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Will this local café be named the best farm-to-table in the U.S.? How to vote
HONOLULU (KHON2) — On a breezy stretch of Kamehameha Highway on Oʻahu's North Shore, just past shrimp trucks and crashing waves, sits Kahuku Farms. It's a fourth-generation family operation that's getting national attention.
The farm's café, already beloved by locals and visitors alike, has just been nominated in Newsweek's Readers' Choice competition for Best Farm-to-Table Restaurant in the United States.
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'Farm to table is a huge buzzword these days,' said Judah Lum, director of operations for Kahuku Farms. 'And we can say that our farm café truly is a farm to table experience where we offer fresh ingredients straight from our fields and neighboring farms.'
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Kahuku Farms is the result of more than 100 years of agricultural heritage. The Matsuda and Fukuyama families, who immigrated from Japan to work Hawaiʻi's sugar plantations in the early 1900s, eventually began growing their own crops.
Clyde Fukuyama and Melvin Matsuda were childhood friends who decided to merge their farms in the 1980s. Their handshake deal created Matsuda-Fukuyama Farms, the parent company behind today's 140-acre operation.
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Now, a new generation leads the way.
'When they started farming together over 40 years ago, Clyde and Melvin never dreamed that someday their tractors would be pulling wagons full of people instead of watermelons,' said Kylie Matsuda-Lum, managing director for Kahuku Farms. 'I feel honored and grateful to perpetuate our family's future in farming. To share our generations of knowledge and history with others, in this amazing place that I've known as home, is a dream I'm passionate to live.'
What sets Kahuku Farms apart isn't just the fresh produce. It's how that produce is transformed into unforgettable dishes at the farm café.'We're known for our farm fresh smoothies, our paninis, our pizza and our grilled banana bread,' Lum said.
The farm pizza, for example, is a favorite. 'It's got our farm-raised eggplant that's roasted and it's covered with our macadamia nut pesto,' Lum said. 'People love it. It also comes with our side salad which is covered with our little balsamic vinaigrette.'
The grilled banana bread is another standout. 'We put about two and a half to three pounds of bananas in every banana loaf,' Lum said. 'We grill it in butter, serve it hot, and it's covered with our vanilla bean caramel and our vanilla bean coconut sauce.'
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Kahuku Farms is also home to Hawaiʻi's first locally grown açaí. 'We planted our first açaí trees back in 2008, and we waited a long eight years to get our first harvest,' said Matsudo-Lum.
And don't leave without trying the butter mochi. 'We add our handmade lilikoʻi butter right to the batter; and then, we top it off with a dollop of our tangy lilikoʻi right on top,' Matsudo-Lum said. 'It's actually a first come, first serve item; so, we usually sell out pretty quick.'
1. Check the hours before you go: Kahuku Farms is open five days a week from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. They're closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It's a good idea to check their website before heading out, especially on holidays or during special events.
2. Leave the outside food at home: Guests are welcome to picnic on the lawn, but Kahuku Farms asks visitors not to bring in outside food. The café's menu is full of fresh, farm-grown options that suit most diets that include dairy-free smoothies and vegetarian dishes.
3. Order ahead if you can: Online ordering is available through the farm's website. With long lines and popular menu items like butter mochi that often sell out, ordering ahead can save you time and disappointment.
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4. Yes, you can bring your dog: Pets are welcome at Kahuku Farms, and the team has even developed a dog-friendly menu.
'We rescued quite a bit, and we actually do have a doggy menu as well as doggy treats,' Lum said. 'We're trying to create a pet friendly line of gifts that you can buy from our farm.'
5. Be ready for an authentic experience: 'When you do have an authentic farm to table experience, it requires a lot of hands working together. So, yeah, it starts in the field,' Lum said. 'Then, it goes back to our back kitchen where we process everything. And then it's finished up here where the public can enjoy it.'
6. The food is handmade in small batches: 'One thing that drives us crazy and keeps us really busy is that we make everything in small batches by hand,' Lum said. 'It's what our brand stands for.'
7. Don't miss the cocoa and chocolate: Kahuku Farms grows, processes and serves its own chocolate.
'We're doing an artisan beer process,' Lum said. 'We do hand fermenting here. We also do slow drying. I do believe it does create a very special flavor that our finished product has that is unlike a lot of others.'
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The café's Cocoa House features chocolate milk, espresso drinks with chocolate and a variety of gift items made from farm-grown cacao.
8. A growing future: Matsuda-Fukuyama Farms still supplies supermarkets with papaya, apple banana, long eggplant and luʻau leaf. But Kahuku Farms has become something much more and is quickly becoming an example of what's possible when generations stay rooted in the land and open their gates to share it.
'Our mission is to connect people to healthy, local food and the land that it grows on,' Lum said.
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So, be sure to vote for this local cafe that is showing the world how to be sustainable while also creating ono yumminess.
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