 Let's meet the executive chef, Colin Hazama. Welcome to the show, Colin. Thank you for being here. Hey, thanks for having me. You know, just looking at you makes me hungry. You know, but I want to do something I've wanted to do with a chef for a long time. And can I see your hands? Okay, these are the hands that can slice a tomato faster than the blink of an eye, right? I try. You know, there's been so much on Netflix and Prime about movies, about food, and stories about food. My favorite one is called delicious. In French, that's delicious. It's about a chef who kind of creates the modern version of a restaurant in the 18th century before the French Revolution. And it's very interesting how we take so much for granted about chefs and restaurants and table dining and linen tablecloths, all that. And back in the 18th century, they were eating off wood. The royalty, the nobility ate differently than the common folk. It was very different. And so we've had this experience, I mean, in the Western world, well in the world in general, about food in the past couple hundred, 300, whatever it is, years. And so you're part of that. And you're moving the needle forward. And, you know, you make life worthwhile. Food is so important, you know? It's a great career. I often think of, you know, what I would do if I had to choose a career yet again, I probably I'd make my mother teach me. I would be, I would be a chef. How did you get to be a chef? So what's funny is, believe it or not, I was, as a young child growing up, I always kind of had the love of being around my grandmothers. And so cooking with my grandmothers from the age of maybe six or seven, just having fun in the kitchen. But it wasn't until maybe I was about 11 or 12 or so that I really had this passion of, I loved eating. So, you know, I think every, especially every local boy in Hawaii, I mean, when you grow up, you just enjoy all the different cultures and the, the plantation lifestyles of growing up and understanding from your grandparents. And so for me, that was really, quite really inspiring to enjoy cooking. But being in the kitchen was so much more a different feel and different world to expose and see yourself with, you know, just being with the food and then touching and feeling the food for me, for me. Yeah, it is, it's tactile. It's touching. It is. And tasting, I mean, they're all, it's sensory. The whole thing is sensory. And that means, in a sense, sensual. So at some point after the age of 11, you decided you could actually create a dish. You could actually go further than your grandparents showed you how. And what was that like? What was the revelation there? So, believe it or not, I actually attended Marino High School, and we didn't have any home back or any type of a classic that I was into fine arts. And I was an athlete. And so it wasn't till I was about 16 or 17, I had my senior project. And I said, let me let me do culinary, the culinary role. And so there was only maybe one other student that also chose that in my graduating class. And so I went into that. And fortunately enough, I was with a couple of my aunts one day, and they both actually had a very, very famous chef and friend that they connected with. And that was, of course, a chef, Alan Wong. And so in high school, it was toward my, I think my second semester, where I was lucky enough to get an opportunity to go in and basically get in the kitchen and started as a dishwasher and prep book. And he gave me that opportunity just to get my hands dirty and get in there and see what it was like. And so I do, you know, a lot to chef Alan Wong for. He was definitely one of my biggest mentors for showing me what the real kitchen was like. And, you know, I was fortunate enough to get in as my first job and yet culinary job to be in one of the best restaurants in Hawaii. Wow, that is something. So he showed you what the kitchen is really like. What is the kitchen really like? What is the heart of it? The heart of the kitchen is it's a lot of things, a lot of things going on. And really, when you're in the kitchen, you really have to come in and be very tactful and make sure that, you know, there's definitely no horse playing at all. You know, you really need to be aware of your surroundings. You're working with a multitude of different equipment, as well as different aspects of with people. And working with that teamwork aspect is really what's puts together a kitchen and what's puts that food on that plate and makes that, you know, that palette. You know, the plate is a palette. It's how you want to resemble as well as showcased food. And so being able when you get in the kitchen, you need to really be able to exemplify the feelings and make sure that, you know, you work together and listen. Listen is the biggest key communication for sure. And the funny thing about being in the kitchen is a lot of the times when we're going to service, there is some talking, but there's also a lot of just movement and you kind of dance and you flow and you feel what your other partner is doing. And that's how you know that you kind of get that rhythm or that type of orchestration going on. Orchestration. So you're aware