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GUESTS OF HONOR
Nashville chef RJ Cooper presented an amuse-bouche of Hualālai oyster with ube rum foam and mango sea urchin on squid ink perdu with finger lime (above), and bluefin tuna with crispy garlic root, nasturtium, wasabi, juniper, coriander, and tarragon puree (right).
GUESTS HONOR
Acclaimed chefs bring their culinary arts to Hualālai in highly anticipated residencies at the Four Seasons.
BY NICOLA CHILTON
chef-partner at Koko Head Café in Honolulu and Papa’aina at the Pioneer Inn in Lahaina, calls Hualālai “one of the most beautiful places on Earth,” and anyone who has ever experienced the sublime setting is unlikely to disagree. But it’s not just the location’s beauty that is drawing Wong and other star chefs to Hualālai. They’re taking part in Four Seasons Resort Hualālai’s Chef in Residence program—launched in 2021 to bring a stellar lineup of talents to Hawai‘i Island—and taking advantage of fresh, seasonal Hawaiian ingredients and the opportunity to collaborate with the local teams.
The series is part of Hualālai’s ever-evolving programming for gastronomes. “We wanted to bring culinary experiences to our guests in a more intimate way,” says Brigeth Brookins, Four Seasons Resort Hualālai’s director of food and beverage.
From small-group cooking classes and exclusive events to special menus, wine tastings, and more, the year-round program presents plenty of ways to interact with master chefs in environments that are fun, engaging, and full of great food. Whether it’s learning dumpling-folding techniques or diving into varied menus that showcase culinary creativity and exceptional produce, it’s an experience with appeal for keen cooks and avid gourmets alike. In 2022 alone, the lineup has included James Beard Foundation awardees, Iron Chef winners, Top Chef participants, and award-winning vintners.
The menus—collaborations between the program’s visiting chefs and the Four Seasons Resort Hualālai’s executive chef, Richard Polhemus, and chef de cuisine, Nuri Piccio—combine culinary artistry, local expertise, and, of course, an abundance of the freshest Hawaiian ingredients.
Using local produce has always been central to the resort. Ka’ūpūlehu, the site on which the property stands, was an ancient fishing village. Previous generations of Hawaiians harvested food from the land and sea here, and the respect they showed to the earth continues to this day in the resort’s commitment to source ingredients from the island.
It’s a tradition that’s close to Polhemus’s heart. “My entire career has been grounded in a farm-to-table approach,” says the executive chef. “I’ve always let nature and seasonality guide the creation of my menus.”
Through the resort’s relationships with more than 160 farms across Hawai‘i Island, the culinary team sources 75 percent of produce locally, ensuring a constant supply of distinctly Hawaiian ingredients. This hyperlocal philosophy extends to an on-property garden supplying fresh herbs and vegetables, and the three-million-gallon saltwater Pūnāwai Lake—which received an award in 2005 from the Environmental Protection Agency—where oysters will once again be cultivated and harvested in 2023 to be served in the resort’s restaurants.
This dedication to sourcing locally is also reflected in the Chef in Residence program. Take Wong’s cooking
—LEE ANNE WONG
Based in the Hawaiian Islands, chef Lee Anne Wong (opposite) prepared several types of dumplings during her Hualālai residency.
—SUZANNE GOIN
class, for example, which pushes dumplings into a new dimension with unexpected flavor combinations. “We used all-local ingredients for the fillings,” she says. “Beef and garlic chive, lemongrass and kanpachi, and chocolate, bacon, and macadamia nut.”
Los Angeles–based chef Suzanne Goin—a four-time James Beard Award winner and the first woman in the United States to win the GAYOT.com Restaurateur of the Year award, in 2019—also fell for the local produce. “One of my favorite moments of my time in the kitchen at Hualālai was working with private events chef Robert Love, who is also a farmer on the island,” says Goin. “He brought in an incredible display of local fruits for me to try, some of which I’d never seen before. It’s these moments that make guest chef experiences so special.”
For her Chef in Residence menu, Goin combined local ingredients with less familiar flavor profiles. “I knew that the Four Seasons team would already be preparing wonderful Hawaiian dishes, so I thought I would provide something different,” she says. Goin cooked a local line-caught monchong pomfret in a Moroccan tagine with chermoula, a typical North African herb condiment, which she also featured in her cooking class.
“I think a lot of people are intimidated about cooking fish at home, so this was really of interest to them,” she says. “We talked a lot about herbs and spices, and they liked making the chermoula by hand in the mortar and pestle.”
In addition to Wong and Goin, chefs Chad Colby of Antico Nuovo in Los Angeles and RJ Cooper of Saint Stephen in Nashville have recently taken part in the program, which also includes a Winemaker in Residence series. Greg Brewer—who was named Winemaker of the Year in 2020 in Wine Enthusiast magazine’s Wine Star Awards—and third-generation California vintner Matt Duncan both hosted wine tastings and wine pairing dinners.
A festive-season headliner is next. Chef Tyler Florence is bringing his San Francisco steak house Miller & Lux to the island from December 18, 2022, to January 4, 2023, for a takeover of Hualālai Grille, along with cooking classes (see “Raising the Steaks,” page 14). It’s a suitably tasty end to a year that’s already been marked by culinary excellence, and an appetizer for what’s to come in the 2023 Chef in Residence series.
Chef Suzanne Goin (opposite), of Los Angeles, shared with Hualālai her Moroccan fish tagine with local monchong, saffron-potato-tomato gratin, and chermoula.
