Hawai'i chefs Peter Merriman and Neil Murphy of the Big Island's Merriman's restaurant, and Alan Wong of Alan Wong's in Honolulu, are being spotlighted as "local pioneers" in the October issue of Gourmet magazine.

The chefs were among 15 spotlighted in the magazine's annual restaurants issue. Others named as local pioneers include Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif.; and Peter Davis of Henrietta's Table in Cambridge, Mass. The magazine said its editors spent a year researching restaurants to find the best at focusing on "the seasonal, the sustainable, and the homegrown."

"Alan Wong goes all-out in his attempt to give diners an authentic Hawaiian experience, sourcing his ingredients from a long list of island farmers and ranchers," a blurb on Gourmet's Web site says. "And in true Hawaiian fashion, he mixes and matches culinary cultures — powering his sashimi of farm-raised moi with Japanese myoga, mitsuba, and wasabi oil, for example, and topping his Maui beef with a black bean and foie gras purée."

As for Merriman's, the Web site says: "Twenty years ago, tourists went to Hawaii, loved the beaches, and lamented the food. Peter Merriman was one of the pioneers who changed that. Back then, his restaurant was an oasis of simplicity and sanity on the Big Island. It still is, helmed by a recent transplant from New York City, Neil Murphy."

The issue also features the country's best restaurants that are focusing on chefs who are making the most of locally produced and grown food. The magazine named Lahaina's sister restaurants, Pacific'o and I'o, as among the top 10 "Restaurants with Farm Connections" in the nation.

The Lahaina restaurants make use of produce from Maui's O'o Farm, which was founded about seven years ago by chef James McDonald and his restaurant partners Louis Coulombe and Stephan Bel-Roberts.

"James McDonald loves to take guests to his Upcountry Maui farm, where they pick organic produce that he then turns into lunch. The 8.5-acre spread provides nearly all the greens, herbs, fruits, and vegetables for his two Lahaina restaurants," reads a description on the magazine's Web site, www.Gourmet.com.