of everything that happens in the kitchen. This reminds me, you know, I mean, my earlier career was a lawyer. And if I went to a courtroom, my senses were heightened. And I think every lawyer goes into a courtroom has this experience. You are aware of everyone in the courtroom. You are aware of what everyone is doing. Every single motion, I mean, every hand motion, every sitting, standing, whatever it is, everything. And I expect it's the same way in the kitchen. If you're especially if they're the chef, you're aware of what everybody is doing. Every single person is doing and your book, as you said, orchestrating. So they're all responding to you. You have to make sure that they are listening, hearing, doing what you expect, right? That's that is the goal. Absolutely. You know, coming up. And I think for me, working my way from the bottom and then getting opportunities and working under great mentors is definitely something that has given me the opportunities to move up in my career and be able to see and work with different aspects of just kitchen as well as, you know, working with people. I think that's the biggest thing. Like any profession is really networking and working with people. They always said in my practice, they always said real estate is not about land, it's about people. As a matter of fact, everything is about people. So the other thing about a kitchen, I was trying to sort of ideate what you do as a chef. And one of the things that I was concerned about is, as you said, there's equipment there, there's knives there, there's cutting machines there, there's things that are hot there. And, you know, to me, I would be intimidated. I know that I put my hand down on a skillet in about five minutes. And so the question is, how do you feel about that? And what do you do to make it safe? Well, I would definitely have to say that a lot has to do with, you know, just being able to be mentored and being in the kitchen, knowing that you are dealing with these things, just kind of knowing, you know, fortunately, I got to go to culinary school. But I think on the job, I definitely learned a lot of real life aspects of things. And some of that, fortunately and unfortunately, I, you know, got cut, or I, you know, did get burned. And some of those times are the learning experiences that happen. But for the most aspect is just, like you said, being aware of your surroundings and making sure that you are definitely, you know, paying attention to what's happening and what's going around. And so the safety of training your cooks, training your people, being aware of when you are doing something to focus on, you know, if you're going to use the meat slicer, that, hey, all limbs, all safety guards must be in action. Make sure that after you are done with it, you turn it off, you turn to zero so that if there is some type of instance or scenario where somebody does touch a product or something, you know, your safety is happening. And of course, with heat, you know, being aware of when you're putting on the cooking on with heat, that you're always paying attention to it and not relating the stove or leaving the burners going without anybody paying attention to it or occupying it, for sure. But how does COVID change all this? You know, does COVID change the way that you approach, you know, touching the food, being close to the food or your, you know, staff in a kitchen these days? Has COVID changed the way kitchens work? Oh, I would say that COVID has definitely, I don't want to say if they were changing it, but it definitely has, I think, put things a little more on the microscope in the fact of just being more cautious and being more in terms of your sanitation and really enhancing the fact of making sure that everything that you're touching, everything that you're taking care of or putting away or dealing with in your colleagues is just using the food safety sanitation practices even more so, almost, you know, through the lens of a microscope, even more in detail. And I think it just is a, it was a good way of being able to really get involved with the food and the products even more so. And sometimes, you know, you get into the business and you get so caught up and you're so busy with what's happening, but with, you know, with the pandemic, it actually, I think for myself in the kitchen, it allowed me to be able to do things even more so in the kitchen. So I really say that that's the one thing that happened. So, you know, I get it when you say that you have to watch and supervise your staff to make sure that they are faithful to some recipe that you come up with. In other words, you design your recipes, creative experience, and you tell them, you know, this is what it is, these are ingredients, this is the way you, you build it, this is the way you present it, put it on the plate and so forth. You have to watch them, because it has to be somewhat consistent. I mean, you know that the patrons outside want consistency. If they order a certain kind of dish on day one, they want it to look and taste like the same thing on day three. Otherwise people are wondering what's going on in the kitchen. But the other thing is, you know, I