[From an April 2017 press release, story and photo by Mike Foley]
The Polynesian Cultural Center, co-hosting with its Polynesian Football Hall of Fame partner, is sending PCC Pounders Restaurant executive chef Felix Tai to prepare an upscale luau event for 200–300 invited guests during the National Football League draft, which starts on April 27 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Several years ago the handsome young Indian-Chinese chef originally from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, started focusing his unique familiarity with Asian and local Hawaiian foods on Pounders Restaurant in PCC’s new Hukilau Marketplace.
Tai’s experience with cooking goes back to his mother’s kitchen, and his love of Hawaii food started in PCC’s Samoan Village, where he first had to…
…prove he could climb a coconut tree to get the job.
Tai recalls being interested in cooking at age six, even though at first his mother required him to observe from outside, and “never allowed me in her kitchen. She was a very clean and organized person, over the top, who would tell me to sit down and watch instead of helping her out.”
From this, he said he learned “mise en place before I went to culinary school” — a French term chefs use to describe having everything prepared and in the right place before starting to cook.
“On top of that, everything at home came fresh. Almost every night and day there was a farmers market nearby. Everything was available, good, and cheap. We would pick our products, and go home and cook. Later, I would cook for my parents and friends, and I would host parties.”
During this period Tai also graduated from the Flamingo International College culinary school in Kuala Lumpur and earned a certificate from the U.S. National Restaurant Association.
Later, when he enrolled at BYU–Hawaii, Tai said it was his love of interacting with people and cooking that led him to seek a job in the Polynesian Cultural Center’s Samoan Village, “where the men do the cooking. I really loved it,” he said, “and one fine day I hope to go to Samoa.”
During his student years at the PCC, he said guests would hire him as a personal chef, and he also met his future wife, a tourist from Arizona. Soon after they got married in her home state, the young couple moved to Park City, Utah, where he continued to work as a personal chef “to many movie stars and other well-known people” (With whom he signed agreements not to reveal their names).
“I also did a lot of major events, taught cooking classes, and eventually worked as the overnight and breakfast chef in three-Michelin-star chef Jean-George’s restaurant in the St. Regis Hotel at Deer Valley, Utah.”
The appeal of living in Hawaii eventually brought the young Tai family back to Laie where he operated a food truck at BYU–Hawaii and did a brunch demo at Pounders Restaurant. When Pounders needed a new executive chef about two years ago, he accepted the offer.
It’s a good fit for Tai and Pounders, which is named after a popular, nearby bodysurfing beach.
“People tell me we should bottle the smoked marlin dip [that goes with the fresh-made taro chips appetizer] I pushed out, and our special salad dressing, too. I’m trying to pull in new flavors,” Tai said, “and I’m working with local farmers and auctions to bring in fresh, local ingredients and seafood. That’s how I maintain quality.”
“I really want to make Pounders into the restaurant that locals will be proud to say this is theirs. Yes, we’re at the Polynesian Cultural Center, and this is the place I want locals to call home, and when you come home, you get to eat good food.”
In the meantime, Chef Tai was featured in a March 2017 Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Dining Out section article, and he recently flew to New York City to tape a cooking segment on a popular network, which will air in May.
Now he’s thinking about the upcoming luau event during the NFL draft. “I’m very excited for this opportunity,” he said, “where we’ll showcase luau-themed food, but it will be in an elevated presentation.” He said he will also make several other East Coast appearances after the NFL luau.
Meanwhile, unless you’re expecting to get drafted by the NFL, you can still enjoy Chef Tai’s Hawaii-style creations at Pounders Restaurant in the Polynesian Cultural Center Hukilau Marketplace.
In addition to the current menu, he plans to push out several new menu items in May, “using local flavors with local flair. For example, I’m looking at doing an open-faced manapua [pork roll] sandwich,” he said.
“Pounders is a great restaurant to showcase our food to people coming to Hawaii from around the world and help them understand what Hawaii-style food is all about in a familiar presentation.”
“Being back at PCC makes me feel like I’ve come home,” Tai said. “I created friendships here, and we’re still friends. I experienced the aloha spirit, giving and receiving it; and now I’m proud to say I’m giving aloha spirit through my food.”
