October 22, 2022
We headed over to the Sheraton Resort and Spa for our first Hawaii Food and Wine Festival of 2022. We have been attending this event every year since 2014 until the pandemic hit and things came to a stop. It felt good to be attending the event again and we weren’t disappointed. As with previous events at the Sheraton, there were a couple dozen well known chefs creating all sorts of small plates. There was plenty of wine and a several mixologists.
One of the first people we ran into at the festival was Aya who has always taken care of us. Soon after we ran into Denise Yamaguchi who presented us with lei’s. Soon after we ran into Roy. It was good seeing everyone and hard to believe that three years had passed.
Chef Lee Anne Wong was there, we had eaten at her new restaurant in Lahaina the night before. Fan favorite Shota Nakajima from Top Chef 18 was also there. On Top Chef, he came off as being very laid back and very likeable. In person, he was very nice and very easy to talk to. He has a couple of different restaurants in Portland, I would love to go up there again and check them out.
Michelle Bernstein from Miami was also there, she has been a regular at the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival and her food is always good. I met David Lefevre who had an outstanding dish and learned he had a restaurant not too far from me in Los Angeles. They also had some great mixologists serving up some very good drinks!
We have learned from past events, that tables can be sparse, it is best to find a table and for someone to save our seats while others get food. What I found equally interesting were the people who came and sat at the table and the stories they told. There was one couple and the husband had worked for Roy since the 80s. His wife told us how the met Roy in Los Angeles and how he was thinking of working for him when they went to the restaurant and ate his food – he has worked for Roy ever since.
There was another couple who joined us and the husband worked for Yamasa. He went on to explain that Yamasa had been brewing soy sauce for four centuries and was considered one of the best Soy Sauces and it can be found in most Asian stores. His wife was from Spain and she has such a fun personality. Both of them really left an impression. Later, I would purchase the Yamasa soy sauce and was impressed on good it was.
After a lot of good food and drinks, the night ended with the chefs lining up and fireworks. It was such an enjoyable evening.
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