An Inside Look at Koloa Landing Resort’s Kauai Poke Fest

Celebrated Hawaiian chef Sam Choy — known to many as the “godfather of poke” — has a straightforward rule for mixing up the beloved Hawaiian dish. 

“The thing about making poke: You cannot do poke when you’re mad,” Choy told me with a bright smile. “You’ve gotta do this because it’s coming from your heart.” 

Often credited with first introducing poke (pronounced “poh-KAY”) to the U.S. Mainland, Choy recently teamed up with Koloa Landing Resort at Poipu, an Autograph Collection Hotel on Kauai’s south shore with more than 300 rooms, to host the second annual Kauai Poke Fest over Memorial Day weekend.  

The thing about making poke: You cannot do poke when you’re mad. “You’ve gotta do this because it’s coming from your heart.

Poke Fest 2022

Featuring unique poke dishes dreamt up by 20 Kauai chefs, this year’s festival attracted 450 attendees, who were treated to all the poke they could eat (500 pounds of it, in fact), live music, a traditional hula performance by the winners of the 2022 Merrie Monarch Festival and a crowd-pleasing poke-making demonstration by Choy.

The event was also headlined by a fierce “best poke” competition, judged by a collection of Hawaii celebrities and media members, who awarded chef Shaun Kawamura from Hanapepe restaurant Zensai Kauai Style the first-place trophy for his Unagi Poke Crunch dish. Kawamura won a six-night stay in one of Koloa Landing’s two-bedroom villas, along with $1,000 and the addition of his contest-winning poke to the menu at Holoholo Grill, Koloa Landing’s restaurant.

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Traditionally made with cubed, raw ahi (tuna) and mixed with sea salt, seaweed and crushed kukui nuts, poke has become popular across the globe in recent years. Creative chefs have been pushing the dish’s boundaries for a long time in Hawaii with an innovative array of ingredients, though some of the islands’ most delicious poke can still be found at local grocery stores.  

Shortly before heading on stage for his demonstration, Choy told me that the Kauai Poke Fest is a terrific way for visitors to not only enjoy an authentic sampling of one of Hawaii’s most popular culinary traditions, but also to rub shoulders with locals and soak in the feel of a genuinely Kauai event.

“Visitors come to go to Waikiki or go to a luau, and I think that’s not bad, but this poke contest is a true way of being honest to people that come here, giving them a true taste of Hawaii,” Choy said. “And I just feel like this event here is going to have legs. It’s going to be bigger.” 

Choy and Koloa Landing hosted the first Kauai Poke Fest in 2019, attracting about 200 attendees, according to Andy Evers, the resort’s general manager. Put on hold during the worst of the pandemic, the event this year featured a mix of 70% locals and 30% visitors, Evers said, noting that the festival's 20 open slots for the best poke contest “filled up really fast.”

“We probably had 50 people who wanted to do it,” Evers said. “All the different restaurants and chefs on the island, they’re really proud of the food they make, so it was an opportunity for them to show off their skills.”

Next Year’s Fest Is Underway as Business Booms on Kauai 

Evers agrees with Choy that the Kauai Poke Fest offers vacationers an especially authentic Hawaii experience. He said his team marketed this year’s event via email to guests already booked at Koloa Landing over Memorial Day. But, according to Evers, the resort intends to expand its event marketing efforts for next year, connecting sooner with more U.S. travelers who might like the idea of scheduling a vacation that also allows them to attend Kauai Poke Fest 2023.

Evers also noted that business at his property has been terrific thus far in 2022, outpacing 2019 significantly.

“We’re seeing record-breaking revenues every month, not only in room revenue but in food and beverage revenue, as well,” he said, explaining that the resort is a particularly good fit for families thanks to its studio and multibedroom units that all feature kitchens and washer/dryers.

Because there has so much pent-up demand for travel to Hawaii, Koloa Landing has seen an unbelievable amount of business since last May, Evers said. 

“It’s really been gangbusters for the last 12 months,” he said.

Evers added that Kauai has been especially busy recently, and he feels the island is benefiting from ongoing closures and testing challenges at several international destinations, along with the pandemic-related shift in what U.S. travelers now seek from a vacation. 

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He believes Kauai is appealing because it’s a tropical island with many activity offerings, and it’s less crowded than Oahu or Maui. 

“From a COVID-19 standpoint, people feel a little bit safer,” he said.