Waikoloa, Hawaii Island » The best food is often found close to home.

This was true Friday as the Hawai’i Food & Wine Festival made its debut on Hawaii island with a gala dinner at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa for more than 200 guests anticipating a fine repast. With a theme of "Aloha Aina, Aloha Kai: Love of the Land, Love of the Sea," there was a bounty of home-grown vegetables, fruit, seafood, beef and pork featured in every one of the six courses presented, each paired with wines selected by master sommelier Roberto Viernes.

The Pomaski brothers, Mark and Tedd, of Full Moon Cafe in downtown Hilo, provided one of the best courses of the evening, holding their own alongside such featured players as former "Top Chef" contestants Marcel Vigneron and Sheldon Simeon.

Thoughtfully constructed, the brothers’ dish featuring Big Island abalone was a seamless marriage of land and sea: a mushroom-, inamona- and abalone liver-filled ravioli of delicate handmade pasta, topped with tender abalone and served on a bed of wilted pea shoots in a Kauai prawn-based butter sauce.

The Pomaskis are fresh faces on the Hawaii culinary scene, though not entirely new ones. Mark helped open Roy Yamaguchi’s Waikiki restaurant in 2007, where he established the sushi menu and went on to become corporate sushi chef for the Roy’s chain. He learned the nuts and bolts of traditional sushi making at Shiki in Eugene, Ore.

Mark went on to Nobu 57 in Manhattan, one of the biggest and busiest of the Nobu Matsuhisa restaurants.

"It was amazing: There were 10 sushi chefs on the line every night," he said.

Tedd attended the Rhode Island School of Design and spent many years in New York on artistic pursuits. His split passions for art and food meld in the Full Moon Cafe kitchen, where the brothers’ Polish-Vietnamese heritage is evident.

"Our food reflects the food we grew up with," said Tedd.

A year ago, the brothers and Mark’s wife, Soni, returned to their hometown to open Full Moon Cafe, which is soon to be renamed The Moon and Turtle.

The restaurant’s menu features products from the Hilo Farmers Market just a couple of blocks away, as well as the daily catch of local fishermen. These fresh foods are flavored with the likes of fish sauce, smoked soy sauce, green curry and oyster sauce, as well as fresh citrus such as calamansi, lemon and lime.

Breadfruit, sweet potato and taro are regularly employed in delicious ways.

Sophistication and creativity are clearly the Pomaski brothers’ calling cards.

"Mark is very articulate in his details; he’s methodical and a thinker," said Yamaguchi. "He produces great food."

All proof that good food is very close to home.