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Young Farrington chefs
take top culinary honors

Farrington High School Governors ruled at the Hawaii State Culinary Expo held at Kapiolani Community College Sunday. The big winner was first-year KCC student Sonny L. Acosta Jr. (a graduate of Farrington). After winning over the judges with his crispy kalikali rolls in the hot-food competition, Acosta was awarded with a round trip to Japan and a one-week internship with Iron Chef Hiroyuki Sakai (or, as one of the student chefs called him, "The Messiah") at his La Rochelle restaurant in Japan. Acosta said he always wanted to be a chef. "I love to eat so I guess it was second nature," he said. ... Winners of the cold-food competition were Governors, too. Eight Farringtonians -- Paul Aguda, Rei Alzeta, Victor Baxa, Jeffrey Degal, Aian Dela Cruz, Rodrigo Dufale, Leonard Garcia and Ace Ramirez -- put together a dazzling display titled "Winnie the Pooh Marzipan Showcase." All of the up-and-coming chefs are seniors except Baxa and Garcia, both of whom are juniors. Their coach, Edward Anderson, an assistant pastry chef at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, is an alum of Farrington and KCC. And chef Stanford Cambra, who announced the winners of the cold-food competition, is also a Farrington and KCC alumnus. All of the guys were students of or worked with Linda Uyehara (she retired as food service instructor last year). Uyehara said she and the eight boys worked together with Anderson after school on their masterpiece. ... And, just a couple of tidbits about a couple of the guys -- After staying up 36 hours on Red Bull and dancing in the freezer, Degal, who had his tux in his car, had to change and head over to Radford's senior prom right after the award ceremonies. If you want to catch Acosta, he works on the "pot line" at Padovani's Restaurant & Wine Bar, where he began working at when he was a junior at Farrington. Girls, these guys work hard, play hard and can cook! By the way, I must confess that I'm a (proud) Farrington alumna. ...

Another student who deserves recognition is Mililani High School graduate Brett Imamura. Imamura, a pianist, was among seven winners of the Annual DePauw School of Music Concerto Competition. He and the other winners were chosen out of 26 contestants. All the winners attend the music school, which is located in Chicago. ...