This is a piece that was killed by the new online food publication, Chow. Bummer for me but hey, it happens. And more fodder for Hawaiirama! This is part 2. If you want to read part 1, click here.

A quick tour through the ranks of other notable HRC chefs proves this situation to be the rule and not the exception. George Mavrothalassitis, the other James Beard award winner from Hawaii, can point to only one graduate whose currently helms a top-notch restaurant in Hawaii. Roy Yamaguchi, Sam Choy, and Beverly Gannon, among others, likewise have few graduates in the limelight in Hawaii. Rather than send them out into the Hawaii wilderness, Mavro sends his top sous talent to New York to hone their skills. One is currently working at Daniel. Another is set to depart for Arzak, the noted El Bulli-style eatery in San Sebastien. "I send them out there because there's no place for them here," says Chef Mavro, who opened his own restaurant only after building up a loyal following at La Mer, the classical French wallet-killer in the posh Halekulani Hotel. "It's not the produce or the agricultural stuff that's short. It's the business climate for young chefs to go open their own restaurants. It's just too hard," says Wong.

Maybe. But there might be another problem that few are discussing. Namely, HRC has hit the wall because there isn't enough raw material coming from the farms to fuel a restaurant boom akin to what we are witnessing in other equally, or even less, cosmopolitan cities. "If you carefully examine the menus of most HRC-themed restaurants, only a few feature locally grown products other than the greens, tomatoes and other salad items. Those few that do really forage for local stuff but the supply can be somewhat erratic," says Joan Namkoong, a noted Hawaii food expert and the author of the "Food Lover's Guide to Honolulu."

Namkoong points out that bad weather can wipe out tomato crops for months. Hawaii has no pork or poultry farming and a limited supply of locally-raised beef and lamb. "Even the fisherman are having trouble due to catch declines," she says. According to Wong, the food industry in Hawaii has also shot itself in the foot, to some degree, by not helping out the farmers enough. "Everyone wants to buy rack of lamb from Kahua Ranch (on the Big Island). Well, what is Kahua going to do with the rest of the lamb? But no one here has experience with preparing the lesser cuts or butchering a lamb properly," says Wong.

—Alex, 10/24/06