Hawaiian Airlines
Featured Chef SERIES
Featuring renowned chefs providing a distinct onboard experience.
Mark Sekita: Mark’s Tokyo
Meet Featured Chef Mark Sekita, Owner and Chef of Mark’s Tokyo, located in Meguro, Japan. After a career in securities and banking, Chef Mark Sekita made the switch to the kitchen to follow his dream of cooking, a passion instilled by his Japanese father and Italian-American mother. After attending culinary school, he went on to work at New York’s Michelin-starred Gramercy Tavern. Mark is the owner and executive chef of Mark’s Tokyo, a chef’s table style modern American restaurant, serving a creative blend of Japanese, Italian, and Hawaiian-inspired dishes, all derived from Chef Mark’s history and heritage.
SHOWCASING FIRST CLASS DINING
Airplane food doesn’t always have the best reputation. But what happens when you have a company that values the customer experience and takes pride in its local flavors and community?
The culinary art expresses itself through flavor, smell, appearance and taste. The combination of these attributes are influenced by the artist – the chef. Wanting to keep this video series fresh and new for each chef, our team was pushed to find ways to make each story stand on its own.
Robynne Mai‘i: Fête
Meet Featured Chef Robynne Maii, Owner and Chef of Fête, located in downtown Honolulu. Chef Robynne was born and raised in Honolulu and began her culinary adventure at 3660 on the Rise and Padovani’s Bistro and Wine Bar on Oahu. In 1999, she moved to New York City, where she worked at Union Pacific and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in their pastry banquet kitchen. In 2015, she and her husband opened Fête in Honolulu’s bustling Chinatown. In 2018, Maii partnered with Hawaiian Airlines to debut LunchBox by Fête, a café-style restauarant at the airline’s Honolulu headquarters.
Wade Ueoka & Michelle Karr-Ueoka: MW Restaurant
Both born and raised in Honolulu, Chefs Wade and Michelle specialize in Hawaii regional cuisine, incorporating the finest local produce, seafood and meats into their dishes at their restaurant. In 2015, the couple opened Artizen by MW in downtown Honolulu.
Eric Oto: Hoku’s at The Kahala
Meet Chef Eric Oto, Chef de Cuisine of Hoku’s at the Kahala Hotel & Resort. Born and raised on the island of Oahu, Chef Eric learned the philosphies of respecting and appreciating Hawaii’s diverse ecosystem from his father, a lifelong farmer and fisherman. This reverence is on display in how Chef sources and prepares his dishes. Also committed to supporting Hawaii’s next generation of chefs, Chef Eric serves as a chef-mentor for local high school students with the Hawaii Culinary Education Foundation and the Chaine de Rotisseurs Jeune Chef competition.
Dell Valdez: Vein at Kaka’ako
Born and raised on the island of Maui, Chef Dell Valdez learned his early culinary skills from his parents. He now works as the Executive Chef at Vein at Kaka’ako in Honolulu specializing in modern Mediterranean cuisine.
Jason Yamaguchi: Mugen Waikiki
Chef Jason Yamaguchi was born in Los Angeles and raised on the island of O’ahu. From an early age, he had the opportunity to work with Chef Roy Yamaguchi at various Roy’s locations around California. Yamaguchi went on to work alongside other noted culinary greats such as Michelin-starred Chef Michael Mina and Hawaii’s own Chris Garnier of Roy’s Restaurants. He returned to Hawai’i after 22 years spent gaining experience on the U.S. mainland and is now the executive chef and visionary of Honolulu’s newest French-Japanese dining concept, Mugen Waikiki.