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Our community table where stories,
flavors, and friendships come together.
Food tastes better when it’s shared — and so do the stories behind it. From heartfelt reflections to unforgettable bites and faraway finds, this is where the conversation begins.
#SipSavorShare
Farming the Water
Ocean farming succeeds or fails on restraint. A grounded examination of shellfish and seaweed cultivation — where working with the ocean strengthens food systems, and where scale and language begin to fracture them.
A Sense of Place
Ancient Hawaiian fishponds weren’t symbols — they were solutions. Loko iʻa were engineered to feed villages by working with tide, freshwater, and place-based knowledge, proving that true sustainability is older than the word itself.
How Professionals Actually Choose Knives
Professional cooks don’t collect knives — they arrive at them.
A grounded look at how balance, steel, geometry, and use shape the knives that last in real kitchens.
Steel, Temper, and the Knife That Shows Up for Service
In service, the right knife doesn’t demand attention — it earns trust. This essay explores why steel choice, heat treatment, and geometry matter in a working kitchen, and how the knives that last are shaped by consequence, not reputation.
The Knife That Earns Its Place
A great knife isn’t chosen lightly. It earns its place through repetition, trust, and the quiet demands of service. This is a reflection on culinary knives — not as objects, but as companions shaped by work, judgment, and time.
Beyond the Familiar Seas
Outside Japan, the East Coast, and the Mediterranean lies a broader seafood table — shaped by climate, necessity, and tradition. These overlooked regions reveal how the world truly eats from the sea.
Savory Pops and the Post-Sugar Palate
Sugar once defined indulgence. Today, curiosity does. From soup-flavored candy to umami-forward comfort snacks, savory pops reveal how the post-sugar palate is reshaping pleasure, nostalgia, and what we crave next.
The Seafood Table: Japan
Japan does not approach seafood as something to be conquered. Surrounded by shifting currents and fragile species, its cuisine evolved around restraint, judgment, and timing. This essay explores how freshness became responsibility, knife work became translation, and precision — not abundance — became the highest form of hospitality.
The Seafood Table — The Mediterranean
The Mediterranean does not rush seafood.
Warm water changes fish, species stay close to shore, and cooking evolves through repetition rather than urgency. This essay explores how fire, broth, and endemic seafood shaped one of the world’s most enduring coastal cuisines — where restraint comes not from fear, but from familiarity.
The Seafood Table — U.S. East Coast
Cold water leaves no room for illusion.
On the U.S. East Coast, seafood arrives already resolved — shaped by temperature, time, and consequence. This long-form essay explores how cold Atlantic waters define species, discipline kitchens, shorten menus, and reward restraint, revealing why clarity — not complexity — became the region’s quiet authority.
Eat Your Vegetables
Born in 1951, I’ve lived through diners, food pyramids, reversals, and reinventions. This is a reflection on what we were told to eat — and what quietly endured.
The Seafood Table
Seafood restaurants live closer to the truth than most. When the ocean is the ingredient, there’s no hiding behind excess — only judgment, restraint, and trust.
The Shape of Experience
Taste is not a fixed truth — it’s an interpretation. From the shape of a glass to the room we sit in and the moment we choose to pause, how we experience a drink is shaped by far more than what’s poured.
Aloha ʻOe
A reflective closing on Aloha as both welcome and goodbye — and what remains when care is carried forward into a world shaped by technology, speed, and change.
Where Luxury Lives
Luxury isn’t defined by marble or chandeliers—it’s defined by trust. A reflective look at where luxury actually lives, and how empowered teams quietly shape the moments guests remember most.
The Cost of Leadership Without Authority
When managers are held accountable without the authority to act, leadership quietly breaks down. A reflection on the hidden cost of misaligned responsibility—and what changes when trust, judgment, and decision-making finally meet at the same table.
Menu Engineering, Optimization, and the Quiet Math That Keeps the Lights On
A practical deep dive into menu engineering—why contribution margin and gross profit dollars often matter more than food or liquor cost percentages, how to use the Stars/Plowhorses/Puzzles/Dogs framework responsibly, and how to optimize a menu for profitability without losing what guests love.
I Didn’t Panic Soon Enough
Famous last words in hospitality rarely sound dramatic. They arrive quietly, long after the damage is done. In a year that stripped away illusions of “waiting it out,” this essay explores why inaction is never neutral—and why the most expensive decision is often the one we delay.
Restaurants That Last: Independent vs. Corporate
A thoughtful comparison of independent and corporate restaurants—how each approaches risk, culture, and decision-making, and what truly determines which ones endure.
Restaurants That Last: Customers vs. Guests
An exploration of transactional versus relational hospitality—and why restaurants that last treat diners as guests, not numbers, earning loyalty through feeling rather than efficiency.