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Kady Pascual

Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

’t fish, that doesn’t mean he can’t stop finding ways to provide

Kennymut growing sprouts

<title>Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Can’t take the island out the local boy</title>

Today’s Social Media Find comes from @kennymut, finding new ways to provide for the family.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Can’t take the island out the local boy

Even though the local boy can’t fish, that doesn’t mean he can’t stop finding ways to provide!  Make sure to follow @Kennymut and her husband, @_eliasmcmoore, on Instagram!

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Business & Tourism

Maui locals Taylor and Natasha Ponte both have a culinary background — the husband-and-wife team even met while working in the industry. Now they're hoping to strike gold with 

, a new restaurant set to open this month at The Shops at Wailea.

Aurum — the Latin word for gold — is a culinary brand known for seasonal, chef-driven cuisine in Colorado. This is its first expansion to the Islands. Taylor is chef partner while Natasha is general manager partner.

Aloha State Daily recently spoke with the pair about their new endeavor and how they got here.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Pandemic pivots"}]

Natasha says she and Taylor were working at the Mill House at the Maui Tropical Plantation, where they met — him as the executive chef and her as the sales and events manager — when they were both laid off in 2020, amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

That was the year Taylor was named chef of the year in the 

, she says, "and I just felt like we needed to pivot and do something and we knew we weren't going to get hired at a restaurant or a hotel ... so we had this idea of creating curated experiences for people in their homes."

About a month after their layoffs, the couple launched Kamado, a private chef and catering business and also was doing pop-ups.

It took off and the pair got busy, Natasha says. But they always envisioned getting back into the restaurant industry, Natasha says.

In 2023, they met Phillips Armstrong, the CEO and founder of Destination Hospitality Group, the parent company of Aurum, which has several locations in Colorado, among other dining concepts.

Natasha says they first met him on a Zoom call. At the end of the call, she says he then invited the pair to Colorado to see his restaurants and if they might be interested in partnering with him — and they went.

"Then they came out and we hosted them Maui style and showed our style of hospitality, and then we decided we were going to make the leap," Natasha recalled. "That's how we got involved with Aurum."

They closed their private chef business at the end of March and are now fully focused on Aurum, she said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Maui roots"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Natasha says she and Taylor are both \"very community-based.\""}]

"We focus a lot on overall hospitality, but I think our local Maui community and stimulating that and putting money back into local businesses is a huge part of what we love doing. Being in a restaurant, we're able to do that on a larger scale, as opposed with a private chef. That's such a small blip. For us, it's exciting to not only be able to work with local people, bring jobs to people who were born and raised here, who are living here, but also put money back to local farmers and fishermen and cattle ranchers and things like that."

[{"type":"text","text":"Both Taylor and Natasha hail from Makawao in Upcountry Maui."}]

Taylor, who comes from a part of the community that's "more ranch and agricultural land," says a lot of his early food memories weren't the greatest.

"I had to go to work early just to help out, and some of the best meals that I had, like food memories, usually were related to the ranchers," he told ASD. "The ranchers had fresh beef. They were trading with the fishermen and the farmers, so we had fresh fish and produce from them. Whether I was digging fence posts for them or helping them out with anything on the ranch, those were usually my earliest food memories."

Taylor says, too, that he's always been a dreamer — always imaging having better meals and eating better food, "as opposed to the Campbell's canned mushroom soup over the force-thawed pork chop that was completely cooked in the sink before it even hit the frying pan."

He eventually landed a dishwashing job, something he says was "probably the most stable environment in my life."

Getting into the kitchen gave him structure and the chance to learn new skills.

"I did that for a handful of years and was lucky to land a fine dining job, when I moved to Kīhei, with Alan Wong, and that kind of started my culinary journey."

Working there for a year, Taylor says he earned enough money for his first semester at Maui Culinary Academy. There me met many who helped along the way and finished an externship at Vintage Cave under Chef 

"That gave me the really fine-end finishing touches to becoming a really organized and methodical chef, having a lot of intention in everything I do."

Natasha, meanwhile, grew up in hospitality. Her mom is the general manager and vice president of Mama's Fish House in Paia, she says, and her dad, a design-and-build contractor, builds restaurants and is consulting on the Aurum project.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I've just never known anything else.\""}]

In fact, Natasha says her first job was at Mama's Fish House, where she worked as stocker and food runner. 

She went to college and culinary school in San Diego then worked as a chef for a while in a few restaurants there, before realizing the front of house was more her calling. She ultimately returned to Maui and took the job with The Mill House.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Aurum offerings"}]

Because there's so many flavors, Natasha says they classify Aurum Maui as modern American bistro style.

