Chris Ikeda
Chris Ikeda – Chef/Owner
Chris has been in the foodservice business for over 25 years. He started by washing dishes and bussing tables at a Perkins restaurant at 14 years old. By 15, he had graduated to prep cook and kept moving up the ranks. He enrolled in one of the top cooking schools in the world, The Culinary Institute of America in New York. His love affair with Asian cuisine began soon after when he staged at Morimoto’s in the Meatpacking District of New York, NY. This was only intensified by several trips to Japan with his older brother.
Upon graduation, Chris moved to Hawaii and began an apprenticeship with Chef Alan Wong at Hualalai Resort, who was one of the original founders of Hawaii Regional Cuisine.
Chris open Lake & Irving restaurant in Minneapolis on Lake Street which just recently celebrated its 10 year anniversary. He opened his second restaurant, Pau Hana, in the summer of 2020.
Chris and his culinary team use their extensive chef experience to create a menu and atmosphere that aims to introduce Minnesotans to Hawaii Regional Cuisine. Known as “HRC” for short, Hawaii Regional Cuisine reflects the unique and vast culinary scene in Hawaii, one influenced by more than a century of immigration to the Hawaiian Islands by people all over the world. Flavors and culinary techniques found in Hawaii trace their roots to immigrants from Japan, Korea, China, the Phillipines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, and the Pacific Islands. That varied cultural and culinary background, combined with the foods available on the Hawaiian Islands (tropical fruit, fresh seafood, livestock), combine to create HRC, a contemporary cuisine unique to the islands.