Ohana Style by Sheldon Simeon

Still on the hunt for the best cookbook of Spring 2026? Here’s the latest review (gleaned from lists found at  Bon Appétit  and Forbes). Ohana Style will make you feel like you’re on vacation.

About the book:

The author of Cook Real Hawai’i brings the essence of Hawai’ian cuisine to everyday cooking with over 100 unfussy and flavorful recipes featuring easy ingredient substitutions, clever new techniques, and creative (and often plant-based) spins on traditional dishes.

Beloved chef and two-time Top Chef fan favorite Sheldon Simeon’s food joyfully reflects Hawai’i’s flavors and cooking styles, a mixture of island influences including Native Hawai’ian, Filipino, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, and other cuisines. With creative plant-based spins (like swapping out raw fish with pan-seared ripe avocado for a delicious “tataki”, or using mushrooms to create the best “escargot”) and shortcut cooking techniques (like searing shoyu-marinated tuna in a hot wok or pan to mimic smoking, or using a Chinese dry wok cooking style to perfect fish sticks), the recipes in Ohana Style shows how quick, easy, and flexible Hawai’ian cuisine can be.

Sheldon’s recipes show how to blend sweet, savory, and tangy Hawai’ian flavors into every day meals, all the while centering the cuisine’s legacy of communal-style eating, reminiscent of the traditions and memories of foods we all grew up with. In Ohana Style you’ll find umami-packed recipes meant for family—that’s what ohana means in Hawai’ian—weeknight dinners, quick lunches, snacks, cookouts, and barbecues.

From Pork Belly Tocino with garlic rice for breakfast and Stir-Fried Olives with ginger as a midday snack, to a pan-fried Lemon-Caper Mahi dinner with Furikake Animal Crackers for dessert, Ohana Style has recipes for every mood and any event—for people who want to get something flavorful and delicious on the table quickly without forgoing the exciting and layered flavors of local Hawai’ian cooking. (from Penguin Random House)

About the author:

Sheldon Simeon is the chef and owner of Lineage, a restaurant that explores the ancestral roots of Hawaiian cuisine, as well as Tin Roof, where he serves contemporary Hawaiian dishes in a casual setting, both in Maui. In 2019, Lineage was named one of Bon Appétit‘s Top 50 Nominees for America’s Best New Restaurants. Sheldon was a finalist on Season 10 of Top Chef: Seattle, becoming a finalist en route, and later competed on Season 14 of Top Chef: Charleston. He was voted Fan Favorite on both seasons.

What I thought….

Oh, yeah. I remember him from Top Chef!

Ohana Style is another cookbook themed from the pandemic. Simeon’s previous cookbook, Cook Real Hawai’i was well-received and showcased the cooking that he had grown up with. During the pandemic, he was cooking from home, three full meals a day. He was cooking large packable meals for his community and employees at Tin Roof. He was in a new realm.

What started to happen over time was that the lines between two worlds that were previously distinct started to blur and bleed together—cooking at the restaurant versus cooking at home, or cooking as a professional chef versus cooking for friends and family—until it changed the way I thought about cooking altogether. (10)

With every recipe, Simeon offers a bit of history, how it was developed in a restaurant that he worked in or how it was a family staple or what it means to him.

I feel like I have been going through the motions recently with this “best of” phase and I really wasn’t too excited about this cookbook. Then I realized I loved Sheldon from his TC days. Then, I found that I loved his ideas about simple yet delicious recipes that he puts forward in the intro. Then, I found Stir-Fried Olives, the first recipe in the book (also mentioned in the blurb above and the photos below). Other recipes in “Pupus” (small bites and appetizers) include everything from an easily topped tofu and shoyu “octopus” hot dogs to elevated Croissant Toasts with Hot Honey Tomatoes & Whipped Ricotta and Pimento Cheese Mochi Bread. !!!

