Edwin Goto & Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Goto’s Village Burger

Born and raised on Oahu into a Japanese-American family, Edwin Goto was influenced by his uncle, who was an executive chef for the Matson Cruise Line, and was one of the first Asians to study at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris back in the 1950s. Following school, Chef Edwin trained at Kapi’olani Community College on Oahu, then apprenticed at the Island Colony and Ilikiai hotels. In 1983, he joined the Halekulani’s La Mer and worked under Chef Khamten Tanhchaleun.

In 1987, he moved to San Francisco to continue working up the kitchen ladder at the Hotel Nikko’s Les Celebrites, Park Hyatt’s Park Grill and the 1001 Nob Hill Restaurant.

In 1992, he returned to Hawaii as sous chef of the Lodge at Koele, on the island of Lanai. In 1995, the Great Chefs television crew sailed over to Lanai from Maui, to tape Chef Goto in the kitchen of the The Lodge at Koele for the Discovery Channel’s Great Chefs of Hawaii television series.

When Dole Food Company sold the island of Lani, Chef Goto moved to the Big Island as executive chef at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows where he remains today in 2016.  In 2011, he wanted to open a fun, all locally sourced hamburger stand called Goto’s Village Burger at the Parker Ranch Shopping Center. Today, in 2016, not only can you get an island grown beef burger, but also his Asian-style Ahi Burger.