Page 4 - Hawaii Island MidWeek - July 20, 2022

4 HAWAI‘I ISLAND MIDWEEK JULY 20, 2022
HAWAI‘I ISLAND MIDWEEK COVER STORY
Fête owner
Robynne Mai’i has
all the ingredients of a culinary star: a bustling restaurant, a healthy mentorship with young cooks, and now, the award for Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific from the prestigious James Beard Foundation.
The year 1989 is a special one for Robynne Mai‘i. Like it was yesterday, she recalls being a freshman navigating the halls of ‘Io- lani School. But far more notably, this was the year she ate at Roy’s for the first time.
add 2022 to her list of fa- vorite years (alongside 2016, which is when she and husband Chuck Bus- sler opened their foodie brainchild, Fête, a new American eatery in Chi- natown) after winning the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific. She now has a seat at the (dinner) table along- side previous winners and local culinary legends Roy Yamaguchi, Alan Wong and George Mavrothalassitis, who she’s been looking up to and dining at their restau- rants for decades.
and former and current em- ployees — which, she says, added to the already im- mense pressure of winning. But, since it was, in fact, her name that was called out to the room filled with Amer- ica’s top culinary experts, it was all the sweeter that she was surrounded by her favorite people.
comes with a lot of respon- sibility as well. There are lots of emotions.”
“I remember thinking to myself, ‘This is so fancy and so delicious!’” says Mai‘i cheerfully. “I re- member the first time I ate at Alan Wong’s and (Chef) Mavro’s, too. Then, having gone to culinary school at Kapi‘olani (Community College), hearing about them and just knowing that they really are the defini- tion of Hawai‘i regional cuisine.”
Besides being one of very few Hawai‘i chefs to win this award (the last one was Mavrothalassitis in 2003), Mai‘i is also the first Native Hawaiian female to be named.
Well, now, Mai‘i can
the country accompanied her — including Bussler, her parents and siblings,
SEE PAGE 5
The award ceremony took place in the Windy City last month and, although some time has passed, Mai‘i is still reeling from that day. Her word of choice to de-
Fête owner/chef Robynne Mai‘i (left), who recently won a James Beard Award, had her chef de cuisine and kitchen companion Emily Iguchi beside her at the Chicago ceremony. PHOTO COURTESY FÊTE
scribe how she feels about it all is “surreal,” and with too many “pinch me” moments to count, her arm will soon have a red mark that mimics
“I think the first emotion was disbelief,” says Mai‘i about her reaction to win- ning. “It all happened so fast and then I realized that my husband and our chef de cuisine Emily were scream- ing.
“You work so hard and you know that you’ re do- ing good work because the restaurant is open, and peo- ple are coming to eat ... and your mom and friends tell you you’ re doing a good job. But it’s something dif- ferent when a body that’s outside of your immediate community recognizes the hard work,” shares Mai‘i. “We want to continue do- ing the good work, but I
a stove burn.
Loved ones from all over
“I’m still processing what this actually means,” she continues, “because I do know that it is a broader recognition of what we’ re doing. I understand that