Nearly 200 guests filled The Pearl, Leeward Community College's on-campus restaurant, for the school's second annual Culinary Arts Showcase on Saturday, October 24, 2026, where faculty and alumni chefs served a 10-dish grazing menu built around each chef's own professional journey. Dishes ranged from ahi tataki and seared duck breast to a Maui venison tartare made with invasive axis deer, with proceeds earmarked for student scholarships, equipment and instructional supplies.
According to University of Hawaiʻi System News, the event was built around the theme “Yesterday's Lessons, Today's Creations,” pairing current students with alumni chefs at interactive food and drink stations. Faculty chefs showcased savory and sweet dishes including ahi tataki, seared duck breast, Hamakua mushroom ragout and strawberry Romanoff, while alumni chefs brought short rib kare-kare, soy-glazed beef skewers, Maui venison tartare and steamed kueh rice cakes to the grazing-style spread.
A separate account from hawaii.edu detailed specific chefs behind some of those dishes: alumna Chef Jasmyne Wood, class of 2021, prepared the venison tartare, Chef Randy Bangloy handled the short rib kare-kare, Matt Egami contributed an apple, chèvre and fennel tart, and Eric Oto prepared ahi tataki. The same source noted that tickets for the evening were priced at $125, with all proceeds funding student scholarships, equipment and instructional supplies.
Students Learn Alongside the Chefs Who Came Before Them
Matt Egami, Leeward's culinary arts program coordinator, said community, local ingredients and mentorship are central to showing students how techniques come together on a plate. He added that alumni cooking alongside current students helps those students see what their hard work can lead to, according to the showcase's original reporting.
That mentorship model extends beyond the showcase itself. The Pearl, per Leeward Community College, functions primarily as a teaching site, with the restaurant describing student education as its core priority rather than a side benefit of running a working kitchen. The college's Culinary Arts program includes an Associate in Science degree requiring 64 credits, along with certificates, and students train inside $6 million renovated facilities spread across four teaching kitchens, according to the program's own description.
An Open House Disguised as Dinner
Beyond the food, the showcase doubled as a recruiting event. Prospective students and their families toured the college's teaching kitchens and had the chance to engage directly with faculty and alumni during the evening, giving them a firsthand look at where the dishes on their plates had actually been developed.
The khon2.com report on the event described it as an immersive, grazing-style dining experience held inside The Pearl, which it called the college's award-winning restaurant — language that echoes how the college itself frames the space's reputation. That framing lines up with a comparable Leeward showcase held in 2025, when, according to a Hawaiʻi Public Radio community calendar listing, The Pearl transformed into a one-night showcase of dishes from culinary arts faculty and standout alumni, with a menu inspired by each chef's own beginnings at the college and tickets also priced at $125 per person.
Part of a Broader Push for Culinary Training in Hawaiʻi
The showcase lands amid a wider stretch of workforce-focused culinary programming across the University of Hawaiʻi system this year. In March, UH reporting described a free workforce-development opportunity aimed at aspiring pastry chefs and culinary professionals, and by May, the system reported that 31 local culinary professionals had graduated from a pair of dessert-focused training sessions through its Workforce Development Program. UH Maui College separately offered a Culinary “Launchpad” Scholarship this year, providing students hands-on experience over the summer.
Leeward's showcase fits that same pattern of pairing instruction with real-world practice, just scaled to a single evening of plated dishes rather than a multi-week training session. For the nearly 200 guests who attended, the event offered a direct look at how the college's teaching kitchens translate into the kind of food found on restaurant menus — and a reminder of the chefs' culinary journeys reflected in the dishes on the table that night.
