5 Honolulu Chefs Answer One Essential Question: “What’s in Your Fridge?”

Find out what these chefs eat when they’re at home.

Peering into someone else’s refrigerator feels like an invasion of privacy. Even with permission. Lucky for you, we handled all the awkwardness so you can go straight to the voyeurism: Find out what these chefs always have in their home refrigerator.

 

Roy Yamaguchi

Chef/owner, Roy’s Restaurants

“There’re a couple things I can’t stand in the house. One is an unorganized refrigerator. And dirty laundry. I don’t want any dirty laundry in the house, I don’t want anything out of place in the refrigerator.”

1. “We do a lot of takeout from Chinese restaurants, and we have leftover mustard and chili sauce. I put it in the natto. It’s free!”

2. “Whenever I eat at home, I usually always have natto and then tofu. Every meal I have tofu—soft tofu. Has to be soft.”

3. “There’s some tripe stew in there that my general manager made. It’s really good.”

4. “Denise (his wife) makes juice almost every day. Sometimes she drinks that in half a day, and then she’ll make more. She’s a maniac when it comes to stuff like that.”

5. “I rarely drink the juice. I’d rather drink Diet Coke. I like everything cold—if I don’t drink it fast enough, it gets warm, so I always keep it in the refrigerator. It takes me an hour to drink one can of Coke.”

6. “I always use this Bull Dog tonkatsu sauce. I put it on cabbage, steak, just about anything I eat.”

7. “Just about everybody gives me stuff. That’s sea cucumbers from Denise’s dad. I haven’t tried it yet. I think it was stewed. But I like it raw. Just sliced, raw. And then I just eat it with a little soy sauce, daikon.”

8. “The vegetables are mostly from Dean [Okimoto]. Some of this is from downstairs (their yard). Mint, tomato, okra, chili pepper and kale. Denise puts them in the juice.” 

 

 

Michelle Karr-Ueoka and Wade Ueoka

Chefs/owners, MW Restaurant

“There’s no fresh food in our fridge. We mostly get takeout or go to Sorabol and Zippy’s.”

1. “We need at least one bottle of beer in the fridge. Otherwise Wade gets into the good wines.” 

2. “Our sous chef brought that back from Korea. It’s Korean yuzu—you boil it with water when you’re sick.”  

3. “We’re trying to wean Echigo (their dog) off human food. She’s probably the only dog that eats kimchee and vindaloo. I’ll put Sriracha on the dog food and she’ll just eat the Sriracha and leave the dog food. The other day I bought chicken saltimbocca, and she ate half of it.” 

4. “The pistachios are from a trip with chef [Alan Wong] to Italy. I wanted to try making macarons with pistachios instead of almond meal. That trip was two years ago.” 

5. “That was part of The French Laundry’s annual Christmas gift. (Michelle used to work at The French Laundry.) That year they sent a book on making chocolate truffles and a kit that included things to roll the truffles in, like coconut and chocolate flakes.” 

6. “Wade puts that (aji panca, a Peruvian chile) in his guacamole.”  

7. “Maybe we should just get rid of our dishwasher and put in a wine fridge.”

 

 

Lee Anne Wong

Chef/partner, Koko Head Café

“I try not to eat a ton of meat at home. I have to engage in the bacon game at work, so I gained 20 pounds since I moved to Hawai‘i, and part of it is because of the carbs. I used to be vegan four days a week in New York because it was easy. There were a ton of vegan and raw places that you could go, or I’d juice all the time, or do yoga all the time. Now that I work 16 hours a day, I don’t exercise, I eat maybe once a day. So I come home exhausted. And my boyfriend cooks for me. It’s very sweet.”

1. “I always have a supply of pa‘i‘ai and poi—that’s ulu poi. My boyfriend and I like to fry that up.”

2. “That’s lū‘au lasagna.”

3. “These are salted anchovies from Italy that Andrea from Onda Pasta brought me. And someone is bringing me more. I use those often. I don’t understand why Hawai‘i people don’t love anchovies more. It’s salty fish!”

4. “Usually I’ll make ponzu with the yuzu juice. I’ll get fresh fish, make sashimi and do a little ponzu with soy and yuzu.”

5. “I make my own chili oil and have a jar of this ready to go. It’s got Szechuan peppercorns, chilies, garlic, fermented bean paste and stuff. And peanut oil or a soybean oil.”

6. “Andrea comes to the restaurant every Saturday and he brings me gardenias and pasta. I always have Onda pasta here as an emergency quick fix.”

7. “I have a bottle of chicken schmaltz in my fridge!”

8. “I have a cheese problem. It’s all just cheese and sausage in there. I went to Seattle and brought back charcuterie.”

 

 

George Mavrothalassitis

Chef/owner, Chef Mavro

“When you cook in a restaurant, there is a lot of pressure from the guests. Cooking at home is like meditation. I can cook in the [restaurant] kitchen all day without a spot on my jacket. I cook at home, I make a mess.”

1. “Serrano ham, I buy from R. Field. They were at the end of the ham, the part they can’t sell anymore.” 

2. “I have taramasalata (fish roe salad) always. I buy the tarama from Savas (at Oliver, next to Olive Tree Café). You soak ordinary white bread in water and blend it with the tarama and add lemon juice and olive oil.” 

3. “I have two types of sparkling water. I always drink the Perrier for lunch, Pellegrino for dinner because it’s food friendly. It is salty with small bubbles, so I think it is more appropriate for dinner. Perrier is very good, but with big bubbles, so it doesn’t have the elegance. I’m a sparkling water specialist.” 

4. “Generally, when you get kumquats, you get one ton, it’s too much. So I make kumquats in syrup and put it on yogurt.” 

5. “Saute corn with olive oil and garlic, and at the end, you put the sea asparagus. I like sucré sale, we say in French. Sweet and salt, I like very much the combination.”  

6. “Love mentaiko. I like to eat it on hot rice.” 

7. “I have Greek yogurt and cucumber so I can make tzatziki. Ah, I’m not Greek, I’m French. Just a Greek name. My father was Greek, but he came to France when he was 5 years old.” 

8. “I have one orange always, to do a Negroni.”

 

Dave Newman

Bartender/owner, Pint and Jigger

“Why don’t you shoot the bar? That more accurately depicts what would be in our fridge if it would fit.”

Want to see what Dave Newman’s home bar looks like? Check it out online at bit.ly/hndavesbar.

1. “That’s the Indian version of grenadine. This one is actually Alicia’s (another bartender who also shares the house). The only time I’ve ever bought it, I did an event at the Halekūlani and made an Indian cocktail. So I used a very little bit of that, made a curried rim and used Bombay Sapphire. It came out phenomenal.”

2. “The lychee is another one of Alicia’s experiments. She’s trying to make a shrub (a drinking vinegar).”

3. “Best dressing ever. I love that stuff. I put it on salads or whatever cut up veggies for dip. The original Bob’s Big Boy in L.A. does a classic car meet every Friday. It’s super old school.”

4. “I have a bunch of jams—I’m on a mission to perfect a Monte Cristo. Because nobody out here makes it. When I lived in San Francisco, there were a bunch of spots that made killer ones. The one that I remember the best was this spot called Mama’s. They put the sandwich together, [dip it in] batter, cut the sandwich into triangles and just cook it on the flat top. I can’t compete. They use their own blackberry preserve they make in house. It’s phenomenal. I do a poor, white-trash version.”

5. “There’s usually lots of fruits and vegetables because Alicia juices a lot.”

6. “I have no idea what that is. I’m going to blame that on Alicia.”

7. “We bought eight of those [beers] for Pint. When there were two left, some regulars bought the last two and gave me one.”