Sam Choy Sr. is an American chef,

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

, and

television personality Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

known as a founding contributor of

Pacific Rim cuisine The cuisine of Hawaii incorporates five distinct styles of food, reflecting the diverse food history of settlement and immigration in the Hawaiian Islands. In the pre-contact period of Ancient Hawaii (300 AD-1778), Polynesian voyagers brough ...

Biography

Choy is the son of a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...

father, Hung Sam Choy, and a German–Hawaiian mother, Clairemoana. He grew up in Laie,

Oahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O� ...

. Choy is an alumnus of the Kapiolani Community College's Culinary Arts program. One of his first jobs as a chef was at

The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schultze ...

in New York City. He would then return to Hawaii, where he eventually opened a chain of restaurants. Choy helped develop and popularize

Hawaii regional cuisine The cuisine of Hawaii incorporates five distinct styles of food, reflecting the diverse food history of settlement and immigration in the Hawaiian Islands. In the pre-contact period of Ancient Hawaii (300 AD-1778), Polynesian voyagers brough ...

. In 1991, Choy founded the Poke Festival and Recipe Contest. In 2004, Choy was awarded the James Beard Foundation's America's Classics Award for ''Sam Choy's Kaloko'' in

Kailua-Kona Kailua-Kona is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. It is also known as Kailua (a name it shares with a community located on the windward side of Oahu), as Kona (a name it share ...

, on the Big Island of Hawaii. The award recognizes "beloved regional restaurants" that reflect the character of their communities. Choy has appeared in several

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

programs, including '' Ready.. Set... Cook!'', '' Chopped''’s first Grill Master Tournament, and ''

Iron Chef America ''Iron Chef America'' is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's ''Iron Chef'', and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed ''Iron Chef USA'' that aired in 2001. The show is produced by Food Network, whi ...

''. He is good friends with

Emeril Lagasse Emeril John Lagassé III ( ; born October 15, 1959) is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, television personality, cookbook author, and National Best Recipe award winner for his "Turkey and Hot Sausage Chili" recipe in 2003. He is a regio ...

, who has appeared on Choy's TV show ''Sam Choy's Kitchen'' on

KHNL KHNL (channel 13) is a television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of NBC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside CBS affiliate KGMB (channel 5) and Kailua-Kona–licensed Telemundo aff ...

. Lagasse has also mentioned Choy by name several times in his television shows; one of those times he was making Poke on his live TV show, and added peanut butter to the Poke- Choy's "secret ingredient". In 2015, Choy broadcast a series on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

, ''Sam Choy In The Kitchen''. Choy has designed Hawaiian-inspired dishes for

American Airlines American Airlines is a major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passenge ...

’ first class passengers to and from Hawaii.

Personal life

He is married to Carol, with whom he has two sons, Sam Jr. and Christopher. Choy lives in

Kona District, Hawaii Kona is a ''moku'' or district on the Big Island of Hawaii in the State of Hawaii, known for its Kona coffee and the location of the Ironman World Championship Triathlon. In the current system of administration of Hawaii County, the ''moku'' ...

Publications

* Sam Choy (1995). "With Sam Choy: Cooking from the Heart" * Sam Choy (1999). "The Choy of Seafood" * Sam Choy, U'I Goldsberry, & Steven Goldsberry (1999). "Sam Choy's Island Flavors" * Sam Choy and Catherine Enomoto (2000). "Sam Choy's Cooking: Island Cuisine at Its Best" * Sam Choy (2001). "Sam Choy Woks the Wok: Stir Fry Cooking at Its Island Best" * Sam Choy (2001). "Sam Choy's Cooking with Kids" * Sam Choy (2000). "Sam Choy's Sampler: Hawaii's Favorite Recipes" * Sam Choy (2002). "Sam Choy's Polynesian Kitchen: More Than 150 Authentic Dishes from One of the World's Most Delicious and Overlooked Cuisine" * Sam Choy (2002). "Sam Choy's visits Mr. Burkott and his farm in Hawaii" * Sam Choy (2003). "Sam Choy's Little Hawaiian Cookbook for Big Appetites" * Sam Choy, Lynn Cook, and Douglas Peebles (2003). "A Hawaiian Luau with Sam Choy and The Makaha Sons" * Sam Choy and Elizabeth Meahl. (2004). "Sam Choy's A Little Hawaiian Poke Cookbook" * Sam Choy (2006). "Aloha Cuisine" * Sam Choy (2009). "Poke"

Restaurants

* Created Huki Lau Cafe (no longer owned by Choy, Laie, O'ahu, Hawaii) * Sam Choy's Breakfast, Lunch, and Crab (Closed in 2013) * Sam Choy's (

Tumon Bay Tumon Bay is a bay in the United States territory of Guam, opening to the Philippine Sea. It is bounded to the north by Two Lovers Point and to the south by Ypao Point. The entirety of the bay falls within the Tumon Bay Marine Preserve, also known ...

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic ce ...

) * Sam Choy's Kai Lanai ( Big Island, Hawaii) * Sam Choy's Seafood Style Island Grille (Pearl Harbor, O'ahu, Hawaii) * Sam Choy's Kahului (Queen Kaahumanu Center, Kahului, Maui - Closed) * Sam Choy's Lahaina (Front Street - Closed) * Sam Choy's Poke to the Max (Seattle & Tacoma, Washington) * Pier Nine by Sam Choy (HPU Campus, O'ahu, Hawaii) * Holoholo Grill (Kauai at Koloa Landing Hotel) * Sam Choy’s Ohana Diner (Bowl Incline, Incline Village, Nevada) * Sam Choy's Kaloko ( Kaloko, Hawaii - Closed)

References

External links