mean, I'm an outsider and I know as much about cooking as I do about movies. So everybody goes through this journey and the journey is you come in there, you do the Scott work, you clean the pots and pans and one day the chef will trust you with the food. And then after a while, sometimes years, I remember, you know, if you go to France and you go into these chateaus and all this, you find people from all over the world doing, you know, menial things in the kitchen, just to be close to the chef. They just want to watch the chef. That's all. Anyway, so you're working menial things, helping others. And then one day, aha, Eureka, the chef has given you permission to try a dish, to create something. And then you're off and running because now you're in the creative sphere of all of this, you know, making new no formulations, new preparations and so forth. Can you talk about your own journey in that regard when you got to the point where one of the chefs you were working under said, you know, hey Colin, try it yourself. I want to see what you can do. So it's funny you mentioned that I would say almost every restaurant, every chef that I worked for, there was that one opportunity. And, you know, it usually takes at least six months to a year to build up to really build that relationship with the chef. But I did get, even with Chef Allen, just to even do, for instance, he would challenge us to make a soup, per se, and to even be able to have him taste that. And everything he does, it's all about taste, as well as Chevron, which is the biggest thing they always would teach me and mentor me, is it's taste your food, taste, taste, taste. And so if you build that relationship and the trust of just understanding their palate and getting that taste was the first step. And then that second step was then trying to evolve and see what you were learned, what you learned, gained, and a mentor to now put that together and fuse together a creative aspect of your touch into their food. And so it was probably about, like I said, maybe about six, eight months where for Chef Allen Wong, when I was working with him, I got to create my own soup. And so, you know, I first, being young, I kind of went outside the box and tried to do something new and creative when I should have just went and did something that was from his regional cuisine and just uplifted it and elevated it a little bit. So the first time I did try something for him, he just wasn't too impressed with it. But as you learn and as you grow, I then took all the knowledge that he was teaching me and I did a dish and I fused, I did like a fuse, a red curry. It was kind of a fused red curry, but showcasing and utilizing local ingredients from the local farms. And I put a little bit of taro and as well as we had some local shrimp from Kauai. And so that was something I just, when you get that okay or that nod, it just, it really hits you at home and makes you feel good. And another experience was when I was actually working in San Francisco, I was working, I got to also be mentioned by Chef Rory Amaguchi, and so I got to create a dish. We have he's well known for all his fish dishes and in the restaurant in San Francisco, it was a busy restaurant. We did like anywhere from high 200s up to like 400 pubbers. Being in the city, Chef Rory Amaguchi was like the hotspot with the Pacific Rim fusion. And so I did touch and create a dish using his base sauces and fusing it and just do a nice little different crust for addition. Because Chef Rory is always all over a different continent, he wasn't able to taste it, but my executive chef of the restaurant did allow me to do a special and it sold really well. So I think just being able to understand and work with what ingredients, but also bring a new elevation by maybe just putting a new different type of sauce or curry or some type of new texture aspect that makes people feel like it's fresh and new, but a little different than the signature of dishes is something that for me just makes me enjoy. Yeah, you know, Colin, one of the movies I'm thinking of when I mention all my movie experience on Netflix about food is called Pig, PIG, Nicholas Gage, he plays the role and there might be some truth to this of a very notable chef in Seattle. Okay, and one of the comments he makes that, you know, your story reminds me of is he said, you know, he never forgot a recipe, never forgot a patron. He ended in his brain, he had it all tucked away. And I wonder if a chef that creates something like this keeps it in his brain or in a little three by five index file box. How do you remember all, you know, all the creative recipes you've designed? Is it all in your brain? No, it's, I mean, there are times and things and a lot has to do with, to be honest with you, is memories. And for me nowadays, it's going back into taking things in the past and then saying, hey, how can I elevate that past, that experience? And it could be something as well as my grandmother making me off scale soup, but now elevating it to a point where the locals the common people kind of transcend and have that type of homie feeling and flavors, but yet elevating it to something that's different, because