Rex Hill Pinot Gris | Maui | first Hawaiian chef | Pebble Beach

Hankering for the Hawaii of his childhood memories, though, he uprooted from L.A. and moved to Honolulu, opening Roy's in late December 1988. The splash traveled all the way to the mainland. When they tasted dishes such as teri-glazed Hudson Valley duck breast in poha berry reduction, and Kahana-style Hawaiian swordfish with chutney and red Thai curry, critics suddenly decided they were gaga over this East-West fusion thing. In 1992, Yama-guchi jumped over to Maui for his second venture, Roy's Kahana Bar & Grill. A year later, he became the first Hawaiian chef to pick up a James Beard Award.

Today, there's a whole constellation of Roy's restaurants, from Pebble Beach to Baltimore, offering meals of baked dynamite scallops in garlic-chiso sauce, nori-charred salmon in green tea broth, and Mongolian-grilled lamb chops with shiitake dumplings. And while the most recent Roy's opened this summer in Jacksonville Beach, the original Roy's on Oahu is still the jewel in the crown.

With his name in lights from Tokyo to Tampa, does Roy ever feel like just coasting? Not a chance. "We start each day as if we have to prove ourselves all over again," he says, smiling.          
CHEF'S PICK
Rex Hill Pinot Gris
Reserve Oregon 2002 ($18)
With his roasted macadamia nut mahi-mahi with lobster cognac butter sauce, Yamaguchi suggests this complex Pinot Gris.