FOODIES' ALERT: A couple of respected chefs from opposite sides of the country are coming to Honolulu.

Charles Phan, exec chef of San Francisco's Slanted Door, will bring his Vietnamese specialties to the Halekulani's Hau Terrace and Lanai April 2. A cooking demonstration and reception are part of the program, running from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. It's part of the Halekulani Living series. Wines and specialty cocktails are included in the $75 ticket. Phan and his family own and operate The Slanted Door. He was born in Vietnam. Phan, his Chinese parents and five siblings left for Guam in 1975. They moved to San Francisco in '77. Phan studied architecture at Cal Berkeley but wound up crafting recipes rather than designing homes and buildings ... New Orleans' chef Emeril Lagasse returns to headline the Kahala Food and Wine Classic April 9-10. Several events are scheduled. The big deal is Lagasse's final night dinner, paired with wines from Schrader Cellars, $150 a seat ...

NASA exec Chris Davis, a 1973 Damien graduate, has arranged for 20 soldiers seriously injured in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars to be present for the early morning launch of the Discovery shuttle on April 5. Davis was touched by the plight of the wounded when he attended a Habitat for Humanity event last month to celebrate the presentation of a new home to a wounded solider and his family in central Florida. He suggested to Army and National Guard officials at the event that the wounded, ambulatory soliders would enjoy experiencing one of the last four shuttle launches. He then arranged it through the Kennedy Space Center public affairs office ...

Alaska Airlines is running a contest through April 15 offering five winners a vacation for two on Maui with Olympic speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno. The roundtrip starts from cities where Alaska Airlines departs for Maui flights. The five winners and their guests will stay at the Grand Wailea for four nights and five days in June. Ohno will join them at a private luau. Check followapolo.com for contest details ...

Matt Catingub, Iggy Jang and Honolulu Symphony musicians helped Japan-born vocalist Hiromi Kanda make her American debut with her “;Great American Songbook”; album that was released this week on the Music Gate label. It is distributed by the Alternative Distribution Alliance and Warner Music Group. Matt did the arrangements and Iggy served as concertmaster ...

NICE GESTURES: It's St. Patrick's month and Murphy's Bar & Grill is donating $2 for every pound of corned beef sold at the restaurant this month to Hawaii Children's Cancer Foundation. Last year the annual fundraiser raised more than $5,000 for Hawaii families supporting a child with cancer ... Hawaii's Joe Moore and his pal, “;Wheel of fortune”; host Pat Sajak, two Vietnam War vets, will team up on stage in “;The Boys in Autumn,”; for five performances June 24-27 at the Hawaii Theatre. All proceeds from the play, directed by Glenn Cannon, will benefit the Hawaii Theatre Center. The boys did “;The Odd Couple”; in 2001 and “;The Honeymooners”; in 2004 together at the Hawaii ...

——— Ben Wood, who sold the Star-Bulletin on Honolulu streets in World War II, writes of people, places and things Saturdays. E-mail him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).