Tag: #Maui
Maui-Wowie Hmmm-No, Sorry Talking About the Food (part 1)

Maui-Wowie Hmmm-No, Sorry Talking About the Food (part 1)

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Now don’t be jealous.  I just spent four fabulous days on Maui.  I don’t want you to think this was all play and no work.  We were on a mission.  Yes, an important one.  My friend Pam celebrating a milestone birthday [?]0, the first number being hidden to protect the innocent (that would be me) has declared this year the Year of Pam.  Yes, 365 days of yeah, its my birthday, what are we doing?  Where should we go? First on the birthday bucket list, a trip to Maui, a surprise concocted by her hubby (take note boys).  Being the good friend, I decided to accompany her.  I know, tough job, but somebody’s got to do it.

It has been years since I have been to Maui. The last time I was a starving student. Fine dining then meant hitting the happy hours at various restaurants along the beachfront where a drink came with a buffet of delicious island pupus.  Hole in the Walls for plate lunch (two scoop rice, macaroni salad and choice of protein) and McDonald’s were staples, easy on the budget and stomach.  Island twists to the Mickey D’s menu included Portuguese Eggs and Rice, Saimin, Spam and Eggs, and lilikoi or passion fruit pies. A definite plus.

But this is many years later, there will be no McDonalds on this trip.  Is that progress?

Let’s get this party started.  Upon arrival, we headed to the beach by way of the bar where we had Mai Tais to toast the birthday girl.

Our days pretty much followed this routine:

Wake up: What’s for breakfast?

Head to the beach.

While sitting on the beach think about: What’s for lunch?

Back to the beach.

Sitting on the Beach: What’s for dinner?

Dinner our first night was at Monkeypod Kitchen, Merriman’s casual outpost on Maui.  The vibe is breezy, relaxing and fun.  We started with the Lobster Deviled Eggs, yum and washed it down with more Mai Tais.  I wanted the raw bar but alas they were sold out.  How does this happen on an island surrounded by ocean?  Oh well, so I chose the next best thing, pasta.  I know, whaat? Gnocchi with Wild Mushrooms, Kale and Ricotta

It was DELICIOUS.  The gnocchi were soft little pillows of dough that paired well with the mushrooms and kale.  Simply prepared and so good.

A walk on the beach after dinner with thoughts of…

….What’s for breakfast?

We hit Napili Bay with thoughts of kayaking and snorkeling.  But first breakfast. At the top of the Bay sits a casual eatery, the Sea Horse Restaurant with fantastic views and a mean bowl of fried rice.  Da Kitchen Sink Fried Rice was filled with shrimp, Portuguese sausage and flavored with aromatics like ginger and onions.  Located in a tourist enclave it was never the less reasonable and relaxing.  We could see the whales in the Bay as we enjoyed our meal.

I took a brief respite from eating to go to a concert by Henry Kapono and Friends. I love Hawaiian music and jumped at the chance to enjoy some amazing guitar work and vocals.  Sitting there singing along to Cecilio and Kapono favorites from back in the day made me happy, happy, happy.  If you don’t get to a concert, almost every bar or restaurant has live music, most of it island style, a perfect way to finish an evening.

Sailin’ by C&K, enjoy!

Dinner our last night in Maui found us at Merriman’s in Kapalua. Ironically, Hubby and I ate at the original Merriman’s years ago on the Big Island. Merriman’s has come along way from the quaint original place.  This one is absolutely gorgeous, a spacious open-air restaurant with a spectacular view of the ocean.  Perfect place to enjoy cocktails at Sunset..except for the overcast weather and wind during our visit..oh well.

I picked the short straw that night and ordered a very unimaginative appetizer sampler.  I also ordered their housemade Cavatelli with Hirabara Farms Swiss Chard, Hamakua Mushrooms, Truffle Oil, House-Made Ricotta which more than made up for the appetizer.  As beautiful as this place is it felt like a slick operation that had lost its soul to corporate efficiencies.

In fairness, the rest of our party enjoyed their meals.  The fresh fish of the day was a big hit.  Service was perfunctory at best (hmm, automatic tipping for a party of six), but those views!

I don’t want you to think all we did was eat and drink.  Walking on the beach, hikes, a tiny bit of shopping and whale watching highlighted our brief stay.  Paradise found.

Humpbacks migrate to Maui regularly.  Waters in the islands of Maui County average only 300 ft. providing, safe, protected waters free of predators (such as Orca). The perfect “kiddie pool” for nurturing newborn calves.

