KOLOA — Sophia Alvarez really needed a ti leaf on Saturday during the Kaua‘i Poke Fest with Sam Choy &Friends at the Koloa Landing Resort.
“She’s the sous chef,” said her father, Michael, who was the poke chef for their team participating for top honor in the 20-chef field. “She was responsible for most of the ingredients in the poke bowl — sea asparagus, cilantro, onions. I just put everything together, backyard style. Nothing fancy. The crunchy is dehydrated garlic and onions.”
The Unagi Poke Crunch created by poke chef Shaun Kawamura and the Zensai Kaua‘i ‘ohana from Hanapepe earned first place honors. As a prize, the dish will be incorporated into the menu at Holoholo Grill at the Koloa Landing Resort. Other prizes included a seven-day, six-night stay in a two-bedroom villa at the Koloa Landing Resort, and two-day private poolside cabana, and $1,000 in cash.
Judging was by a specially-assembled panel of judges who were treated to a special distraction-free suite where they could fully analyze the offerings from 20 different poke chefs, and a visiting television crew could secure their video footage. Judging criteria included presentation, originality, and taste.
Additionally, poke samplers, nearly 400 of them, could vote for their favorites through a QR code set up at each of the 20 poke stations set around the Koloa Landing Resort ballroom.
Outside, more television accommodations as the announcer was one of the Living 808 hostesses, and Halau Ka Lei Mokihana o Leina‘ala, the recent winner at the Merrie Monarch Festival, strode through a hula kahiko that drew out Jeslie Pavao, Kumu Hula Leina‘ala Pavao Jardin’s daughter, from the Zensai table.
“Yes, Zensai Kaua‘i is the perfect place to stop by after the Memorial Day service,” said Jeslie. “It’s like the old days of going to the Memorial Day service and then finding a place to eat after the service.”
Second and third place honors grew from food trucks.
A Banh Mi Poke Summer Roll created by poke chef Taylor Sakimae of the Kaua‘i Poke Co. that parks at Warehouse 3540 in Lawai, copped second place voting and a prize package that included two nights in a one-bedroom villa at the resort, a one-day private poolside cabana at the main pool, and $500 in cash.
Poke chef Koa Kimmerle used imitation crab roll inspiration to anchor his Annatta’s Twisted Thai Poke that earned third place from the food truck parked in the Ace Housemart parking lot in Lihu‘e. His prize package includes a one-night stay in a Koloa Landing Resort studio, and $250 in cash.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
