said we need chefs who will change the perception of nutrition, so that in the future we have "good food and ono food," he said.

I was one of the judges of the event, along with The Pacific Club executive chef Eric Leterc, Kahala Nui board member Roy King Jr., and clinical dietition Grant Itomitsu, a nutrition instructor at KCC.

We were given front-row seats for the tastings, also provided for approximately 100 seniors, while four teams of two culinary students demonstrated putting their dishes together. The students chosen to present their dishes were chosen by blind essay, and each was tasked with presenting a chicken dish.

Of course dishes had to taste good and be beautifully presented, but to encourage people to prepare such meals at home, dishes were also judged on simplicity (the fewer number of ingredients and ease of cooking technique) and nutrition. While delivering their presentations, students were also given marks for selection of nutritious ingredients and knowledge of nutritional benefits correlated to senior health concerns.

Judging was tough, and in addition to the four individual judges, the votes of all the seniors were also heard, comprising one-fifth of the vote.

In the end, the winners were Shianti Leighton and Vanesa Lyn Agustin, who were enthusiastic and earnest in their presentation, outlining the benefits of their chicken and slaw dish on osteoporosis and other conditions. They each received $500 scholarships for their work.

Kim Gennaula emceed the event, which included tastings of all the competitors' dishes for 100 seniors and judges in the front row.

Hyun Chong Kim and Edwin Choy, below, presented a delicious roulade with kabocha mushroom sauce.

These are some of the ingredients that went into Alexander Quach and Vin Lui's ginseng ginger chicken. Clockwise from top left: red dates, ginger, rock sugar, shiitake, garlic, ginseng and green onion.

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Nadine Kam photos
Ricecake and waffles for dessert, from YogurStory's executive chef Andy Dalan, winner of the 2012 Rice Fest Riceipe contest.

The 3rd annual Rice Fest took place Sept. 29 at Ward Warehouse, celebrating Hawaii's No. 1 table staple.

A highlight of the event was the weigh-in of the giant Spam musubi built on site throughout the day. At 628 pounds, it smashed the current Guinness World Record for "Largest Spam Musubi" of 286 pounds earned by Rice Fest last year, and registered by Worldwide Ed Ed Sugimoto, who says all the documentation will be submitted to the Guinness committee for consideration again.

For the third year in a row, I was one of the judges for the event's Riceipe contest, and I'm always impressed by the way the chefs elevate the humble grain.

Two-time Riceipe winner Hideaki "Santa" Miyoshi of Tokkuri-Tei was back to defend his title, and impressed us with his lavish chirashi, as beautiful to taste as see.

Tokkuri-Tei chef/owner Hideaki “Santa” Miyoshi puts the finishing touches on his chirashi rice entry for the Riceipe contest. The rice contained chopped fish and cucumbers, with a layer of tobiko and roses of salmon, hamachi and scallops. The shrimp made it look like candles on a birthday cake.

Here's what the judge's portions were like. After the contest ended, we went back to eating Santa's dish. Couldn't let good fish and rice go to waste.

Santa also surprised and amused us with the smallest Spam musubi ever, each comprising a single grain of rice. 'Scuse my dirty fork.

But, he faced some stiff competition from Ward Warehouse home chef Erich Goodhew, from Kincaid's, as well as newcomers Andy Dalan of YogurStory and Jonny Mack of the Eat the Street food truck Caribbean Spice.

It was clear that Goodhew was cooking up creamy risotto. I didn't know what Dalan was making but I was intrigued by the presence of a waffle iron at his cooking station, and, while the other chefs worked solo, he brought in some team mates, Justin Gaddi and Dexter Mina.

I was intrigued by the tantalizing ingredients—among them purple sweet potato, coconut milk, curry spices, habañero peppers and white truffle oil—and scents emanating from Mack's station and couldn't wait to taste his portabello caramel coconut oxtail pulao, a fusion of South Asian and Trinidad and Tobago cuisine. He owes his palate to his mixed cultural heritage, having been born in Trinidad and Tobago and growing up on Middle Eastern fare cooked up by his French Moroccan and Israeli mother. Layered on that upbringing was the family business of running Chinese restaurants.

To scare the judges sitting behind him, he turned around at one point, grinning mischievously before dropping a habañero into his pot of oxtails, mushrooms, chicken and rice. A lot of spices went into the pot earlier and I wondered just how hot his rice concoction was going to be. It turned out not very hot at all, but very savory with South Asian-meets-tropical curry flavor that was accompanied by a helping of mango and cilantro chutney he also cooked up on the spot.

When the competition was over, only two points separated Santa's score from new champ Dalan, who built an intriguing "Naughty & Rice" dessert of waffle astride a chewy flattened rice cake, finished with whipped cream, pomegranate puree, pomegranate rice paper petals and mince of fresh pineapple and kiwi.

Waffles and rice together? Who knew?

Miss Chinatown Hawaii 2013 Crystal Lee was one of the judges. Even though we enjoy mochi and rice is enjoyed as a dessert ingredient throughout Asia, she couldn't get over the idea of rice as dessert, and couldn't stop raving about YogurStory's creation.

Caribbean Spice's Jonny Mack at work, and also below, with photographers crowding in as he plates his dish of portabello caramel coconut oxtail pulao.

Jonny Mack's creation, with mango chutney, but minus a habañero, below, that was on the other four judges' plates, because he added mine to his pot before serving.

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