Saturday night, the Oahu Country Club became an extension of the classroom, and 70 paying guests became adjunct instructors. Or guinea pigs, depending on your point of view. Students, chefs present
country club feastBy Betty Shimabukuro
bshimabukuro@starbulletin.comThe occasion was an elegant dinner in the club's elegant dining room. The menu was by Leeward Community College culinary students, who designed each dish from recipe to final presentation. It was like the ultimate midterm.
This was a 'luxe crowd, of course, not likely to be satisfied with mochiko chicken and fried rice. So in came the mentors, professional chefs who are also on the advisory board of the LCC culinary program. The students brought in their recipe ideas, and the chefs helped refine and elevate each dish to country-club level.
Idea credit goes to Richard Wagner, the club's pastry chef, who said the students already had enough experience working at special events as chef's assistants. "We are using the students only as helpers. We're defeating the purpose of learning. We do not teach them how to think."Well, they thought plenty hard with this assignment, in kitchens such as Wagner's, at the Halekulani with Darryl Fujita, at Alan Wong's, at Cafe Laufer with Cyrus Goo, at L'Uraku with Hiroshi Fukui.
The students said they came away with the confidence to reach beyond basic recipes, to trust in their sense of taste. "We learned that you can do something nice, but you have to try it out first," one of Wagner's students, Evelyn Lamont, said.
"Learn to be humble," Fujita told his students at the Halekulani. Accept criticism; embrace it, even. "Things change when you make something. Always. Evolution, yeah?"
By the way, missing in action Saturday was DK Kodama of Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar, who had coached his team through the preparation of a Cajun-style shrimp dish. His first child, daughter Brie, was born at 9:30 that night, just about the time his fellow chefs were sitting down to their post-event cigars in the club's lobby.
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