Let’s say someone knocks on your door and offers to make you dinner. OK, maybe that’s creepy. But say it’s chef Sam Choy and he’s called ahead. That’s way cool.
Of course, he comes with a camera crew, so you can’t be shy. And he’s only going to work with what’s already in your fridge, so that’s dicey. But in the end you get dinner, so what’s to complain about?
That’s the premise for Choy’s new cooking show, “Sam Choy’s in the Kitchen,” launching March 6 on KHON.
Choy said he shows up at private homes bearing only his knives, with no plan in mind. “I have no idea until we go probing and digging.” In the refrigerator, that is. He refers to himself as “the refrigerator cop.”
“The idea is I take the leftovers and create brand-new food, turn something that’s borderline into something that’s wow.”
He’s turned leftover pizza into pizza fries; leftover oxtail and pig’s feet into hash. The point, Choy said: to have fun making something out of food that might otherwise go to waste.
The project began as 12 videos posted on a YouTube channel, filmed last year near Choy’s home in Kona by Richard Gonzalez, an independent film producer on the Big Island. He and Choy shouldered the original financing, then picked up a sponsor, Tiki Shark Art Inc., an arts and marketing firm.
Gonzalez said 20 new half-hour episodes will be filmed on the Big Island and Oahu. Shows will air at 6:30 p.m. Sundays, and repeats will run through the end of the year.
He said Choy has had the idea for the show in mind for 20 years, ever since scrounging around a friend’s kitchen to produce dinner. Choy pitched the idea after making a cameo appearance in one of Gonzalez’s films, and the producer ran with it, finding a home and host family for the first episode. The shows have received more than 7,600 views, Gonzalez said.
KHON has contracted for the rights to the show, he said, with an option to continue beyond the first season.
Sponsor Tiki Shark is also working with Choy to produce a line of kitchen accessories, mainly towels, aprons and potholders, to be sold at ABC Stores and resort boutiques.
That was another idea born of a chance conversation with Choy, said Abbas Hassan, vice president of sales and marketing for Tiki Shark. The two were seated next to each other on a flight from Los Angeles to Kona eight years ago and tossed around ideas for a partnership that would capitalize on Choy’s persona.
All these year later that conversation has jelled into the line Sam Choy’s Hawaiian Kitchen, manufactured in Pakistan at Hassan’s family-owned factory. Designs are by Tiki Shark owner Brad Parker, whose tiki-themed art has gained renown in part through the Body Glove surfwear and accessories line.
The products will be introduced Friday through Sunday at the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce’s Building & Design Expo at the Sheraton Kona Resort & Spa. Choy will host a cooking demonstration and display the products. Information: 329-1758.
See YouTube videos of “Sam Choy’s in the Kitchen” at 808ne.ws/samchoyshow.