Kauai Cuisine
Russell and Karolyn Stokes
Chef Stokes was raised in a family where great food was always treasured. Born in Portland, Oregon, his mother’s professional baking and his Italian grandmother’s family feasts inspired Stokes to dedicate his life to cooking. Russell’s mother had a second passion, surfing, which lead he...
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Reviews for Kauai Cuisine
WOW!! One of the best meals I’ve ever had! It is obvious that the owners, Russell and Karolyn Stokes really love what they do as the amount of attention to detail in everything was simply outstanding. I told them if they ever opened a takeout service to the mainland that we would be there biggest customer.
I cannot rave enough about the fantastic food that Kauai Cuisine prepared for us. We had some real LA and NY food snobs at the wedding, and everyone was BLOWN away. I opted for food stations at my wedding and this was the absolute best decision I made. It forced people to get up and mingle and kept a flow going throughout the evening.
Karolyn Stokes also coordinated my wedding. Hiring her as a coordinator is hands down the best thing that I did, and I strongly recommend it to all girls planning a destination wedding. I decided early on in the process that my life is stressful enough, and I did not want to have to speak with more than one person about wedding details. Also, if you hire a well respected coordinator, you can often times save money on vendors. Basically, I was able to enjoy my wedding day to the fullest because I was not worrying about any of the details.
I decided early on that I wanted to minimize the number of people who I would speak to, so I used Kauai Cuisine for catering for both welcome dinner, and wedding, and to coordinate both events. The best decision I made. The food was off the charts AMAZING! Karolyn Stokes has impeccable taste and really got my vision, and made it all happen. I could write pages about how wonderful she, her husband, and the Kauai Cuisine staff all were. My wedding exceeded my expectations and I basically give all the credit to Kauai Cuisine. Karolyn also let me pre-ship stuff to her which was incredibly helpful. She organized all contracts and communication with: BBJ, North Shore Limo, Blossoms Kauai, Icing on the Cake, Rachel and Brad, Harold Goldberg, etc..I basically just had to enjoy my wedding. Karolyn is also incredibly organized and made sure I stayed on top of everything during the planning phase. She also helped me put together a fantastic menu. I should add that Karolyn was just shy of 9 months pregnant when she coordinated my event, and she was a real trooper.
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About Kauai Cuisine
Chef Stokes was raised in a family where great food was always treasured. Born in Portland, Oregon, his mother’s professional baking and his Italian grandmother’s family feasts inspired Stokes to dedicate his life to cooking. Russell’s mother had a second passion, surfing, which lead her to move her family to Kauai when Russell was eight years old. Russell grew up learning to love food, and at the age of 19 he joined Roy’s Poipu Bar and Grill, eventually working his way up to the Executive Chef position.
While at Roy’s, Russell had the opportunity to learn from many great chefs, including: Roy Yamaguchi, Gordon Hopkins, David Abella, Jackie Lau and Nobu Matsuhisa. Stokes also made several guest chef appearances himself, including: Taste of Hawaii five years in a row, Cuisines of the Sun, Taste of Taro (where he took top honors), Holiday Gourmet Gala Dinner at Kauai Community College, Great Chefs of Hawaii at Kauai Hyatt. He will appear on Sam Choy’s Cooking Show later this summer. In addition, Russell has done several wine tasting dinners, including Mondavi Vineyards and Francis Ford Coppola Vineyards.
After spending eight years at Roy’s, he decided it was time to try it on his own. With the help of his future wife, Karolyn, he formed Kauai Cuisine. Russell is the creative genius behind the business. You won’t often find him on the phone with a bride, but if a custom menu needs to be written, it will most likely be Russell creating it. Since Stokes has spent the last twenty-two years in Hawaii he has a tremendous respect and understanding for local ingredients and flavors, how to use them to his best advantage. Coupled with his Italian background and his Euro-Asian training at Roy’s, he has a varied and unique outlook on food, which he brings to Kauai Cuisine.
Out of the kitchen, you’ll likely to find Russell out surfing, following in his mother’s footsteps once again. Other hobbies include: hiking, kayaking, mountain biking, snowboarding.
Blog: Kauai Cuisine
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