Throughout the “Breakfast” section, I kept imagining Simeon making these sweet and savory treats for his family during the pandemic, experimenting and elevating simple fare: Banana Pancakes with Chantilly Cream, Bacon & Egg Sandwiches with Maple-Braised Greens, and Black Sesame Sweet Rolls.

The “Salads & Veggies” section is massive. I wanted to try everything (and might) but I had everything to make the Spicy Garlic Cucumbers (92) so I did just that. Previous to this recipe, my favorite cucumber recipe came from Family Style by Peter Som. This spicy concoction rivals that recipe! Look for photos below in “What I made….”

“Noodles & Rice” begins with the delicious but unpretentious Deluxe Cheeseburger Mac (96). This is another recipe that I could imagine him making his family during the lockdown. This is not your typical Hamburger Helper imitation. Simeon’s recipe uses Worcestershire sauce, half-and-half, beef broth, diced tomatoes, yellow mustard, ketchup and American cheese. (He does reference the original inspiration in the note—it truly was Hamburger Helper from his youth that inspired this dish.) Note that a lot of these recipes are pasta dishes with one udon noodle recipe and a truly delicious sounding “Dan Dan’ Instant Noodles (108). Regarding the rice dishes, Okinawan Taco Rice (118), basically a taco bowl, sounds and looks amazing with crushed Fritos!!!

“Soups & Stews” is a great mash-up of the traditional with the inventive: Japanese Corn Egg Drop (128), Takeout Hot & Sour (131) along with Uncle Danny’s Tripe Stew (142).

I love that Simeon is unpretentious (as proven by his Hamburger Helper copy-cat, his hotdog dish and the taco rice bowl). In “Chicken & Seafood,” his Chicken Kelaguen (152) is made with rotisserie chicken and can be served in a taco, over rice, or on crackers with hot sauce. Very versatile for a lot of lunch meals. I was expecting a lot of grilled dishes but only saw a couple—Hibachi Chicken or Shrimp and Miso-Peanut Hibachi Chicken. As one would expect, there are a lot of great seafood recipes—sandwiches, fish sticks, Lemon Caper Mahi, Salmon Karaage, and Seared Snapper with Spicy-Sweet Fruit Curry.

Again in “Pork & Beef,” I was anticipating a lot of grilled recipes. None. No worries because there are a lot of entrees to choose from. I definitely am going to make Longganisa Sliders (a spicy garlicky sweet sausage sandwich), Wok Pastor Tacos, and Ground Beef Galbi Bowls.

Rainbow Sherbet “Finger Jelly” is a beautiful and retro dish in the “Desserts & Drinks” section. Furikake Animal Crackers is another fun recipe (made with boxed animal crackers). I had no idea that Pumpkin Crunch was a Hawaiian popular dessert but I’m saving that recipe for the holidays. (He uses a box of instant pudding for his “shortcut” Chantilly Cream to accompany the Crunch.)

Wait, there’s one more section: “Sauces & Pickles.” These recipes are used to accompany the previous dishes but some can be stand alone. His Chile Vinegar will keep in the fridge “indefinitely” and may show up as a gift this holiday season.

Throughout the book, Simeon highlights his ohana—people he has worked with and their families, other families that he has raised his kids with, chefs, farmers and suppliers, et al. Most are photographed with at least one family member.

I love this book. Simeon accomplishes what he set out to do, to make “recipes that are simple but not simplistic, flexible, full of flavor, and most of all, fun. Because why cook with ohana in the first place if not to bring about happiness? (11).

What I made…

There was so much to choose from but I love a good olive-appetizer recipe so I went with his Pan-Fried Olives. (Mentioned a couple of times above.)

These were great with the lemon and oyster sauce. I used kalamata olives and some canned green olives because I could not find Castelvetranos. I would make these again!

His Spicy Garlic Cucumbers were even better!

This recipe is worth the price of the book (or at least a check out).

I just might buy this book (or at least get back on the wait list at the library).

I’m linking up with Foodies Read for July.