I think that's all what's happening with food. It just continues to evolve. And it comes back in full circle of bringing back childhood memories. And so for me, it can be something of from the past, but also going out to eat and try and what's new, what's happening in the trends and always keeping that little edge of what's new, what's the come and something. And what I do is if I do eat something or I do remember something, I take a picture and then just jot a little note or something and say, hey, maybe, you know, I can go to a restaurant, maybe a sushi bar and the flavor of say a chef sushi chef putting foie gras on sushi. At first, when I first had that, I was like, this is very creative. And then saying, maybe I can apply some type of flavor with that and do it in a little more upscale dish. And, you know, that's just how it kind of starts to snowball. And that's kind of how things happen and evolve with dishes. Oh, that's, oh, that's fabulous. You know, your comment reminds me of Marcel Proust, who was a 19th century French writer. And he wrote a book called Remembrance of Things Past and talks about a certain breakfast roll called Petit Madeleine, a small Madeleine roll. And how one bite of this Madeleine roll took him through the keyhole of his memory into his childhood. And he was flooded with all these, you know, wonderful memories of his home and his family. And, you know, I think there's something more than just a literature there from what you say. I mean, it sounds like food is, it's a reference point, who helps you integrate, you know, the parts of your life, who brings thoughts to your mind that you would not otherwise have. And so it becomes, you know, an enhancement of your existence on the planet. Agree, disagree. I definitely agree. I definitely agree. You know, I mean, it's, it's, it can just change and evolve. And that food is, we all have to eat. And so it also is about bringing, I think, people together. And that's what I would say, you know, when we, you have a celebration, what do you do? You have food when you, when you want to bring into meeting someone into a new culture, a new environment, they usually offer some type of their cultural food. And so I think, as Ahoy's humans have, you know, developed and grown in the different centuries of things, there was always a way of trade with spices. And in fact, you know, you would trade there in the back in the ancient days, they trade spices in the new world to the old world for gold. And then, you know, it's, it's definitely to a point where I think, even more so now, food has become to the vacuum of jewels and gold. And, you know, there's so many ingredients and products that cost those type of values, you know, with truffles and different certain exotic spices that you forget. I mean, there are over, over $500, over $1,000 a pound now, so. Oh, I can't go to that restaurant. So, you know, it takes me, you know, even a step further. I mean, Hawaii, as you mentioned, it's a celebration of many kinds of foods, you know, and a chef familiar with that, like you can really take it to the moon. You know, you can talk about all these cultures and all the blending of the cultures, you know, the fusion with Yamaguchi and Wang, this is an extraordinary experience, you know, for you, for them, and for us. But the question I put to you is this, if we're looking for the Proust keyhole and the Petit Madeleine, and we're trying to achieve, you know, a connection with times gone by, which, which part of the fusion do you pick? Do you pick the Japanese? Do you pick the end of the Filipino? Do you pick the Halloween? What do you pick in order to achieve that effect? Oh, that's a tough one. I would, I would say I can't really just choose one. I would say it's, it's a little of everything, really. And that's what makes, I think, Hawaii this mecca of the cultural diversity of not just our people, but also the flavors of food. And that's why it's such a melting pot, as everyone says, but in making sure that you can kind of experience and learn not just the cultural aspects, but also the techniques of the cuisine and applying them with, you know, what with modern technique now with all this new style of cooking with molecular gastronomy and understanding how to take a dish and elevating it to, you know, a whole another round is what basically I feel chefs have really done to kind of put even more so Hawaii on the map. I mean, like, like you said, chef, chef Alan Long and chef Uchi definitely have made and put Hawaii on the map and even more so now with the generations to come, we have to keep transcending and inspiring. And people, you know, for instance, okay, I mean, okay is all over the world. And, and that's one of the just things that are happening with with food and from Hawaii and the trends and with media and social media and with television, it's a good way of just diversifying and putting Hawaii on the map. Yeah, absolutely. We could be should be famous for that. You know, it's it's a diversity. It's, it's, it's our multiple cultures. It's, it's what we love about the place and what they love about the place. Really extraordinary. So that, you know, you've been