Two of the area’s most progressive chefs have joined forces to present a pair of dinners this month that reflect their cutting-edge culinary styles and shared experiences in the restaurant industry. And with their first names similarly spelled, (Amiko Gubbins and Riko Bartolome), the term “KoKo dinners” makes clever sense.

Gubbins is the owner of Parallel 33 in Mission Hills, where she’s captured the exotic cuisine of countries straddling the namesake latitude for the past six years. Bartolome is credited with introducing to North County a chic repertoire of Euro-Asian fare at his one-year-old Asia-Vous restaurant in Escondido.

The hands-on chefs formed a professional friendship more than 15 years ago while working at the Hyatt Aventine in La Jolla. Their upcoming KoKo dinners, says Bartolome, “gives us a chance to hang out together in our kitchens.”

The first dinner is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 22, at Asia-Vous, located at 417 W. Grand Ave. The second will be held on Monday, Aug. 29, at Parallel 33, located at 741 W. Washington St. On both dates, the dinners will be offered from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m.

Each five-course dinner will feature two menus stamped with the chefs’ original dishes. Guests can choose from either menu or yield to the fate of the kitchens.

Golden grouper wrapped in grape leaves, hamachi with fresh yuzu, tandoori marinated shrimp and Asian cured duck are among the courses Gubbins will create. “I do my best work when I decide first what to make, and then figure it out from there,” says Gubbins, who cooked for Lenny Kravitz and Sting during concert stops they made in San Diego this past year.

Gubbins attributes her success in the culinary field to Gustave Anders when he was a restaurateur in La Jolla some 20 years ago. “He made me the chef I am today by being so strict,” she recalls. “He didn’t want women working in his kitchen, but I won him over and he taught me to never compromise quality and presentation. He definitely raised the bar on my cooking standards.” Before opening Parallel 33, she was executive chef at Japengo.

Bartolome, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, most recently worked as executive chef at 150 Grand and the W Hotel in San Diego before opening Asia-Vous last year. His KoKo menu will include monkfish “chorizo” with gnocchi and raisin vinaigrette, roasted veal tenderloin and a unique gazpacho soup made with Haogen melons, which are available only three weeks out of the year.

“It’s an organic melon grown in Fallbrook – a hybrid of the cantaloupe with a light green pulp inside. They’re beautiful. I just took some home last week and my car still smells of them.”

The chefs also share in common individual hobbies that are fiercely removed from the pantry. Gubbins often slips away from the restaurant in the middle of her workdays for Bikram yoga sessions in a room that’s heated to 112 degrees. “It makes me super crystal clear. My staff says that I glow when I get back.” She also surfs. And after playing “air guitar for almost 30 years,” she now takes classical guitar lessons.

Bartolome is married with two children and used to break bricks with his bare hands in world karate championships. “Since opening the restaurant, I don’t have time to train anymore,” he says. “But I like going on desert trips with family and friends to ride motorcycles.”

Yet it is their creative approach to cooking that keeps the two chefs firmly planted on the local food scene. “We’ve both been adventurous in our food styles right from the beginning,” Bartolome adds. “Both of our restaurants carry a certain metro attitude. We don’t copy each other’s recipes, but we feed off each other’s energies.”

Gubbins concludes: “I remember pushing Riko to open his own restaurant, and told him he could do it. I’ve always liked his demeanor and culinary style – the way he wore his jacket with the crease on the sleeve. This is the third time we’re doing the KoKo dinners. It’s a good way of drumming up business on a Monday night, and a good excuse for cooking together.”

The cost for each dinner is $75 per person, plus tax and gratuity. For reservations, call (760) 747-5000 (Asia-Vous) or (619) 260-0033 (Parallel 33).