Tag: Tattoo

Culinary Ink: Collin Darrell

Collin Darrell was only nine years old when he started washing dishes at a local farmer’s market in Philadelphia. (He wanted a new bicycle and wound up making enough money to buy two cars.) From there, he got a job working at a pizza shop— first as a dishwasher, then a pizza maker— and then opened a coffee kiosk at a train station. And he was still in high school. “I think what it did was show me the possibilities,” says Darrell, now 31 and creative director of Grow Culture, a Kaua‘i-based company that links chefs and farmers through innovative events. “I knew the experience was what you made of it.” It wasn’t until he was attending The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College and running a promotion company that he got interested in wine. He took a wine class taught by a passionate master sommelier, then worked for veteran sommelier Michael McCauley at Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse in Philadelphia. “I had this incredibly door-opening experience,” he says. After a stint at James on 8th, he took a job as general manager and sommelier at the now-defunct Cassis by Chef Mavro in downtown Honolulu, learning from Mavrothalassitis about the art of food and beverage pairing. He continues to do this with the pop-up dinners he organizes on Kaua‘i. “The synergy between food and beverages at restaurants are few and far between,” he says. “I really believe in this.”

What is your tattoo?

Darrell has a full sleeve on his right arm of various corkscrews and leaves of Nebbiolo, a red Italian grape variety predominated associated with the Piedmont region.

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When did you get it?

He got his first tattoo in 2010 and continues to add to it. He estimates he’s spent at least 25 hours in the chair already.

What was the inspiration?

Darrell chose Nebbiolo grapes because he appreciated the fact that they were so region-specific. “That sense of place was important to me,” he says. And he picked corkscrews because it represented his love for wine and food pairings and it was a symbol of a technological advancement in the industry that’s around now but may not be later. “Plus, they’re beautiful, mechanical devices,” he says. “I wanted something that shows more artisanship and personality. It’s a tool of my trade, the way chefs have knives. It’s the kind of thing you keep in your pocket all the time. It’s really my tool.”

Culinary Ink: Ed Morita

Ed Morita’s career path wasn’t fondant smooth. After graduating from the culinary program at Kapi‘olani Community College 10 years ago, he spent several years working as a pastry chef on the Mainland before returning home in 2007. He did some consulting work before landing a pastry chef position at Longhi’s Restaurant at Ala Moana Center. Then, two years into it, he crushed his right hand in one of the machines. That injury nearly ended his culinary career. But a year ago— after years of rehab, physical therapy and a lot of surgeries— he was named pastry chef at the newly opened Highway Inn in Kaka‘ako. Despite some limitations — he suffered nerve damage— Morita, now 36, has been able to juggle both baking and blogging. And his life has never been better.

What is your tattoo?

On Morita’s inner right forearm are the words, “Match Tough.” Beneath it is the kanji character for “sacrifice.”

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When did you get it?

Morita got “Match Tough” in 2001. He had just moved to West Virginia to work at The Greenbriar.

What was the inspiration?

Morita wanted to remember what his mentor, Ernst Hiltbrand, had told him back when he was one of his apprentices at KCC. He told Morita that since he was such a talented baker, he wouldn’t be allowed to bake bread in that first year. “He wanted to make me, ‘match tough,’ which meant a pastry chef doesn’t just bake bread or decorate cakes,” Morita explains. “He had to do everything in the kitchen.”

Culinary Ink: Jeff Scheer

Jeff Scheer moved to Maui 10 years ago after seeing a video his cousin put together of his three years living on the island. “I watched it and said to myself, ‘That looks insane. I gotta check that out,’” he says. “So I got on a plane and was here. I didn’t know anybody, I didn’t know how long I was going to stay, I just came and never left.” A couple of years after moving, Scheer, 33, started Maui Executive Catering, utilizing the fresh ingredients grown on Maui.

What is your tattoo?

He has an artichoke on his left forearm and a lilikoi vine right above it, snaking up his arm, across part of his chest, over his shoulder and down his back.

 

When did you get it?

Scheer got the artichoke tattoo two years ago and the lilikoi vine six months ago, both done at Pāʻia Tattoo Parlor.

What was the inspiration?

Growing up in Athens, Ohio, Scheer ate artichokes at every special occasion. His grandmother liked to serve it simply steamed with a homemade hollandaise sauce. “It reminds me of something we always had at the dinner table growing up,” he says. “It was always a race to get to the heart!” For his catering business, he works with two farms, both in upcountry Maui about 3,500 feet above sea level, which grow artichokes. “When you’re on the farm, surrounded by artichokes, it fills you with this sort of peacefulness and all your stress goes away,” he says. “There is no noise except for the bees buzzing, and the views are amazing.” He added the lilikoi vine six months ago because he loves its beauty and flavor. “The flavor is so unbelievably intense,” he says. “And when balanced with sweet and spicy things, the opportunities are endless.”

Culinary Ink: Ed Kenney


Ed Kenney’s culinary philosophy is written all over his body — literally. On his left bicep is a small, black snail — the logo for the Slow Food movement. And on his forearm is an old sailor-style tattoo of a taro plant with a banner across it that reads, “Aloha ʻĀina.” Both represent the kind of food Kenney, chef/owner of town and Kaimukī Superette, strives to prepare and serve in his kitchens. “‘Aloha ʻĀina’ is love of the land,” says Kenney, 46. “Or, another way to look at it, the love of that which provides us food.”

What is your tattoo?

On his left bicep is a small, black snail, the logo on the back cover of the influential 2007 book, “Slow Food Nation,” by Carlo Petrini. (The actual movement started back in the ‘80s.)

When did you get it?

Kenney got this tattoo six years ago by close friend Gemma Hazen, now his bookkeeper and director of special projects. They were in culinary school together at Kapi‘olani Community College and opened town together. (He was the chef/owner, she was the morning barista.)

What was the inspiration?

In a nutshell, Slow Food is a global movement founded to counter the rise of fast food, promoting, instead, traditional and regional cuisines and a stronger commitment to the community and environment. This resonates with the way Kenney, who served as the Hawai‘i delegate to the movement’s international conference in 2006, cooks his food and runs his restaurants. (His mantra has long been, “Local first, organic whenever possible, with aloha always.”) “It’s really about reconnecting people to the food they eat and those they eat with,” Kenney says. “It’s about promoting good, clean and fair food. It’s the same thing we have in Hawaiian — ‘ai pono. That’s what it means to me.”

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