Taylor says that his cuisine showcases a lot of hallmarks of modern American cuisine, with whole-animal butchery, artisanal bread "and typically the best of everything."

"Because I had such terrible food as a kid, I look at things on a plate and I ask myself how to make it better," he says. "... I really just look at executing the little things well to make an overall great dining experience for people, and give them something maybe they haven't eaten on Maui [while] showcasing the produce here."

[{"type":"text","text":"Some of the offerings are inspired by Taylor's heritage."}]

"There's just lot of hallmarks of our favorite things to eat," he says. "We want people to come and feel like they're eating food that chefs want to cook that's approachable but you don't have to be a scientist to understand what's going on or speak a different language to understand what the techniques are."

Taylor says the cuisine "definitely rides on the back of supporting local produce and local businesses," but there's wiggle room to find other sources.

When ASD spoke with the pair earlier this month, an official opening date for Aurum had yet to be determined, but they were aiming for the end of June.

Natasha says the goal for Aurum Maui is to "really have these community connections, have a place where families and tourist alike can feel like they can come and enjoy in a space that's unique with a fun ambiance. We've got a really fun bar program, tropical cocktails, really intentional food."

Looking ahead, Taylor says he hopes to kick the endeavor off with a "great response from the community."

"I think my largest goals are just to have a place to showcase what we're doing and create a great environment for culinarians as well as all hospitality workers," he says. "I'm very ambitious as far as what I'd like the restaurant to get in awards of cuisine, but I'm working to create the best product I can [out] of what I have and what I'm working with and the team I'm working with. My largest goal is just to make a delicious meal for everyone who comes in, in a beautiful space with great service. Everything else will come if we put all of our blood, sweat and tears in that and to supporting our team to being able to sustain that."

CREDIT Amber Vision Photography Aurum Maui Natasha Ponte and Taylor Ponte

<title>Meet the husband-wife team at Aurum Maui</title>

Natasha and Taylor Ponte are looking to strike gold with the new restaurant venture.

Meet the husband-wife team at Aurum Maui

Lopaka and Tanya Kapanui

Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya Kapanui

Hawaii History

Columnists

At the ‘Ewa end of Waikīkī lies a 22-acre resort with more than 2,800 guest rooms and its own 5-acre lagoon. But before the Hilton Hawaiian Village and surrounding resorts were built, the place was called Kālia.

Streams from Mānoa and Palolo Valleys ran down toward the ocean and joined to create the Pi‘inaio Stream. This stream flowed beneath and through the Waikīkī marshlands, entering the sea at Kālia. This estuary, where freshwater mixed with the salty ocean, created a unique environment that supported a diverse array of life.

The Kālia shore was abundant with marine life and limu of all varieties. Kūpuna have described the once-common practice of walking across the reef to choose lobster, crab, shrimp, or octopus for a quick meal. One could pick ‘oama (young goatfish) by hand from the shallows because the schools of the young fish were so plentiful. As the ‘ama‘ama (striped mullet) made their annual runs across the south shore of O‘ahu, the men of Kālia would swim out in a row, surround the fish, and drive them into a bag net by slapping the water and kicking their feet over the shallow reef.

On the mauka portion of Kālia, there were many loko i‘a (fishponds) and loko i‘a kalo (taro fields used to raise small fish). A complex system of gates unique to Kālia helped manage the many interconnected ponds.

After Western contact and throughout the 1800s, epidemics of smallpox, typhoid, mumps, whooping cough, and influenza devastated the Hawaiian population. In the aftermath, Waikīkī’s once-thriving agricultural system began to change forever.

In the 1920s, in the name of “progress,” the Ala Wai Canal was dredged, and the marshes, the lo‘i kalo, and the loko i‘a were filled in. Waikīkī was on its way to becoming the epicenter of Hawaii’s tourism industry.

After changing hands a few times, the property finally came under the ownership of Henry J. Kaiser, founder of the Kaiser Permanente health system. In 1954, Kaiser purchased the properties along the Kālia shore to build the Hawaiian Village Hotel, consisting of thatched-roof cottages with 70 guest rooms, gardens, and swimming pools. Hilton Hotels & Resorts then purchased the property in 1961.

Since then, the Hilton Hawaiian Village has expanded and added several new towers, including the Rainbow Tower, with its 286-foot-tall ceramic tile mosaic made of more than 16,000 individual tiles.

Over the years, the resort has been a popular choice for celebrities and dignitaries, including Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, and Michael Jackson. However, it has also attracted otherworldly visitors.

The most famous ghost story of the Hilton Hawaiian Village is that of a beautiful but mysterious woman wearing a long red mu‘umu‘u with blue and white print that extended to the ground, covering her feet. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin newspaper printed this story in 1959.