Aloha!
The Sheldon Trifecta (Maui Eats Part 2)

The Sheldon Trifecta (Maui Eats Part 2)

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Are you a fan of Top Chef?

For those of you who are, go ahead and skip to the next paragraph.

For those of you who aren’t…shame on you! Just kidding. Hubby and I love this show and have been watching it religiously since it first came on the air. Taking advantage of the popularity of reality TV land competition, Bravo came up with a show pitting cooks against each other. Think of it as Survivor for Chefs.  Thirteen Chefs battle it out for weeks until “there can be only one”.

Every week a new cooking challenge results in the elimination of one of the chefs by a panel of judges. The judges include Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi, Gail Simmons and a rotation of guest chefs.  They and the guest chefs are all rock stars in the culinary world.

The Real Hunger Games

This isn’t your cook me something yummy and may the best dish win. This is, make me a Michelin meal out of ingredients you find in a gasoline station mini-mart or the office vending machine.

My favorite episode is restaurant wars.  They divide into teams, come up with a concept, build a dining space to match the concept and menu, and boom make it happen on a limited budget of both time and money.  Needless to say, it’s quite entertaining.

One of my all-time favorite contestants is Sheldon Simeon from Hawaii. Sheldon is the classic island boy, laid back, and cooks straight from the heart. His grandmother served as his inspiration. His food roots, Asian/Filipino/Hawaiian home cooking with a twist that elevates simple to sublime.  I jumped on Team Sheldon early and was totally bummed when he did not win. He went home to the islands back to  Star Noodle on Maui.

So, of course, it became my mission on this trip to eat at there.

Star Noodle

Put Star Noodle on your Maui bucket list.

The food is delicious, it is down-home comfort food that starts with impeccable ingredients and finishes with a contemporary flair.  The chicken wings were sweet, salty, spicy, crispy, and light. The garlic noodles are simple but packed with flavor.  If you like pork belly…get the Pinoy version of Bacon & Eggs, sizzling chunks of pure porky goodness with a perfectly cooked 6-minute egg that oozes over the pork, yum.  Elvis would be jealous.

The malasadas, come to the table as little pillowy bites of sweetness accompanied by chocolate and caramel sauces.  If Leonard’s malasadas had hipster kids, these would be it.  Ironically I thought the ramen was just ok, but then again I’m from Cali y’all where good ramen can be found everywhere.

Star Noodle Malasadas

Halfway between Kaanapali and the Maui Airport, sits Leoda’s Kitchen & Pie Shop. It’s across from the beach off of Honoapi’ilani Hwy (try to say that 10 times real fast) in an unassuming strip, if you blink, you will miss it.  On my way to a Henry Kapono and Friends concert, I made a pitstop at Leoda’s.  I chose the banana cream pie, Island Lime Pie, and 2 savory hand pies.

Bananas for Banana Cream Pie

The standout was the banana cream pie. Yum.  The hand pies had too much crust and not enough filling.  I LOVE crust so this was surprising me, wishing for a bit more filling.  I kept the banana cream pie to share with the birthday girl.

So there we were Pam, Randi, and me sitting on the lanai overlooking the beach, eating pie, fresh mangoes, and papayas, sipping on our morning coffee-paradise found.

Checked out Henry of Cecilio & Kapono.  One of the best-known musical duets from the islands, folk meets island music. While my friends were dining at Roy’s I was enjoying the music of Henry Kapono which immediately transported me back in time to my first visit to the islands.

On the way to the airport…because I can never get enough island grindz, we stopped at Tin Roof.  We were fifth in line before the joint opened.  Might have been first if we hadn’t stopped for gas..just sayin’.  Tin Roof is Sheldon’s casual eatery, actually, it’s strictly take-out.  There is a bench in front but that’s where everyone sits waiting to get in.  Life’s 1st world island problems…

The star of Tin Roof is the bowls.  Poke’, Pork Belly, Mochiko Chicken.  You can choose to have the mains with rice or garlic noodles.  I liked the poke bowl the best. The food here is fresh and flavorful, broke da mouth not the bank good.  He has these vegan-like dessert Pono Pies that for me were just meh.  I’d rather head out for shaved ice at Ululani’s instead.

All I can say is so many places to eat, so little time….my review of Sheldon’s eats was totally objective and professional…I am not at all starstruck and I offer proof.

HOLY JUMPING CATFISH, SHELDON WAS AT TIN ROOF!!!!  So I asked to take one photo, yeah..I’m a groupie.