Maui resident Lee Anne Wong reached the semifinals in Guy Fieri’s nationally televised “Tournament of Champions” cooking show this month, and her business interest is growing despite the destruction of her Papa’aina restaurant in the 2023 Lahaina wildfire. Courtesy photo

She was a semifinalist this month on Guy Fieri’s nationally televised “Tournament of Champions” cooking show, and her Maui restaurant was named a semifinalist and nominee of a James Beard Award in 2023.

Maui resident Lee Anne Wong seems to be able to do it all, including European, Asian-Pacific, Hispanic and American cuisine. Most of all, she seems to survive and thrive adjusting to the ups and downs in a world of change.

“I’ve made it my business,” said Wong, who attended the French Culinary Institute in New York and has traveled and cooked all over the world, including Mexico, Japan, Spain, France, Italy, Denmark, Korea, Kuala Lumpur, Australia, and New Zealand. “I’m pretty well versed in global cuisine.”

In her early years, she worked for Ethiopian-born Swedish chef Marcus Samuelsson and New York culinary icon Jean Georges Vongrichten.

She went from a season one contestant in the TV program “Top Chef” to becoming the supervising culinary producer for the series in 2006.

Her Koko Head Cafe continues to be a hit with customers to the point where she has licensed outposts of KHC in Tokyo and Osaka.

She said she moved to Hawai’i in pursuit of romance and to reconnect with family including three generations of ohana on her father’s side living on Oahu.

She moved to Maui in 2019 with an opportunity to reinvent The Pioneer Inn’s restaurant in front of Lahaina Harbor, next to the Banyan Tree.

Wong weathered the Covid pandemic while building a business with locally sourced produce from more than a dozen farm and livestock growers on the Valley Isle.

“It was from farm to table, driven by local, seasonal ingredients,” she said. “It was such a labor of love.”

That love has been felt by others as well. Her Lahaina restaurant reached the semifinals and was a nominee for the 2023 James Beard Award for Best Chef in Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington state.

“That was amazing,” Wong said of the honor while recalling they had a barebones staff. “There was me and two others running the restaurant seven days a week.”

Her daily routine included visiting Upcountry farmers and other growers and bringing carloads of produce to her restaurant in Lahaina.

She said she loves living on Maui with her husband and 7-year-old son and the spectacular view from her home where she can see the western shores of Maalaea Bay and eastern shore of Kahului Harbor.

Her husband, a woodworker, spends much of his time at home in the garage and doing customized work for the resorts.

At home, Wong said she cooks all the time, using as much farm-to-table produce as possible.

“We don’t go out to eat,” she said.

Her work at the Papa’aina restaurant came to halt on Aug. 8, 2023, when the wildfire destroyed Lahaina and the Pioneer Inn. But Wong said that even after the 2023 wildfire, she wanted to stay on Maui.

“It’s hard to move off of Maui,” she said while adding that the Koko Head Cafe has been running strong for 11 years.

Will she return again to compete in the “Tournament of Champions?”

“Yes, if I’m invited,” she said. “It’s such a great opportunity, competing with other tournament champions. Many of us have been competing with each other for years. We’re all a family.”