Serve This No-Fuss, Family-Style Menu at Your Next Dinner Party
Three share-worthy recipes from Sheldon Simeon’s Ohana Style, built for passing plates, second helpings, and relaxed nights in.
Photograph © 2026 by Kevin Miyazaki from Ohana Style by Sheldon Simeon.
In his latest book, Ohana Style, Sheldon Simeon isn’t trying to teach you how to cook like a chef. He’s asking a simpler, more personal question: Who are you cooking for? That idea carries extra weight coming from Simeon, a Maui-based chef and restaurateur who first won over a national audience on Top Chef, where his unfussy, soulful food—and easy warmth—made him a fan favorite. A finalist in both his original season and Top Chef: All Stars, Simeon now splits his time between running Tin Roof and Tiffany’s in Wailuku and cooking the way he always has: for family, friends, and whoever happens to be hungry.
Reprinted with permission from “Ohana Style: Food from Hawai’i, for Your Family,” by Sheldon Simeon, with Garrett Snyder, copyright © 2026. Photographs copyright © 2026 by Kevin Miyazaki. Published by Clarkson Potter Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
Ohana, after all, isn’t just family in the narrow sense. It’s the people who show up—friends, neighbors, coworkers, kids’ friends, aunties and uncles by proximity rather than blood. The people you feel responsible for feeding well, even when you’re tired, even when the fridge looks bleak.
That spirit runs straight through the recipes in this excerpt, which feel less like a formal menu than the way a good night at home actually unfolds. You start with something snacky, comforting, and just clever enough to feel special. Croissant Toasts with Hot Honey Tomatoes and Whipped Ricotta were born of a familiar problem—leftover croissants no one wants the next day—and solved in the most Simeon way possible. Flatten them, griddle them, lean into what they already are. Top with jammy roasted tomatoes dressed in honey, vinegar, and heat, then cool it all down with whipped ricotta. It’s generous, a little indulgent, and exactly the kind of thing you put out when people are hovering in the kitchen, opening drinks, waiting for dinner to happen.
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Courtesy of Clarkson Potter
Ohana Style: Food from Hawai’i, for Your Family, by Sheldon Simeon with Garrett Snyder (Clarkson Potter).
The Sautéed Caesar with Anchovy Croutons picks up that thread. It’s a Caesar, yes—but one that’s been nudged closer to the stove than the salad bowl. The romaine gets just enough heat to soften without losing itself, while anchovy-forward croutons bring crunch and salt and depth. Then comes Chicken Inasal, the dish that centers the meal. Marinated with citrus, vinegar, garlic, and spice, and grilled until smoky and deeply flavorful, it’s the kind of food that feeds a lot of people without a lot of ceremony. Rice on the side, maybe something green, maybe not.
Taken together, these recipes reflect the heart of Ohana Style: cooking that’s flexible, unfussy, and grounded in real life.
Party Ohana Style at Home with These Recipes
Croissant Toasts with Hot Honey Tomatoes & Whipped Ricotta
Everyone loves fresh croissants; nobody loves day-old croissants. That is, until I realized that leftover croissants are essentially pre-buttered toast, and they turn out great when you squish them down and griddle them in a hot pan until they’re flaky and crispy once more (look at the “flat croissant” trend on TikTok to see what I mean). Here, I’m pairing some crispy croissant toasts with a low-effort combination that would be just as good over any type of toasted bread: jammy roasted tomatoes in a sweet-spicy honey vinegar sauce with fluffy whipped ricotta. Great for impressing any friends invited over for brunch—no mention of leftover croissants necessary.
Sautéed Caesar with Anchovy Croutons
The first place I tried stir-fried lettuce was at 8 Fat Fat 8 Bar & Grille, a dive bar in Honolulu that not-so-secretly serves some of the best Chinese food on the island. It was at the end of a long, drink-filled night, and while questionable decisions were made (see: tequila shots), ordering the garlicky, tender-crisp, wok-kissed lettuce was not one of them.
The traditional Chinese version of this dish is made with iceberg lettuce, but 8 Fat Fat 8’s chef used romaine instead, cut into short spears and cooked with shoyu, plus an aggressive amount of minced garlic and chiles. That combination made me think of Caesar salad, and this lightning strike was the result: a savory romaine stir-fry with bold flavors and snappy crunch, set off with fragrant anchovy croutons, grated parmesan cheese, and a brightening squeeze of lemon. Much like you’d present a salad alongside an entrée, enjoy this as a side with rice and meat dishes.
Chicken Inasal
Filipinos—especially Filipinos in Hawaii—love grilling anything they can get their hands on. The sight of meat or fish charring over hot coals and that intoxicating smell that clings to your hair or clothes stir something in us. There’s rarely an occasion, big or small, where cooking “Filipino barbecue” isn’t just a welcome activity but an expected one. So when I describe chicken inasal as “grilled chicken,” that might be underselling it a bit. This isn’t just any old grilled chicken.
My favorite style of inasal is a famous Ilonggo dish from the islands of the Visayas. It’s marinated with layers of citrus, vinegar, lemongrass, garlic, and ginger that infuse a sweet and tangy brine into the meat, then it’s slowly grilled over charcoal and basted with achuete (also known as achiote or annatto) oil, which adds a subtle earthiness and a ruddy red color to the charred skin; it’s then served with chile-spiked toyomansi.
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Serve This No-Fuss, Family-Style Menu at Your Next Dinner Party