One afternoon, a housekeeper said that a tall, stately woman with long, reddish-black hair suddenly appeared from nowhere. The Hawaiian woman had a beautiful, dark complexion and a smiling, happy face. But what the housekeeper remembers most is that the woman seemed to shimmer, as if she were giving off a faint, otherworldly glow.

Just as the woman asked for directions to a particular room, the housekeeping inspector approached and offered to show her to the room she was looking for. While the housekeeper watched them leave, the woman had disappeared just as suddenly as she arrived.

The inspector didn’t notice right away and continued to the requested room. When she turned to point it out, the woman wasn’t there!

“I was talking to myself,” she said hauntingly, “It was unbelievable. The woman had disappeared into thin air!”

Over the years, similar stories have surfaced at the resort. Both locals and visitors have reported sudden encounters with a mysterious woman in the hotel’s hallways or in other areas of this haunted resort. She's described as beautiful, barefoot, often dressed in red, and sometimes glowing. She may ask for directions or a ride or simply smile and disappear.

Some believe these sightings are visitations from Pele, the goddess of fire and volcanoes. She is said to take many forms, most often a regal woman in red or an old woman cloaked in mystery. Her appearances are often fleeting but powerful, leaving behind a sense of awe and reverence or a quiet warning.

Whether it is truly Pele who walks through the halls of the Hilton Hawaiian Village or something else entirely, those who have seen her never forget. But ancient goddesses aren’t the only supernatural visitors here. Over the years, guests have reported unexplained sightings throughout the property, in the rooms and halls of the resort’s towers, along the beachfront and lagoon, and on the sidewalks throughout the village.

What makes these hauntings unique is that the apparitions seen aren’t always dressed in old-fashioned clothing as one might expect. Instead, they often appear in modern attire, like everyday hotel guests.

One visitor shared his own Hilton Hawaiian Village ghost story with us. He said the crosswalk at the front of the resort was crowded one night, humming with sounds of tourists, traffic, and music. He and his wife stepped off the curb, weaving between people, heading for the nearby Kālia Tower. That’s when they both noticed him.

A young Chinese man, looking barely twenty years old, wandered through the crowd. He wore a windbreaker, khaki pants, and a backpack and looked lost. His mouth moved in a quiet monologue, and his eyes darted about like he didn’t recognize where he was. It was strange but not unheard of, as Waikīkī draws all kinds of travelers.

The tall, broad-shouldered visitor instinctively prepared to shoulder past the young man who seemed to be heading straight toward them in the crowd. But as the couple approached the other side, the visitor felt something odd in the air. The young man passed within inches of him. He was so close that he could see the stitching on the man’s sleeve and the worn straps of his backpack. He didn’t flinch or move aside. He just kept walking forward, murmuring to himself.

Without a word to each other, the visitor and his wife immediately turned around, sensing something was off. The crosswalk behind them was still busy, the path unobstructed, but the young man was gone.

Not just out of sight… Gone. There was no one jaywalking across Kālia Road, and they would have seen him if the man had walked toward the Hale Koa Hotel. Even if he’d sprinted, they still would have seen him. They scanned the area in silence and then looked at each other. No words needed. They both felt it.

Some places absorb energy, especially where confusion, trauma, or sudden death occur. That energy plays back like an endless loop of memory, repeating forever. What they saw probably wasn’t a person. It was an imprint caught in the folds of Waikīkī, still trying to find its way home.

HHV Rainbow Tower

<title>Haunted History of Hilton Hawaiian Village</title>

Over the years, staff and guests alike have reported seeing, even speaking with, mysterious lone figures who then vanish without a trace.

Haunted History of Hilton Hawaiian Village

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

If you’ve taken a drive around the island, chances are, you’ve passed by Coral Kingdom in Hakipuʻu Valley — and seen huli huli chicken (and the accompanying smoke) outside on the grills fronting the restaurant.

Having the grills fronting the road was only something that started after the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Thomas Yip, director of operations and vice president of 

“We’ve been cooking huli huli chicken for about 10 years,” he says. “Before, we used to have the grill in the backside to service the restaurant for catering. Before the pandemic, we had a lot of tour groups on tour buses that came in; we had a buffet (in the restaurant). Since the pandemic, we had to change our menu — we concentrated on our bestsellers. We moved the chicken grill out to the front so people can see it.”

The business recently rebranded and is now known as Yummy Huli Huli Chicken, according to Yip, who says its focus is still on the chicken.

“What makes it unique is our marination, and we do a dry rub,” he says. “We use the kiawe wood; most places probably use charcoal or some other wood. Of course, we also have our special huli chicken sauce that’s housemade and very popular.”