at a lot of restaurants on the mainland, you've, you've sampled, and you've cooked all over the place on the mainland. You know, it's a lucky break and it goes far beyond just going to culinary, culinary school. It's kind of, it's, it's, it's a real, what am I looking for, a real politic kind of experience. But here you are. Now you're the chief chef of the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival, which is very well known. And query, what does that mean to you? And what does it mean to the, you know, the process of getting the word out on Hawaii's special characteristics in food? All right. I'm, I'm definitely humbled for sure. And honored to have the opportunity to work with these world-class chefs from around the world, as well as in Hawaii. And it's, it's a way of being able to kind of exemplify and showcase really what we have to offer here in Hawaii. And you know, I'm very fortunate with Denise Amoguchi, who is this RCEO. And, you know, I've been able to be a participant for about nine years out of the 12. And, you know, with, with Chef Alan and Chef Roy, who basically select who they feel are the chefs who participate and, and varies and it changes depending on what events or what's happening and why not. It's, it's definitely just an honor to be able to be now a part into organizing the function and work with these chefs to come together to the table and, and get them the products and get them their, their, their dish or the ingredients and, and execute the events for what they meet. You know, I was previously executive chef at the Royal Hawaiian. And so I'm very used to doing large events or even, you know, the restaurant smaller venue, but more so doing these huge functions and banquets and pulling the different players together. So in orchestrating and coordinating that, I feel that it's one thing that I feel like an assistant helped to bring to the table. So it's, it's definitely a great great opportunity. Tell us how the festival works and tell us how the executive chef of the festival works to make it happen. So the festival works in, in, in ways of the fact that we've first started off with our events in Maui. And we have, which is a kind of tradition that we have a chef Roy does a golf tournament which starts off in the middle of actually October 23rd, and sorry October 21st. And that is where we start off and we have participants enter a golf tournament and we have chefs featured there between each course. And, you know, we then go to, we have an event and Sheraton Maui, which is a grazing galley, a grazing event. And then we have a galley event that's Sunday over at the Royal Lahaina. And so what it does, what it means is we basically bring chefs from different parts of the nation as well as outside of the world, outside of different countries. And we organize to make sure that we first send them the opportunity to offer. They then let us know what dish they would like to showcase and create and fit into the theme of what we're doing. So for instance that night we're doing the dinner at the Royal Lahaina, I'm sorry, it, it's actually basically Stardes Beards at Diamond. So we're talking about Michelin Stardes chefs, chefs who have won James Beard awards. So we have a definitely high profile named chefs there. And so they definitely are going to want to showcase what they're known for. And so it's about making sure that we can source the right ingredients. The chefs all have to feature at least one local ingredient from Hawaii. But also, you know, some chefs like to use almost everything from Hawaii. And some like to bring things from where they're known for and what they can create. And it's, it's what's such a great experience because you get to have a chef from say New York City come down and bring some of their product or bring their flavors and their technique and showcase it into your dinner that you're having for that evening. And then we also have that pair with wine parents from, you know, vineyards and from usually we have Christopher Malbois and Warren Shaw who work through Southern wine and spirits, Southern Beiges wine spirits who pair those dishes with the wine parent. So it's, it's, it's a phenomenal experience. And then we also have mixologists that are coming from New York, San Francisco, as well as our local talent we have here in Hawaii. And bakers? And bakers, yes, pastry chefs. We have, we have great pastry chefs here in Hawaii. We have Michelle Kaur and Yoko. We have Joanne Chan who's coming over from Boston. We have a few others coming in from the West Coast and, you know, just to name a few, but the pastry department just elevate it. And we have some chefs that do multiple. They can do savory and pastry. You know, we also have, like for instance, a chef who does that is, you know, Chef Gail Gan who comes from Chicago. And we also have a chef from California who also in San Francisco who she just embies and makes a great bread. She created La Brea bread. I'm sorry, kind of, you know, blank on her name, but you can show how it comes in. Nancy Silver. Chef Nancy Silverton. Everyone knows. So what is the executive chef? What are you doing all of this? It sounds like, you