Aloha, Dinner Plans 🌴
Low-stress hosting from Hawaii's Top Chef.
Celebrate the return of warm weather with a laid-back tropical feast.
Two-time Top Chef finalist and James Beard Award nominee Sheldon Simeon’s new cookbook, Ohana Style: Food from Hawai’i, for Your Family, is your cheat code for cooking that’s big on flavor and low on stress.
The Maui-based chef, known for celebrating Hawaiʻi’s multicultural heritage, describes his cuisine as “meshing his Hawaiian background with local produce and Asian techniques.” With his new cookbook, he’s sharing flavorful recipes for everyday family meals, snacks, weeknights and parties.
Here are some of Simeon’s tips for low key entertaining, island style:
Put Out Some Pūpūs
About as fun to say as they are to eat, pūpūs are Hawaiian-style snacks that are meant to be mixed, matched and eaten with your hands. Ohana Style dedicates a full chapter to these crowd-pleasers, from sticky fish sauce wings to pimiento cheese mochi bread. Add a bright, boozy drink and you’ve already won.
Take a Shortcut
Yes, Simeon is a two-time Top Chef alum with multiple James Beard Award nominations, and yes, he fully believes in shortcuts. Crescent roll dough, hot dogs, cake mix, ranch seasoning, it’s all fair game. In the intro, he even nods to Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee as inspiration. Good food doesn’t have to be complicated to be great.
Go Family Style
Skip the plated courses and let everyone dig in. Simeon’s go-to hosting move is throwing a bunch of meat on the hibachi, then pulling out “all the pickles, banchan and sauces” from the pantry. It’s interactive, unfussy and keeps the table buzzing. Exactly how a warm-weather dinner should feel.
Ready to set the table? These pieces make Ohana-style hosting look as effortless as it tastes. Shop the full edit here.
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Ohana Style: Food from Hawai‘i, for Your Family by Sheldon Simeon
A warm-weather hosting staple packed with 100+ unfussy, island-inspired recipes that use smart shortcuts and family-style dishes to deliver big flavor with minimal effort.
Tropical Leaf Abaca Placemat
Hand-woven especially for terrain from natural abaca fibers, this leaf-shaped placemat makes a verdant addition to warm weather tablescapes.
The Love Notes Island Icon Juice Glass
Meticulously crafted with handblown glass, the Love Notes Juice Glass is a delightful, sip-worthy piece that adds charm to any occasion and makes a thoughtful gift for someone special.
Farm Rio Embroidered Napkins
These embroidered napkins feature botanical motifs and scalloped edges, adding a textural element to your tablescape.
Pottery Barn Shell Party Bucket
A shell-shaped party bucket that doubles as an ice bucket or bottle chiller, keeping drinks cold while giving your setup an easy coastal nod.