Cooking up collaboration: Hawaiʻi Island Chef Challenge marks 5 delicious years

2025 winners: Chef Ippy Aiona with students Amelia Klunk and Arithat Ruangchai.

Hawaii Island Chef Challenge professional chefs for 2025.

Event producer Pomaika'i Bartolome with Judges — chef Sam Choy and chef Willie Garcia.

Chef Sam Choy checks in on a student contestant.

Chef Casey Halpern's (Cafe Pesto) team won second place at this year's event.

Chef Zane Monteleone (Hana Hou Restaurant) joined the competition for the second year in a row.

Amelia Klunk credits their win to the team's ability to work together and overcome challenges.

Chef George Gomes Jr. (King Kamehameha Kona Beach Resort) works on a dessert with his team.

Chef Simon Farrington (Hilo Yacht Club) brought some East Coast flair to the competition.

The kitchens at Hawaiʻi Community College were sizzling with excitement as 12 culinary students teamed up with professional chefs for the 5th Annual Hawaii Island Chef Challenge on October 24. The fast-paced, mystery-basket competition brought together the island’s food community to celebrate local ingredients, mentorship and creative collaboration.

Six professional chefs volunteered their time to serve as mentors this year: Zane Monteleone (Hana Hou Restaurant), Simon Farrington (Hilo Yacht Club), George Gomes Jr. (King Kamehameha Kona Beach Resort), Phillip “Ippy” Aiona (The Koa Table), Matthew Galindo (Hilo Products, Inc.), and Casey Halpern (Café Pesto). Each chef-student team created a three-course meal—appetizer, entrée and dessert—using locally sourced ingredients revealed just before the clock started.

“Cooking competitions are always difficult because people take them so seriously, and food is so subjective,” said Aiona, who won this year’s challenge with Hawai‘i CC students Amelia Klunk and Arithat Ruangchai. “My goal today was to let the students have as much a hand in it as I did. They hustled, they put their heads down, and it’s their win for sure.”

Becoming great culinarians

Judging the challenge were Chef Sam Choy, the James Beard Award-winning “Godfather of Poke,” and chef Willie “Kanila” Garcia, a Hilo native now sous chef at The Summit Club in Las Vegas. 

“These kinds of events really allow the students to spread their wings,” said Choy. “I think the real magic and the real point of this kind of competition is allowing the students to become great culinarians.”

The event was founded five years ago by Hawaiʻi CC graduate Pomaikaʻi Bartolome, in partnership with Hilo Products, Inc. and Hawaiʻi CC chef instructors Shawn Sumiki and Tori Hiro. 

“By pairing rising chefs with experienced mentors, we create opportunities for growth and connection while celebrating our farmers and food producers,” said Bartolome, director of food and workplace safety at Hilo Products Inc., who serves as the event’s coordinator and producer.

The Hawai‘i Island Chef Challenge was made possible through generous sponsors including Hilo Products Inc., Hilo Fish Company, Hawai‘i CC, SCP Hotel, O.K. Farms, Big Island Candies, KTA Super Stores, Big Island Delights, Kokua Initiative, Meadow Gold Dairies, Hawaiʻi Farming and Kona Fish Company, Inc.