May 2002
Being a chef, I find that most cookbooks I read tend to have a particular format. Many seem to give you a bit of information about the chef at the introduction. Then move on to describe the biggest sellers in the chef's recipe catalog. Alan Wong's New Wave Luau cookbook is that and more. It actually goes into great detail discussing indigenous Hawaiian cuisine. Chef Wong isn't one of these chefs that can only open a Hawaiian restaurant, in Hawaii, because he is Hawaiian. This guy is a world-class chef that could open a French restaurant in New York and compete with the best of them. He was born in Japan and moved to Hawaii when he was 5. With aspirations of being a professional baseball player, he worked as a dishwasher through high school and stayed on and off with the same hotel until he felt the call to go to culinary school. Returning as a cook in a coffee shop, then moved on to another position in a country club until he graduated from culinary school. Soon he became restless and realized that he needed to leave Hawaii. Accepting an apprenticeship to The Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia. With the help of the F&B director of the Greenbrier, he met André Soltner of Lutèce in New York City. Beginning in 1983 at the age of 26, Alan Wong started his ornate 3-year tenure.

If you've read this far, you're probably wondering, "What about the food?" First off, you'll need to constantly check the Glossary in the back and keep up with the mini-descriptions that follow each recipe. Initially, I didn't know what half the ingredients were or how to replicate them. For instance, Li Hing Mui Chutney? Reading further you'll figure out it's something that can easily be made in any professional kitchen. With ordinary ingredients even. The photography in the book is amazing. The food is very colorful with classic plate presentations. Everything about the book is great. It will fit very nicely on my bookshelf as a new reference for Pacific-Rim cuisine.