Though women have been preparing food for their families ad infinitum, their place in the professional kitchen has taken time to establish. Even as recently as 30 years ago, it was rare to find a woman at the helm. But today, amid Hawaii’s vibrant restaurant scene, women are emerging more and more as leaders of not just professional kitchens in general, but in their own restaurants.
On the following pages we spotlight just a few of those chefs, some well established, others just beginning their journeys. They share how being a woman has informed their work as chefs, plus a recipe or tip for home cooks.
Jacqueline Lau Private chef
The longtime Roy’s corporate chef, 48, who opened restaurants for Roy Yamaguchi all over the world, has stepped out on her own. Last year she took a breather to spend time with her son, who graduated from high school this summer. Now she bakes rum cakes for Kohana Rum and works as a private chef.
“Cooking has been my only real passion,” she said. “I told my parents I wanted to cook when I was 4 years old.”
When Lau got into the industry at age 19, women “worked prep or in the bake shop.” After applying for other positions and being repeatedly turned down, the chef finally told her that “women belong with lettuce.”
Lau’s response was to prove him wrong.
“I felt I had to be faster and better and keep everything rolling. I pushed myself harder to be like that,” she recalled. “I think women had to work two times as hard just so there was no question about their ability.
“It’s really different nowadays,” she continued. “Now any woman who takes pride in her work in the restaurant business can walk in and apply for any job. Women don’t have to go through any of that anymore. It’s really cool to go into a restaurant and see women everywhere. You didn’t see that 30 years ago.”
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In the summer Lau likes to pickle vegetables and fruit, and she keeps a quart of this pickling concoction in her fridge to use when the opportunity arises. It is an easy recipe that features a unique set of spices. Simply warm the chilled liquid and pour it over whatever you want to pickle.
Asian Pickling Spice
3 cups water
2/3 cup Korean apple vinegar (substitute
with apple cider vinegar)
2-1/2 tablespoons salt
1/4 to 1/2 cup Korean rice syrup (substi
tute with corn syrup)
2 teaspoons coriander seed
1-1/2 teaspoons black peppercorns
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1 teaspoon Korean chili flakes
1 teaspoon Madras curry powder
In pot, add water, vinegar, salt and syrup; bring to simmer. Taste and adjust flavor if necessary. Set aside.
In small pan, toast coriander, peppercorns, mustard seed, chili flakes and curry. Add to pot and bring mixture to boil. Cool slightly.
Place what you want to pickle in a large container and pour brine over it. Soak times vary, but hard vegetables should sit at least 3 days before eating.
Nutritional information unavailable.
Michelle Karr-Ueoka MW restaurant
Carrying on the culture of mentorship in which she was raised in the culinary world, pastry chef Karr-Ueoka, 41, is affectionately referred to as “Mom” by her staff at MW, which she runs and owns with her husband, executive chef Wade Ueoka.
“It’s so funny to me, but then I realize I am old enough to be some of their mothers,” she said. “I take a more nurturing approach because I was fortunate enough to have mentors who thought of me as their own child.”
Those mentors are a lofty bunch: Think Alan Wong, Thomas Keller of the French Laundry and Per Se, and Daniel Boulud of Daniel, all of whom provided Karr-Ueoka with training that focused on good old-fashioned hard work and dedication, rather than gender.
“All the restaurants I worked for had that mentality of sharing knowledge. They were growing people to be better,” she said. “I want to be that way.”
Karr-Ueoka said she believes her gender influences the kinds of desserts she creates.
“To some degree, for me, I like to eat lighter things — I’m not sure that’s true for men — so I create desserts with that artistic light approach.”
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Chocolate Mousse
9 ounces (260 grams) 70 percent chocolate
(can substitute with dark)
2 tablespoons (30 grams) butter
3 eggs
3 yolks
5/8 cup (125 grams) sugar
2 tablespoons (30 grams) water
2 cups (16 ounces) heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks
Melt chocolate with butter. Set aside.
In mixer, mix eggs and yolks till triple in volume. Set aside.
In small pot, cook sugar and water to 230 degrees. With mixer on high, add sugar mixture to egg mixture and beat 1 minute. Combine with chocolate. Set aside.
Fold whipped cream into chocolate mixture. Place in container and cool. Makes 1 quart (8 servings).
Approximate nutritional information, per serving: 520 calories, 41 g fat, 25 g saturated fat, 225 mg cholesterol, 75 mg sodium, 33 g carbohydrate, no fiber, 26 g sugar, 7 g protein
Kristene “Banchan” Moon The Pig & the Lady
Though she’s just 23, Banchan Moon has been entrusted with dinner service at chef Andrew Le’s popular restaurant, The Pig & the Lady. Moon started her culinary career straight out of high school but said, “I’ve been cooking my whole life with my parents.”
Moon set out to learn about the industry at Kapiolani Community College but swapped classes for full-time work. “I learned more with Andrew than at school,” she said.
