Foodgal newsletter thanks Carolyn Jung

Your weekly enewsletter 09.19.13     Quick Links Home About Food Gal Boutique           Take Five with Chef Sheldon Simeon, On Life Post-"Top Chef''       Chef Sheldon Simeon cooking up garlic noodles. (Photo by Carolyn Jung)     To say that life has changed for Chef Sheldon Simeon would be an understatement.    After placing third in last season's "Top Chef'' competition on Bravo TV and winning over viewers to be named "Fan Favorite,'' business has doubled at his already popular Star Noodle restaurant on Maui. Fans, tourists and locals alike now brave as much as a two-hour wait to get into the out of the way restaurant that serves creative pan-Asian street food such as Vietnamese crepes, and all manner of ramen, soba and saimin noodles - 100 pounds in total hand-made every day on site by one tiny, elderly woman whom Simeon affectionately calls "auntie.''   When I visited Maui in April as a guest of the Maui Visitors and Convention Bureau, I had a chance to sit down with Simeon at Star Noodle, where in between answering questions, he'd graciously accommodate the many diners who wanted to pose for photos with him. The 30-year-old chef, husband and father of three young daughters who was born on the Big Island, chatted about the impact the television show has had on his career that began humbly enough as a restaurant dishwasher.   Q: Why did you want to do "Top Chef''?   A: I could see the opportunity it brings. It's been overwhelming at times, but also a blessing. It was a chance for me to represent Hawaii. I wanted to test myself.   Q: What was the hardest part about doing the show?   A: Every challenge was hard. As a chef, I work alone on a dish. If I'm not satisfied with it, I don't put it out. But on the show, I was like, 'I can't believe I'm serving this to Wolfgang Puck!'  To read the entire interview, click here.     Discover Maui's Bountiful Agriculture and Aquaculture     Snails, grown aquaponically, in a backyard farm. (Photo by Carolyn Jung) Napili FLO Farm If former massage therapist Monica Bogar has her way, Maui restaurants will some day spotlight organic snails on their menus.   After all, there's already a waiting list of restaurants eager for the mollusks she is growing aquaponically in ingenious systems devised by her and her Uncle Tony. I had a chance to visit their homestead on the west side of the island, during my trip to Maui, courtesy of the tourism and conventioner's bureau.   An urban farmer for the past 12 years, Bogar started her Napili FLO Farm a year ago. She now sells her microgreens, edible flowers and watercress to Maui restaurants such as Star Noodle, Hula Grill, and Pineapple Grill, the latter where Isaac Bancaco is chef and a huge supporter of hers.   Pick you way through Uncle Tony's backyard to find a miraculous series of tanks - built from scavenged items, including styrofoam boxes, old fish tanks and a grandson's former wash tub. "We are aquaponics dumpster-divers," Bogar says proudly with a chuckle.   Indeed, it's rather amazing what they've created here with a series of closed, sustainable systems, in which tanks of tilapia sport growing beds on top, with each in a sense feeding one another. Waste from the snails and tilapia, which she and her uncle also raise, fertilize the watercress, strawberries and even tomatoes they grow that are connected to the tanks. Moreover, her microgreens are fed with manure from her rabbits and chickens.   To see more of this unique farm, click here.     For more musings on food, wine, life and laughter, go to foodgal.com.

 

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