know, you have to manage all this and you have to help make the selections of who is invited and maybe take a look at their recipes and tell them they need a little more time. No, my role is to basically orchestrate and put it all together and make sure that we can have these multitudes of talent and be able to execute the events, coordinate, make sure I get all the equipment, make sure I get all the products and ingredients and make sure that, yeah, it's the right fit of players. Chef Alan Wang and Chef Ray Amiguchi are the ones who select the chefs that were invited. But it's also my decision to make sure that in doing so, when we plan and we organize things that, you know, if there's some type of hiccup or something that's needed or last minute needs to be adjusted or fixed, that I make the decision on and so that we all can be executing to excellence, basically. How can I come? How can I be part of this? I'm getting hungry. All right. Well, so, you know, if you're interested and you want to buy tickets, we're at HawaiiFoodandWineFestival.com and we have tickets that are showcased from, you know, anywhere from $150 up to $1500. And that's, you know, it's really what you want for that experience. So, you know, some may say that, oh, it's this cost point or that sounds impressive. It's actually not. I mean, where are you going to be able to get these high-class, high-level food experiences as well as wine parents? And you don't just get to have just a small one bite. You know, if you're entering and going to, for instance, Momo at the Tiger, which is at the Aloilani Resort here, Thursday, November 2nd, it's like you have Chef, Iron Chef, more and more there. You have Chef Ningsai. You have chefs, a few local chefs here. I think Chef Andrew Lee is there. And then you have chefs from other parts of California and New York City that are just phenomenal chefs. And to be able to experience that only one evening, I mean, that's, you can't buy that. What about, you know, the truly international types? I mean, you're talking about, you know, American chefs and food and restaurants. But, you know, what about Ulin Batur? What about Lagos or Kampala in Africa? What about Madrid and Gaspacho? Can I guess some of that? Yeah, well, you know, I think that's the next direction that, you know, Chef Alan and Chef Roy will choose. And it's about the relationship that they built. But we did have a lot of chefs from, you know, Southeast Asia. We did have a chef from Mexico. And, you know, it's just, it's also about the availability of the chef. So we do invite certain chefs from even different parts of the world and other countries. But sometimes, fortunately, unfortunately, they have another obligation or, you know, they're just so popular, so famous that we can't seem to get them on that certain date. So, you know, it's definitely something that we're working toward to get, for sure. You know, Denise Yamavuchi, I guess she's your chief executive at the Food and Wine Festival, is into local agriculture. And you mentioned that a minute ago. And I wonder what role that plays in, you know, in the festival in general. Because we do want to build a local agricultural industry for lots of reasons, including, you know, sustainability of food security in the islands. What role does that play? And how ubiquitous is it around all these, you know, these participants in the festival? It plays a big role, for sure. And I think the one main thing that we want to showcase in for the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival is that it's a spotlight. It's a really spotlight Hawaii as a culinary destination, other than our local ingredients and supporting the local culinary talent that we have here in Hawaii. So, showcasing and marketing our agriculture and really putting behind all of that is really what is the whole idea in building up chefs from around the world to utilize and use and showcase local Hawaii products, whether it's for fishermen, ranchers who are produce and are farmers. They come here to get some of the best ingredients in the world and showcase some of the best ingredients in the world. You know, and really putting all this behind, you know, we are a majority non-profit organization where we've raised basically over $3.1 million towards the local community as well as to the educational for the schools of Hawaii. And you know, the next generation is really what is going to be the students of Hawaii for the culinary programs. Yeah, that raises the whole issue of renewal, you know. Restaurants, some restaurants last for a lifetime. There are restaurants that existed when you and I were toddlers and I was a toddler anyway. And some restaurants, you know, they have a useful life of a couple of three years and they're gone. And if Hawaii wants to be, you know, the center of the food hub, if you will, restaurant and fine dining food hub in the Pacific or Asia Pacific of the world, you know, which of course enhances its tourist attraction, we have to do some stuff because right now some restaurants have been, you know, essentially put out of business by COVID. And not, but not all, some of them are doing or thriving. So what do we have