Singer, songwriter and guitarist Frank Orrall is the founder of the group Poi Dog Pondering. He is also a chef — and as of this month, a published cookbook author.
He released his debut cookbook, “Cooking with The Dandy,” in early September. The first pressing is sold out. Now, a second pressing is available for preorder. It will be mailed out in November.
Orrall, also known as “Chef Franc,” combines his love of music and food by hosting private dinner parties with an acoustic concert. As part of the deal, he shops for groceries and prepares dinner before playing music. The private parties start at $700, plus $50 per diner, for up to 10 guests.
The concept was inspired by dinner parties at his parents’ house.
“I started cooking because I just like getting together with my friends and having dinner,” he said. “When I was a kid, my parents worked at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. All the faculty used to have these parties where you had to do something for dinner, like you had to read a poem or to do a trick ... so we started doing some of those dinner parties, just with our friends for fun. And then, we started playing a lot of music at the dinner parties.”
Soon, he was hosting parties for others. Orrall grew up on Oʻahu but is now based in Sonoma, California. He has a cabin on Hawaiʻi Island, he said.
On Saturday, Aug. 16, Orrall performed on the final day of the Maui Music & Food Experience, a benefit concert that raised $200,000 for the Hua Momona Foundation to help Lahaina rebuild and start a music program for youth in West Maui. Other featured performers at the event included local legends such as singer Paula Fuga and slack key guitarist Ledward Kaapana, as well as Mongoose with Bernard Fowler of The Rolling Stones, and Dumpstaphunk with Ernie Isley and Wayne Baker Brooks. Orrall also helped cook at the first night of the event, where he prepared Kalua pork that could be purchased by event attendees.
Orrall grew up in a musical family and started making home recordings on cassette albums under the name Poi Dog Pondering.
“The first cassette album that I made, I needed to call it something, and I didn't know what to call it,” he said. “I thought I was only gonna give it to my friends and family, so I liked the way Poi Dog Pondering sounded.”
He made five cassette albums under the name Poi Dog Pondering. Eventually, he formed a band with that name. The group went on to perform on the Late Show with David Letterman, among other venues.
They also signed with several record labels, including Columbia Records, Tommy Boy Records, Bar/None Records and Texas Hotel Records, as well as Platetectonic Records.
As a teenager, Orrall got his start playing house parties in Hawaii Kai. The Henry J. Kaiser High School graduate drew inspiration from the legendary slack key guitarist Gabby Pahinui of Waimānalo, as well as nature.
“Nature is the infinite teacher: the power of the ocean, the power of the mountains and the water and the natural cycle,” Orrall said. “Hawaiʻi just teaches you that. It teaches you respect for it all.”
Learn more about Poi Dog Pondering or Chef Franc’s cookbook and dinner parties.
For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up here for our free Daily Edition newsletter.
Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
