Culinary treats at Maui college
By Christie Wilson
Neighbor Island Editor
KAHULUI, Maui — The campus cafeteria has been redefined at Maui Community College with the opening of the $17 million Pa'ina Culinary Arts Center, featuring a food court and a separate dining room with an exhibition kitchen similar to those found at some of Hawai'i's best restaurants.
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Lunch at the six outlets in the food court recently included smoked pork with guava sauce from World Plate for $6.50, salad nicoise with seared mahi at Farm to Plate for the same price, an Asian steak sandwich from Paniolo Grill for $6, and a California sushi roll plate for $4 at Raw Fish Camp.
Maui Community College's $17 million Pa'ina Culinary Arts Center has a food court offering such fare as salad nicoise with seared mahi and liliko'i cheesecake with raspberries.
For dessert, the choices included a saucer-sized chocolate-chip cookie from The Patisserie or a slice of liliko'i cheesecake with raspberries from the self-serve deli case.
Student Tracie Simonds, 20, of Kahului, said she eats at the food court every day. "I love chef Darryl (Dela Cruz)'s caesar salad. It's the best caesar salad you will ever taste," she said.
Preparing and serving up the dishes at the Pa'ina food court are students in MCC's two-year culinary arts program. The program has 120 students and is one of the most popular at the college. Enrollment is expected to climb to 300 in the next few years, said Chancellor Clyde Sakamoto.
The Pa'ina center — which takes its name from the Hawaiian word for meal — is the latest in a series of new facilities to open on the MCC campus in the past eight years. They include the Ka'a'ike Technology Center, with teleconference rooms and a digital production studio, and the Ka Lama building for business classes and a computer lab.
The new culinary arts building "permits the college to meet the needs of the premier resorts and restaurants on the island with the kind of quality facility and programs that will produce quality employees for this critical industry ... " Sakamoto said.
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The Pa'ina building houses nine kitchen facilities that include a bakery and pastry kitchen, a banquet kitchen, a kitchen lab for students to practice their skills, and a temperature- and humidity-controlled confisserie where the art of creating chocolate centerpieces, truffles and fine desserts is taught.
MCC students Nicole Koga and Wes Espiritu prepare a California roll sushi plate for lunch at the food court. Students of the culinary arts also learn how to serve food.
In a computer classroom, students use special food-service software to design menus and do recipe costing and nutritional analysis.
Along with classes for MCC students, the culinary arts center has hosted training sessions conducted by visiting international chefs for kitchen staff from the island's resorts.
The food court, open for lunch weekdays, has seating capacity for 375 and a stage for cooking demonstrations and entertainment. The second-floor, 120-seat Class Act restaurant, which provides fine dining and a view of Kahului Harbor, is open for lunch Wednesdays and Fridays only. A separate dining room is available for smaller groups.
Located on the edge of campus with ample free parking, the Pa'ina Culinary Arts Center is easily accessible to the public. The college hopes to attract outside groups seeking catering and dining facilities for special events.
Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.