to do to make Hawaii a food hub? What do we have to do recognizing that some restaurants aren't going to make it just the way of the world, not only here? What do we have to do to bring this special biochemistry of yours out to the point where it's recognized everywhere by everybody? Well, I think Jay, for one, I think, and everybody knows this and really understands it and supports that is really supporting local and really supporting your local businesses, the local restaurants, local mom and pop shops, but also as much as possible, buying local ingredients, buying the local product from the farmers because not only does it provide the jobs, but it's also about being able to sustain. And when I say sustain, we, I don't know if everyone really knows, understands, but we import over 90% of all our food that we consume from the mainland. And so, you know, we need to really start reflecting on looking at showcasing and buying more and more ingredients that we can from Hawaii. And, you know, with now they're, you know, doing the more funding to do more for the farmers and getting more land advised and really just getting there to as much as possible of, you know, even getting to like farmers markets is for one thing, being able to understand and see what they do out there. And also, you know, going to the farms is another experience. And so what's good about a lot of the schools that I've been to, I've done things with programs with, not just culinary schools, but even for elementary and high schools, is how they're building and cultivating that into their curriculum now about, you know, the sustainability. For instance, you know, we're doing this big event for Kalo around the world, which is showcasing five chefs from either previous chefs or chefs that are here for the event this year and showcasing what it is about with the Kalo and how it's such a diverse product and ingredient here in Hawaii. And that's just one idea, one aspect of what I think we need to do is educate the community, educate the public a little more about the local ingredients and local products. It's really important, you know, it's a special talent and cultural value that we have, we have to use it. And it's modern, it's high tech, it really is, talking with you. And so it's a great career you have, Colin. Congratulations on that. And congratulations on being the executive chef of the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival and being part of this, yeah. But I do, you know, I asked you at the start of the show to show us your hands because I wanted to just examine the chefs. But now I have an even more invasive question, if you don't mind. Colin Azama, executive chef of the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival, what is your favorite dish? Okay, well, you know, I would have to say that my favorite dish that I, to me, have created is a kompachi from the big onion. So it's a farmer's fish in Hawaii, it's called kahala. But it's a kompachi, which I then slow cook. I actually poach it with olive oil and little aromatics of herbs and lemon. And then after I poach it, I then serve it with a three caviar relish and local ama ebi, which was then fried, crispy fried ahead. And then I serve the tail nice and kind of torch those little raw. And to me, pairing those flavors, I also paired with a little bit of watermelon radish and some watercress from Sunita Farms. That's just a little bitter tones, a little sweetness from the shrimp. And then also I make a dashi sauce, a little white soy. And so it's a kompachi, poach kompachi with ama ebi and white soy dashi. And to me, it just reminds me of the flavors of growing up in Hawaii, as well as being able to travel when I got to travel to Japan and just enjoy the subtleness of the ingredient but yet elevating it with a little bit of that caviar relish that I put on top of it off. But for me, you know, just being able to taste that ingredient or the product is what, for me, highlights food where you can taste the ingredient but yet elevate it so that it's got a little more different nuance to the flavors of the ingredient. Yeah, it sounds a lot better than a petite Madeleine, actually. So what do you call that, kompachi? What do you call that? It's kind of my tick, I call it from ocean to sea, basically. It's both a deep sea ama ebi that's caught, wild caught, and then the farm raised kompachi, which is a new way of sustainable source because, you know, with the fishermen now, or sometimes it's hot and cold where you can or can't catch the fish, wild fish, where is this product that they do at the big island, it's got a nice marbling, reminds me almost of like pomachi and papio kind of mixed together. But it's basically called, I call it from sea to sea, it's an olive oil poached kompachi with a lanai ama ebi and a white soy dashi. The people are going to watch this show, they're going to take notes, and I am going to call it Jeff Collins special kompachi. That's what I'm going to call it. Thank you, Colin. Great to have you on the show. I hope we can do this and Aloha. Appreciate it. Aloha. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and donate to us at thinktechawaii.com. Mahalo.