Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines recently announced chef Keaka Lee of K\u0101hala-based Kapa Hale will design curated menus for guests on First Class domestic flights departing Hawai\u02bbi.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t Lee\u2019s first time being a Hawaiian Airlines featured chef; he was part of Hawaiian Airlines\u2019 featured chef in-flight menu program in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cWade and Michelle (from MW Restaurant) were the executive chefs (that year),\u201d he says, noting that Robynne Mai\u02bbi of Fete Hawai\u02bbi and Jason Peel were also featured chefs that year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one thing that I learned the most is that you lose your taste buds 30,000 feet up in the air,\u201d he says. \u201cAfter you pass 10,000 feet of elevation, you have to put more salt. I learned from doing a tasting. That\u2019s why things are a little more salty on the plane (compared to what you\u2019d eat while on land).\u201d<\/p>\n
He explains that menus rotate between the different featured chefs.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor First Class domestic flights from Hawai\u02bbi, the menus rotate between the chefs; we were part of it for six months,\u201d he says. \u201cI was fortunate enough to be asked again to do it for this round.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2024, Lee says he was nervous to create his own menu, but he learned that \u201csimple, tasty food is the way to go.\u201d His menu includes a loco moco for breakfast, and coconut braised beef with roasted \u2018ulu, or breadfruit, for dinner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so glad we\u2019re able to put \u2018ulu on the plane,\u201d he says. \u201cSure, braised beef would taste great with garlic mashed potatoes or with white rice, but because \u2018ulu is such a staple here in Hawai\u02bbi, why not have that on the plane?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s my focus \u2014 to keep things simple, and to make sure the chefs making the food have a chance to enjoy it and can execute it without any problems,\u201d he adds. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Lee says he\u2019s especially excited for guests to try the in-flight loco moco.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have it be super tasty and be on the plane is something special that we had to create,\u201d he says. \u201cWe had to change a few things here and there. We experimented with pork and beef \u2014 some people don\u2019t eat pork, so we had to shift to do all-beef (for the patty), but the patty is super juicy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were able to put a sunny side egg on there,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt looks like a loco moco and it tastes like a loco moco, so I think we\u2019ve achieved that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lee hopes that guests\u2019 experience trying Hawai\u02bbi chefs\u2019 menus will lead to more delicious experiences when they reach the Islands. He notes that Kapa Hale does feature a loco moco on its brunch menu.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you enjoy it (the loco moco) on the plane, you can come check ours out,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
He explains that Kapa Hale supports many local farms, and while the in-flight menus don\u2019t mention specific farms, the concept of supporting local played an essential role in creating his dishes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are farms we\u2019re using, but they can\u2019t put the name (on the flight menus) in case it changes,\u201d he says. \u201cBut, we had the idea that if people are enjoying \u2018ulu on the plane and they come to Hawai\u02bbi, maybe they\u2019ll learn more about it and order breadfruit from a local restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lee says he will be a featured chef for another six months, and describes the experience as \u201csomething cool to be apart of.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to provide more menu items because they (Alaska) wanted to change it up a little bit,\u201d he says. \u201cEven though we had to provide more options in this round, I think people are going to enjoy them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe helped push to have more Hawai\u02bbi (dishes) on the planes to represent Hawai\u02bbi,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Hawaiian Airlines named chef Dell Valdez as its new executive chef. Valdez creates First Class and Suites menus on international and inbound domestic routes. Meanwhile, this summer, Hawaiian Airlines launched pre-order meals designed by chef Sheldon Simeon for Main Cabin guests.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s super cool to see mochiko chicken and garlic noodles,\u201d Lee says, of Simeon\u2019s Main Cabin menu. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to have that offering. Even if you\u2019re coming to Hawai\u02bbi or leaving Hawai\u02bbi, you get to taste a little bit of Hawai\u02bbi.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a special experience for us at Kapa Hale,\u201d he adds. \u201cIf you can eat local or choose to buy local, do it, because it\u2019s very important. Whether you\u2019re eating at a local restaurant or on the plane, it helps somebody here in Hawai\u02bbi. That\u2019s the most important thing that we try to focus on here at Kapa Hale and when we\u2019re doing the menu for Hawaiian Airlines.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.<\/p>\n
For the latest news of Hawai\u2018i, sign up here for our free Daily Edition newsletter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines recently announced chef Keaka Lee of K\u0101hala-based Kapa Hale will design curated menus for guests on First Class domestic flights departing Hawai\u02bbi. This isn\u2019t Lee\u2019s first time being a Hawaiian Airlines featured chef; he was part of Hawaiian Airlines\u2019 featured chef in-flight menu program in 2024. \u201cWade and Michelle (from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5,4164,30],"class_list":["post-12598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chefs","tag-chef","tag-hawaii","tag-local-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}