Maui Calls! Fundraiser Event For the MACC

This year marked the 15th annual Maui Calls! fundraising event for the Maui Arts & Cultural Center (MACC). Pictured above is our booth for this years event. We were serving two dishes this year. One hot, one cold. Many of our event guests said that our booths food was No Ka 'Oi (the best). I didn't get much of a chance to taste the other Chefs' food, it was just too busy to leave the booth. There was some nice looking food out there, don't get me wrong, but I think we had a couple crowd pleasers to showcase. Our hot dish was a traditionally roasted Kalua Pork Slider. It was traditional in the sense that we used the meat from the luau show pig, which we cook underground, wrapped in banana and ti leaf over hot coals. Once the pig was done, it was shredded and tossed in a honey-macadamia nut BBQ sauce. A zesty stewed tomato-scallion relish was a nice addition to the sandwich that we served on a steamed Kau Yuk bun. It was delicious. The cold dish was a simple ahi sashimi. In Hawaii, its hard to go wrong with a simple, delicate pupu like this one. We served it on a fried wonton chip, fresh kelp seaweed salad tossed in a sesame-soy vinaigrette and topped with a simple wasabi aioli. The fish itself was the real highlight of the dish with a hand ground peppercorn crust and a nice sear on the outside of the still raw, bright red tuna. The peppercorn crust consists of pink, black, white, and green peppercorns, hand ground, mixed with a beautiful Japanese pepper blend and tossed together with Hawaiian rock salt.

This was the first event for me here on Maui, but rest assured there will be more. With each events, we strive to improve the booths appearance, the dishes we serve, and our delivery of information to our potential guests. We received a lot of great feedback this year, and I truly believe that these events give us the opportunity to showcase what talents and amenities we offer to the Kama'aina (locals). It is important to have tourist business, but without the support of the people living here, the great word of mouth that these events generate, and the local clientele helping keep us moving forward, we would have nothing. So, to those of you who helped support the Maui Calls event, and other great events showcasing our local chefs for great causes, Big Mahalos from us in the industry and specifically those of us in Makena!