Raised in both Hawaii and San Diego, Troy Guard spent much of his youth in either the ocean or the kitchen. “I was a fish,” he says, “and when I wasn’t in the water, I was grilling or barbecuing—mostly with my Dad, who cooked kalua pigs at luaus.”

Troy worked his way through college and onto the local culinary scene at San Diego’s La Costa Resort, training at all five of the resort's prestigious restaurants. After college, he returned to his native Hawaii—a path that brought him to the door of legendary fusion chef Roy Yamaguchi...