In running the kitchen, Moon said she might be “a little more nurturing” than some, taking the time to know how the staff is doing both in and outside of work. But being nurturing isn’t tied to her being female, she said. “I see this from men, also. Andrew’s like that, too. I’m not too keen on gender roles.”
Gender notwithstanding, the approach benefits all involved. “Being in tune with other people’s feelings helps the kitchen run better,” she said.
“I don’t feel like gender matters too much. Everyone just ‘brings it’ to show how much they wanna be (in Le’s kitchen). We’re just pushing it every night; we’re always trying to improve. Everyone has lots of heart and passion.”
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It’s all in the soup: Using up what you have in the fridge is not hard, said Moon. You just have to know what you like.
For Moon, that means soup. Her favorite is a version she grew up on, a shoyu-sugar beef broth made from scratch, with lots of vegetables.
It’s so simple, it doesn’t require a formal recipe: Simmer beef in water for about an hour to make the broth. Strain out the beef and reserve, then season the broth with soy sauce, sugar and garlic, to taste. Add back the beef, whatever veggies you have, some salt and pepper — and jalapenos if you like heat — and simmer until veggies are done. For added deliciousness, add eggs, shell-on, to the pot, and have boiled eggs with your soup.
“I love this because it’s easy and it utilizes everything,” she said.
Robynne Maii Fete Hawaii
At age 41, Maii has already held more jobs in the culinary field than most people amass over their entire professional lives. She’s worked in Hawaii restaurants, at top national restaurants and for a culinary magazine, run a culinary program, started another one, and has now opened the doors to her own restaurant with her husband, Chuck Bussler. Just a few months old, Fete Hawaii is already a much-lauded venue.
Maii’s professional road to this place in her life has been marked by experiences both good and bad that shaped the way she runs her kitchen.
“I had good experiences in Hawaii, working for 3660 on the Rise and for (chef Philippe) Padovani, but New York City was bad. I was sexually harassed regularly — people hitting on me, groping me,” she recalled.
In the Fete kitchen, which she runs with her sous-chef, another woman, “it’s important to me that everyone get along, respect each other. It’s a personal thing. Ever since I started cooking, I’d see things and think, ‘We could do better than this.’”
For Maii, “better” means that her staffers conduct themselves professionally. For herself it means no yelling in the kitchen.
“I want to change that culture. There’s no need to lead by intimidation,” she said. “I don’t want my staff to wonder, ‘Am I going to get yelled at today? Am I going to get sexually harassed today? Will there be disrespectful discussions in the kitchen?’
“I don’t believe we’re there to just make food. I want to provide a thriving workplace. We work long hours, so I want to make it feel like a good place to work.”
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Learn to taste and adjust: There is no foolproof recipe, Maii said. Making a delicious dish requires responding to variables in the ingredients.
“No ingredient is consistent. The arugula today might be more bitter than the one yesterday. There might be more fat in the pork you get today,” she said. “You must cook consciously — you can’t sleepwalk and cook.”
That means being able to taste and season appropriately, but Maii said she finds that most people are shy about seasoning.
“Seventy-five percent of the time, a dish needs more salt, but people are afraid to use it. When I teach, a big part of what I teach is how to season. More acid — a touch of rice wine vinegar or a squeeze of lemon, for instance — brightens everything.”
But figuring out seasoning first requires tasting, something that’s difficult to teach. Maii starts by having people place flavors in categories.
“For example, if you’ve never had calamansi before, you’d taste it and realize it’s a citrus fruit and put it in that category. Fish sauce is salty, so it would be in the same category as shoyu and capers,” she said. “Categorizing ingredients gives them context.”
For cooks of all levels, she suggests preparing food simply — “just roasting, with good olive oil, salt and good herbs” — to deliver something tasty. “It’s about good ingredients, good technique and doing as little as possible to the ingredients.”
Puaokalani Barquis Mission Social Hall and Cafe
After spending much of her life around food in the Bay Area, Pua Barquis, 31, moved to Hawaii two years ago. She had been a barista in San Francisco, opened two cafes and ran a pop-up kitchen serving affordable vegan food to college kids.
All that experience taught her the relevance of being a woman in the professional kitchen — and the responsibilities that come with it.
“The last I looked into it, our industry had the second-largest pay gap in the country (between men and women), so there’s a responsibility to do things right and do them well. We’re paving the way for the future,” she said. “It shapes how I work in the kitchen in this male-dominated industry because I know that people are looking at me. It’s important for them to see me professionally.”
Ironically, Barquis said cooking traditions have been passed down through the women in her family.
“It’s affected the way I cook because if I wasn’t female, I wouldn’t have been able to get family recipes from my grandma.”
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Olena Wet Rub
3-1/2 tablespoons powdered turmeric (olena)
1-1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1 tablespoon ginger, freshly grated
1 clove garlic, freshly grated
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon honey
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons water
In mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients. Then add wet ingredients. Mix until thoroughly blended; the rub will have the consistency of a thick paste.
Apply liberally to chicken or white fish of choice. Bake or grill as desired. Makes enough for 5 pounds of chicken or white fish.
Nutritional information unavailable.