Andrew Pressler is a Hawai’i based chef specializing in Southeast Asian cuisine. Having been raised in a military family, Chef Pressler had the opportunity to live overseas and travel extensively at a young age. These childhood experiences, as well as his family’s love of global cuisines, sparked Pressler’s interest in Southeast Asian cuisine. After attending The Culinary Institute of America, Chef Pressler spent eleven years honing his craft in the hyper-competitive restaurant scene of New York City. Taking advantage of opportunities to work with acclaimed Chefs like Patricia Yeo, James Beard award winner Zack Pelaccio, and Michelin starred chefs like Laurent Tourondel and Christian Delouvrier, Chef Pressler developed a style of cooking with a keen interest in all things Southeast Asian. Pressler moved to Hawai’i in 2014 and opened a French-Latin restaurant called Grondin. Since leaving Grondin, Chef Pressler has returned to his passion for Southeast Asian cuisine through a pop-up, Indomalaya, primarily focusing on the closely related cuisines of Indonesia and Malaysia.

Born and raised in Honolulu, Michelle Karr-Ueoka graduated from Punahou School. Michelle’s passion for cooking was ignited after an externship at Alan Wong’s. Michelle then went on to further her training at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. After interning at Thomas Keller’s Per Se, Michelle realized she wanted to be a pastry chef. In 2012, working as a pastry chef, she received the Rising Star Chef Award from StarChefs.com. In 2013, Michelle and her husband, Chef Wade Ueoka, opened their first joint venture, MW Restaurant,in Honolulu. The restaurant specializes in Hawaiian Regional Cuisine. Both have traveled around the world and have taken inspiration from their travels. However, neither have found any place more compelling than the melting pot of Hawaii and its exotic local bounty. In 2018, Michelle and Wade, along with Mina Group and SalesForce, opened Trailblazer Tavernin San Francisco’s Financial District.

Born & raised on O‘ahu in the district of Ko‘olauloa and the ‘ahupua‘a of Ka’a’awa, Kealoha Domingo is a multi-generational Hawaiian practitioner with a genuine love for food. As the chef and owner of his catering company, Nui Kealoha, and an active member of the Hawaiian community, he revels in feeding the multitudes with a foundation of traditional Hawaiian values. Kealoha honors the spiritual connection to the ‘āina (land), kānaka (humankind), and mea‘ai (food), adding a touch of contemporary style to his cooking. Kealoha is a co-producer at a new Hawai‘i establishment called Ka Waiwai Collective and has partaken in the Hawai‘i Food and Wine Festival since the festival’s inception.

Mark Noguchi was born and raised in Mānoa Valley and spent his early 20’s dancing with Hālau o Kekuhi in Hilo. He credits his hālau for fostering his deep respect for his home and the land. Noguchi is a graduate of The Culinary Institute of The Pacific and The Culinary Institute of America. “Gooch,” as his peers and friends call him, has worked with Town Restaurant and Chef Mavro. He is the former co-owner & chef of He’eia Kea Pier General Store & Deli, where his dedication towards sourcing product from within an ahupua’a (traditional Hawaiian land division) garnered international attention.Chef Gooch then went on to form the Pili Groupwith his wife, Amanda Corby Noguchi. He now serves as a featured chef for Hawaiian Airlines’ First Class menu. Gooch was also a founding partner and resident Chef ofTaste Table,a pop-up project that revitalized the food scene in Kaka’ako from 2012 to 2014. He can be seen on the Cooking Channel’s Unique Eats as a commentator and on CNN’s Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown Hawai‘i special.

Chef Ray German was born and raised in Southern California. Fresh out of high school, he aspired to be an artist and enrolled in a local college, but the need to find a job led him into an entry kitchen position as a dishwasher at the Four Seasons Hotel Aviara in San Diego. Little did he know, it was the beginning of a 17 year career with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, working his way up the kitchen ranks and perfecting his skills as a chef. In 2016, Chef Ray made his way back to the islands as the Executive Chef of Fish House at the Four Seasons Resort Oahu at Ko’olina. An increasing desire to connect his cuisine to his heritage led him to leave the corporate kitchen and expand his knowledge of his Mexican roots through the culinary arts. Through several apprenticeships in Oaxaca, Mexico, including one with the noteable Chef Alejandro Ruiz of Casa Oaxaca, Ray returned to Hawaii with a deeper appreciation and knowledge of his native cuisine. He founded Masa in 2018, Hawaii’s first tortilleria utilizing the technique of nixtamalization. Made with heirloom corn sourced from small farmers through rural Mexico, Ray is dedicated to bringing the highest quality of corn masa and tortillas to Hawaii, driven with a deeper mission to play a part in preserving the biodiversity of heirloom corn.