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Kuleana Rum Works in the news
Kuleana Rum Shack: Sharing Love of Culture in Every Bite
The Queens’ MarketPlace in Wailkoloa just got a little tastier this year with the opening of Kuleana Rum Shack. Serving up fresh island dishes and handcrafted cocktails, the Rum Shack features authentic yet creative cuisine inspired by the melting pot of Hawaiian cultures.
Keola Valdez is executive chef for the Rum Shack and explains how the menu is a cultural collaboration among the restaurant’s talented culinary artists.
“We are serving local cuisine, which is everything from Japanese, to Hawaiian, to Korean, and some Puerto Rican,” said Valdez. “It’s not just Hawaiian food. It’s all our cultural food that we have in Hawaii. We’ve taken our own comfort food and created something even more special.”
Valdez explains the vision of the restaurant is to recreate the comfort food many locals experienced growing up in Hawaii. He is proud of the fact his chefs have gone through culinary school and are now creating the dishes they had as children-the food they watched their mothers, aunties and uncles make.
Hemispheres Magazine – The Drink
West Hawaii Today: Sugar cane and rum in Hawaii — Back to the future
There’s a unique new business venture that reaches back to the past and reworks it for the future that has taken shape in Kohala recently.
It’s something that honors the unique sense of place that is Hawaii, marries that to emerging trends in the craft beverage industry, and puts a smart value-added spin on a local agricultural resource.
