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BANYAN Roy Yamaguchi
BANYAN Roy Yamaguchi

Full Bloom

Roy Yamaguchi continues to help grow the local food movement to new heights.

MATTHEW DEKNEEF

IMAGES BY MARIE ERIEL HOBRO AND SKYE YONAMINE

“農園から食卓へ”のコンセプトが料理界で主流になる30年前、ロイ・ヤマグチは、彼の名を冠したレストランに野菜を仕入れるため、ナロファームのディーン・オキモトとの協働を開始した。今日、インターナショナルマーケットプレイス内の「イーティング・ハウス 1849」含め、彼のメニューは島の恵みに溢れている。

Chef Roy Yamaguchi looks out at the blue-green pastures of Nalo Farms in Waimānalo on O‘ahu’s east side. Naturally he’s thinking about growth, not just of the leafy lettuce varieties specialized in by this 11-acre family farm at the foot of the Koʻolau Mountains, but also of the farm-to-table model that has blossomed throughout Hawaiʻi’s restaurant scene. “Thirty years ago, it was a different story,” Yamaguchi says. “It’s just amazing to see.”

 

Yamaguchi, an advocate for using locally grown ingredients, was already considered a farm-to-table pioneer when he started working with Nalo Farms owner Dean Okimoto in the early 1990s. It was a bountiful pairing, Yamaguchi recalls, that sprung from a straightforward question: “Hey, do you think you can grow that?”

BANYAN Roy Yamaguchi
BANYAN Roy Yamaguchi

At the time, Yamaguchi was referring to turnips and parsnips, then later Tokyo negi and even carrots. All were for Roy’s, his breakthrough Hawaiian fusion restaurant. Not everything proved to be plentiful at Nalo Farms (those persnickety carrots, for instance), but from months of field trials, Okimoto found his niche in seven types of lettuces and eight types of other greens, including arugula, tatsoi, red mustard greens, and pepper cress. Okimoto discovered that his vegetables had a zesty flavor profile unique to Waimānalo’s terrain that he believed would appeal to island chefs. Having already proselytized about the potential of locally grown produce by small farmers to his circle of Hawaiʻi chefs, Yamaguchi was able to help Nalo Farms provide produce for about 20 restaurants. Today, its network has grown to more than 200.

BANYAN Roy Yamaguchi

On this early Wednesday morning, Yamaguchi and Randy Bangloy, the executive chef of Eating House 1849 at International Market Place, walk through Nalo Farm’s rows of lettuce, mint, and basil. At one point, they bend down to survey a bushy growth of nasturtiums. They consider how its edible flowers, with a taste reminiscent of watercress, could be used to top off a lava cake dessert. “Everything is a work in progress,” Yamaguchi says, as he brushes his fingertips over the pillowy blossoms.

 

Recipes that do get perfected end up on the menu. In a tourist-frequented area like Waikīkī, diners are looking for some sort of experience they can’t have back home, Yamaguchi claims. At Eating House 1849, located on the Grand Lānai, that experience is translated in its array of flavors defined by Hawaiʻi’s plantation history and multicultural heritage. “We want our guests to be inspired by our creativity,” Yamaguchi says.

 

Bangloy, who is new to Eating House 1849, plans to infuse the menu with more Filipino fare. You could say these potential recipes are also sourced locally, as they’re inspired by ingredients Bangloy remembers were always stocked in his mother’s kitchen during his Oʻahu childhood. “Tomatoes, eggplants, marungay, long beans, squash,” Bangloy says. “Something I’m looking at is changing a few dishes and bringing in some bitter melon.” He hopes to source those bitter melons locally.

Eating House 1849 is located on the third floor at the International Market Place’s Grand Lānai.