It takes about 30 minutes for each batch of chicken to cook, according to Yip.

“We can have a batch ranging from 10 to 25 or 30,” he says. “It takes about 30 minutes for the chicken to be fully cooked outside.”

The huli huli chicken plate ($16.95) is the eatery’s signature dish. It includes a half kiawe wood-roasted chicken, along with macaroni salad, rice and huli huli dipping sauce. Whole chicken plates ($21.95, no sides included) are also available.

The chicken boasts that smoky flavor from the kiawe wood, and Yip is right — that signature dipping sauce is necessary, giving the chicken a slightly sweet flavor.

Other popular dishes include barbecue teriyaki beef plate ($18.95) and garlic shrimp plate ($17.95). The latter features shrimp sauteed in garlic butter and onions; customers can choose from shell-on or off, and spicy or mild. All shrimp plates come with macaroni salad and rice.

“The teriyaki sauce is our own recipe, too,” Yip says. “For the beef, we have slices of rib-eye steak, which makes it very popular; it’s tender and juicy. For the spicy garlic shrimp, we cook a local chili pepper together with the garlic butter. It’s not like a hot sauce we use.”

Of the plates we order, I’m partial to the pan-fried fish ($16.95), which features three pieces of egg-battered, sauteed white fish served with a side of tartar sauce. The fish is moist and flaky, and the batter is light and not overly greasy.

In terms of drinks, strawberry banana and mango smoothies ($9.75 each) are popular takeout options, especially on sweltering summer days.

If you’re dining in, Yip encourages customers to check out the eatery’s selection of draft beers, house wines and sake.

Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays-Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays

Yummy Huli Huli chicken grilling 051925

<title>Come with us to this popular Kāneʻohe huli huli chicken spot</title>

Keep your eyes peeled for the Coral Kingdom sign, and follow the smoke.

Come with us to this popular Kāneʻohe huli huli chicken spot

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Entertainment

Arts & Culture

Oʻahu-based actor Kaipo Dudoit has appeared in “Rescue: HI-Surf” (2025), “My Partner” (2023) and “Magnum P.I.” (2020), among other film credits. Now, he adds the role of David Kawena in Disney’s live action version of 

It is a role he dreamed of since he watched the animated version of the film as a child, when he would mimic the animated character voiced by 

, who makes a cameo appearance in the movie.

The live action movie follows the journey of Lilo, a young girl in search of a friend who finds a partner-in-crime in the mischievous

blue alien, Stitch. Dudoit plays the love interest of Lilo’s older sister, Nani, who is also her guardian.

“I really wanted to embody his character while I was growing up,” Dudoit told Aloha State Daily. “He treats everyone with aloha and has a heart of gold.”

The character was “definitely a positive male role model for me while growing up,” he added, sharing that a lot of movies and shows portray local people in a negative way but this role was different.

The live action version of “Lilo & Stitch" includes several actors and actresses who were born and raised in the Hawaiian Islands, including 

as Mrs. Kekoa, their social worker, among others.

Dudoit comes from a musical family. His father, Horace Dudoit III, is part of Ho’okena, which has won a number of Nā Hōkū Hanohano awards.

Dudoit shared he felt “very honored, very blessed and grateful” to be part of this movie, he told ASD.

“What a great way to showcase Hawaiʻi with this story and the story of Hawaiʻi's culture and its people,” he added. “And the idea of ʻohana and how ʻohana will carry you through tough times.” 

He learned he got the role while working another job.

“I was working at a health center, and I was in between patients,” he said. “I got a call from my manager. I cried. Called my mom. We both cried. And then, I had to go back to work. It was a crazy day, and I couldn't tell anybody — well, except for my mom.”

Originally, Dudoit had wanted to be a musician. He still remembers when he decided to be an actor.

“That moment was: I was in my seat in a theater in college and I was watching a play,” he said. “It took me out of my body, basically. It transported me into a different place, and at that moment, I knew that I wanted to be a part of that kind of magic that was happening on stage.”

music for the movie, which includes the return of Kumu Hula Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu and Kamehameha Schools Children’s Chorus, as well as the addition of 

 singing a song reproduced by their uncle, Bruno Mars. 

Kaipo Dudoit

<title>ASD interviews Kaipo Dudoit, an actor in Disney’s live action “Lilo & Stitch”</title>

Oʻahu-based actor Kaipo Dudoit surfs, fire dances and has a crush on his neighbor in Disney’s live action version of “Lilo & Stitch.” The movie, which was filmed on Oʻahu, is set to debut in theaters on May 23.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Can’t take the island out the local boy

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Social Media Editor

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Can’t take the island out the local boy

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