My connection to Hawaii is deeply personal and spans back to my grandparents' migrating to Hawaii from the Philippines before and after World War II. Growing up, I spent nearly every summer with my grandparents in Hawaii. It was there I got my start in cooking by shadowing my grandparents in the kitchen. Under their wing, I learned to make traditional Filipino dishes from my grandparents’ provinces. During these summers I also developed tastes for local Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Native Hawaiian dishes from laulau, chicken katsu, to meat jhun, and to cold ginger chicken (just to name a few). I’ve spent my life making and personalizing these dishes, at first to eat, and then as the years went by, to share. For this meal, we will dive into the rich history of Hawaiian-style cuisine. From 1852 to the present, Hawaii has encountered four major waves of immigration - each wave bringing new dishes and culinary influences to the islands. As sugar plantations imported labor across the Pacific from China, Japan, Korea, and The Philippines with the intent to diversify and divide plantation laborers, cultures converged. Hawaiian Pidgin (a creole language made up of Hawaiian, Japanese, English, Portuguese, and Cantonese) developed between laborers and new food emerged on the Hawaiian culinary landscape. With this special pop-up series, we invite you to continue a tradition of sharing culture and memories at the dinner table. Please join us for a sentimental meal, libations, and great company. *If any special access is needed, please contact us in advance at (510) 755-5055 or [email protected].