Chef on Hot Tin Roof
He came into the spotlight on season 10 of Bravo’s popular series Top Chef. The Hilo native, who made it to the finals of the reality competition series by wowing New York’s culinary glitteratti with his authentic, unpretentious approach to cooking. Top Chef fans loved him too, voting him their favorite, twice. First on season 10 and again when he was invited back to compete on season 14.
Sheldon Simeon grew up in a Filipino family where food and community was everything and everyday. Says good friend and fellow chef Mark Noguchi: “When Sheldon says that his cooking and flavors are in his DNA, that’s not a sound bite. His celebration and love of food, runs through his entire family. At the Simeon hale in Hilo, Uncle Reinior (the chef’s father) extended his garage, not so they could fit in another car, but to fit more kitchen in the back and host more people for parties.”
People still cook in Hilo. With a population of less than 50,000, the community — like the chef who grew up there — is self-reliant when it comes to food. Getting together for a Friday pau hana or Sunday NFL game means hanging out in a friend’s backyard or garage, not a trendy bar or picking up the phone and calling Domino’s. Simeon says getting together means cooking together. The food cooked and enjoyed in kitchens and backyards in Hilo is mostly made from scratch and where Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Puerto Rican, Portuguese and Hawaiian flavors come together naturally and are deeply rooted in the town’s sugar plantation heritage.
In October 2018, Simeon opened Lineage. The restaurant is a Valentine to his childhood memories of the parties and people he grew up with — maybe now filtered through the lens of a formal culinary education and his experiences from New York to California as the host of the Eater video series Cooking in America, and, of course, as a star contestant on Top Chef where critiques from food scene luminaries like Gail Simmons and Tom Colicchio where personal and direct.
“Sheldon is one of our chefs that has never forgotten where he comes from. While there’s beautiful plating, and handmade ceramics at Lineage, the food still speaks with humility. Turkey tail, preserved lemon, and his better-than-drugs SLAB Chili Pepper Water. You can find those in any house in Hilo. Those rusty lidded jars still sitting on the roof of homes (try go look next time you’re in Hilo) are preserved lemons in the making,” says Noguchi. Simeon’s close friend says the chef is from a generation of chefs who are inclusive and focused on community. “I believe that this generation of chefs are more inclusive. We look out for each other, we try to build and maintain our community. Similar to small towns, where families span generations growing up together.”
Simeon’s on-camera experience gained from multiple seasons on Top Chef and his passion for the many ways food connects family and community made him an easy choice to host the second season of Cooking in America, a series that examines food and the immigrant experience in the United States.
Lineage and his casual take-out restaurant Tin Roof are on Maui, where
he makes his home with his wife, Janice, and their four children. But Hilo is never far from his heart. As a condition to accepting hosting duties for Cooking in America he asked producers to promise he could film an episode from his father’s home in Hilo. Telling producers, “Pretty much anytime we’re together, we cook together. I think my food is cooking for the community, because it comes from the community.” In addition to shooting an episode from his dad’s home, Simeon true to his inclusive nature, shared Hawai‘i’s broader food community with Cooking in America subscribers adding features on Pig and the Lady, Senia and Sun Noodle. Noguchi says the chef is like his hometown of Hilo: resilient, humble and fiercely proud.