Lyndon Honda, Corporate Chef
Old Lahaina Lu‘au, Aloha Mixed Plate, Hoaloha Productions

A culinary innovator, Chef Lyndon Honda is corporate chef for one of Maui’s most innovative food service and hospitality companies. Since taking the helm for three kitchens, Old Lahaina Lu‘au, Aloha Mixed Plate, and Hoaloha Productions catering, Chef Lyndon has refined the range of dishes served at the lu‘au, added creative, “localized” specials to Aloha Mixed Plate’s menu, and brought the catering division to a high-end market. No small feat when you realize the number of people the corporation serves on a daily basis.
But Chef Lyndon Honda came well-prepared for his job. He has over 15 years of restaurant industry experience, creating Japanese, Italian, French and Pacific Rim cuisines. Lyndon also worked for Sodexho, a leader in the food services industry, as district executive chef of Hawai‘i. He implemented food safety procedures and developed off-site catering. For several years, he was executive chef for the Straub Clinic, where he created special dietary meals, and worked at eliminating the cafeteria feel by offering restaurant-quality food. Born and raised in Hawai‘i, Lyndon is a graduate of Hawaii’s prestigious Culinary Institute of the Pacific.
As a guest chef several times on Oceanic’s cable TV cooking show, “Tasty & Meatless,” Chef Lyndon Honda offered viewers vegetarian dishes that even please meat-eaters. For Old Lahaina Lu‘au, Lyndon has revamped the menu to provide “a cleaner presentation for vegetarians.” He also remarks that Lu‘au food is good for those on a low-carb diet. “I want to continue to separate this lu‘au from the rest, so people can experience traditional Hawaiian foods that not too many do anymore,” Lyndon says. One of these dishes is Hawaiian lau lau - salted cubes of pork, wrapped in taro leaf and steamed.
Next door at the Aloha Mixed Plate café, Lyndon has added new specials to the regular menu: Okinawan Roast Pork and Teri MahiMahi Caesar Salad. He explains, “We localize things here in Hawai‘i.”
Lyndon’s culinary talents continue to shine with catering for the company’s Traditional Hawaiian Weddings. Witness these elegant dishes: Kalua pork with cream cheese and lomi tomato rolled in a tortilla, and Ponzu tenderloin with misoyaki-white truffle oil lobster mash. “We do it all, from A to Z, whatever you have a budget for and any size,” Lyndon adds innovatively.

Roy Yamaguchi of Roy‘s Restaurants

Roy Yamaguchi‘s interest in the art of complex cuisine began at an early age as he watched while his parents prepare the family’s meals. They went to great lengths to find the freshest ingredients, and with much attention to detail, would create wonderful meals. Their passion for cooking was obviously passed down to young Roy. Born in Tokyo and raised on American military bases, Roy spent quite a bit of time in Hawaii during summers spent visiting his grandparents on Maui. It was there he acquired a taste for freshly-caught fish and seafood. Travels to China, Thailand and Malaysia introduced him to a wide array of Asian foods. Upon graduation from high school, Roy went to New York, enrolling and graduating from the Culinary Institute of America. The school trained him in classical tradition, providing a firm basis of European cooking techniques and flavors. This, combined with an extensive familiarity of Asian-Pacific cooking, was skillfully incorporated into his own style, a style he calls “Hawaiian Fusion” cuisine.
Upon graduation, Roy went to California where he apprenticed for L’Escoffier and L’Ermitage. Roy thrived under the tutelage of L’Ermitage’s Jean Bertranou and Michel Blanchet. ”I started out doing simple things, like cutting fish and meat. I also learned more in two and a half years on site than I could have anywhere else. I learned to do a dish and work at it until it was perfect. I learned to feel if a dish was right.“ Roy went on to be executive chef at Le Serene by late 1979 and then for a few months at the posh Michael‘s in Santa Monica working for California Cuisine originator Michael McCarty. Roy continued to fuse French techniques and largely Japanese ingredients as executive chef of Le Gourmet in the Sheraton Plaza La Reina. In 1984, Roy opened his first restaurant as an owner at 385 North on Hollywood‘s La Cienega. This is where Roy‘s cooking style first came into bloom.
In 1988, he established the first Roy’s Restaurant on Oahu. Now there are over 30 Roy’s Restaurants in the United States, including six locations on Oahu, Kauai, Maui and the Big Island. Two restaurants in Japan and one in Guam have introduced the international community to Roy’s unique culinary creations.
His accolades include ”California Chef of the Year“ in 1986 & 1987 and Hawai‘i‘s first winner of
the James Beard Award in 1993.
Well-known classics include Roy‘s Original Blackened Island Ahi with Spicy Soy Mustard Butter Sauce and his incredible Melting Hot Chocolate Souffle‘.