×

Noble Chef

Maui Culinary Academy’s signature fundraiser will ignite Fairmont Kea Lani

Last year’s Noble Chef was a sea of the who’s who of Maui’s restaurant world. This year, many will dress up as Roaring ’20s dames and gangsters alike. Tickets are $195 per person. To purchase, call 984-3471. MIEKO PHOTOGRAPHY image

Gangsters and flappers and the golden era of Hollywood, oh my!

Celebrating 20 glorious years, the Noble Chef benefit for Maui Culinary Academy will ignite its host hotel on Saturday with a taste of the Roaring ’20s.

“The Fairmont Kea Lani is pleased to host Maui’s premier food and wine event and fundraiser for the Maui Culinary Academy for the 20th year,” says Fairmont Executive Chef Tylun Pang.

“The lineup of chefs includes a great mix of longtime supporters of the academy,  chef graduates of the program and more talented new chefs. There is a great tasting menu to open the event and equally delicious food for the dinner portion. And, please don’t forget elbow rubbing with all the celebrity chefs at the after-hours lounge in the resort’s Lobby Mezzanine.”

The event is the culinary arts program’s major fundraiser of the year as it supports student scholarships, equipment purchases and much more.

Student Janice Schreiner plates a dish. MIEKO PHOTOGRAPHY image

“Our students are proud to share the quality of education they have received at UH Maui College and to get to work alongside rising stars of Maui’s culinary industry in a high-volume professional kitchen,”  says Pastry Chef Teresa Shurilla, who is also MCA’s program coordinator.

“We are very fortunate to have so much culinary talent on Maui and a wonderful industry to support them,”

This year’s theme is Puttin’ on the Taste and it celebrates the cuisine, cocktails and style of the Roaring ’20s.

Wear your best flapper outfit with beads and headpiece or Al Capone-style fedora and get ready to do the Charleston to the food booths at the reception, held under the stars at the Fairmont’s event lawn.

Maui’s top culinary talent includes Craig Dryhurst of the Four Seasons Resort Maui, who will have you doing the Foxtrot to his lobster and chorizo corn dogs and his Caesar salad soup shots.

Lyndon Honda from Laulima Catering & Events will have your taste buds dancing the Savoy Hop with chermoula smoked fish and then you may shimmy over to Travis Morrin from Three’s Bar & Grill for truffled deviled eggs with smoked salmon tartar.

You’ll be singing “Button Up Your Over Coat” to Ryan Urig of Grand Wailea for his squid-ink brioche; humming “Bugle Call Blues” to Kenneth Sniffen of The Ritz Carlton, Kapalua for his sweet potato and yam foie gras custard; and mouthing the “Sheik of Araby” to David Viviano from the Montage Kapalua Bay for a bite of his chicken liver pate and spiced chicharron.

Other reception participants will be Jeff Scheer of The Mill House and Roger Stettler from Taverna. Chefs Morrin, Sniffen and Scheer also happen to be graduates of UH Maui College’s culinary arts program and if only Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway could see them now.

The dinner menu will be presented by the students and faculty. Chef instructor Craig Omori would tempt even the Great Gatsby with his beefsteak tartar. Tom Lelli would hit a home run with Babe Ruth with his dry aged pork chop with vanilla roasted apples and root vegetable gratin.

Dinner entertainment includes jazz with Fulton Tashombe and Kelly Covington and a lively performance by the Kit Kat Club Cabaret. Wonder if they’ll perform “I’ve Got Shoes, You’ve Got Shoesies” by Cliff Edwards?

During dinner, Emcee Dean Wong of Imua Family Services will certainly be a sharp-dressed man leading the live auction, which includes numerous stellar experiences such as a stay at the five-star Fairmont Plaza Hotel in New York City.

What about the hooch?

Chambers & Chambers Wine Merchants, MauiWine, Johnston Bros., Paradise Beverages, Youngs Market and Southern Wines & Spirits will uncork fine selections.

Four Seasons Resort Maui’s Executive Pastry Chef Bruce Trouyet (see story on Page 18) will have you doing the Cake Walk to his Maui island fruit tartlets with milk chocolate mousse served with banana and lilikoi sorbet.

Shurilla and her Advanced Baking Class will wow just like Louie Armstrong did with “Sweet Savannah Sue” with mignardise of chocolate sable moelleux, lychee pates and assorted artisan marshmallows.

Shurilla and her team have also worked for over a month on creating art deco sugar lamps for each of the 42 tables.

“We want to wow them. We want them to raise their paddles at the auction to support the good work we do at the college. We need their support and couldn’t accomplish what we do without them. Every year, we try to top ourselves.”

Petit fours and bons bons by MCA Pastry Chef  Krista Garcia and her Advanced Pastry Class will have you singing “Dream A Little Dream of Me.”

But what’s a Roaring ’20s party without a speakeasy? Just do leave your bootleg booze at home.

The after-party libations will be provided by Hali’imaile Distilling Co., Ocean Vodka, and Maui Brewing Co. Prohibition hasn’t happened yet, it’s the Roaring ’20s.

But if you imbibe, do arrange for a taxi, a driver or a room, as coppers will throw bracelets on you.

The speakeasy-themed after-party will be hosted by Chef Maka Kwon of The Pint & Cork and the Fairmont Kea Lani’s Luana Lounge. Kwon’s oysters Rockefeller and clams Casino will take you back in time to the golden era.

That’s something to Foxtrot about.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper?
     
Support Local Journalism on Maui

Only $99/year

Subscribe Today