Maui Fresh Streatery: Turning Japanese (Maui Now) Nov08

Maui Fresh Streatery...

Radiohead – Creep The Who – Pinball Wizard Warrant – Cherry Pie Led Zeppelin –Stairway to Heaven What do these four songs have in common? If you guessed, “They’re all sung by men,” well, thanks Captain Obvious. However,  if you know your obscure rock history, you’re aware that despite...

Pranee vs. Nutcharee: Rumble in the Jungle (Maui Now) Oct31

Pranee vs. Nutcharee...

As anyone who’s anyone who knows anyone who knows anything knows, you don’t go to Hana without enjoying some lunch from Pranee’s Authentic Thai Food… or Nutcharee’s Authentic Thai Food, depending on the day. But for those with flexible schedules, the age-old debate rages: do you go Saturday...

Surfside Spirits and Deli: Kihei’s Best Kept Secret (Maui Now) Oct26

Surfside Spirits and...

Understated to the point of being near-invisible, Surfside Spirits and Deli in Kihei has no need to fly so low under the radar. Rather, this stealth bomber of plate lunch purveyors deserves a loud, proud and regular spot in your rotation. Beyond offering breakfast, lunch and dinner, there’s...

Blue Ginger Cafe: When You’ve Had Your Fill of Resort Food (Maui Now) Oct19

Blue Ginger Cafe: Wh...

When last we saw our hero, he was wearing a sky blue tuxedo and drifting toward Tahiti on the back of a fiberglass swan paddle boat. Fortunes changed, tides shifted, sky blue tuxedos disintegrated and were replaced with Gap straight fit khakis, workers toiled in the sun, and fortunes changed...

Kula Bistro: Upcountry’s Comfort Food Oasis (Maui Now) Oct11

Kula Bistro: Upcount...

And you may find yourself bracing against freezing cold And you may find yourself in another part of the world And you may find yourself behind the wheel of an out-of-control bike And you may find yourself in a beautiful room, with some beautiful food And you may ask yourself Well…How did I...

Choose from Oceans of Options at China Boat (Maui Now) Oct03

Choose from Oceans o...

For the love of General Tso, what does a person have to do to get some decent Chinese food on this rock? If this is a question sounds familiar, we have two words for you: China Boat. Admittedly, it’s no Char Hung Sut, but it’s arguably the best Maui has to offer. The 100-plus item menu reads...

808 Bistro: Comfort Food in a Secret Garden (Maui Now) Sep27

808 Bistro: Comfort ...

Tucked well out of sight behind Fred’s Mexican Cafe on South Kihei Road, you may not even realize 808 Bistro exists. Serving just breakfast and dinner in a surprisingly private, lush green setting, it’s somehow simultaneously front-and-center and off the beaten path. Regardless, should you...

Iron Imu BBQ Company Brings Texas to the West Side (Maui Now) Sep21

Iron Imu BBQ Company...

Authentic Texas-style barbecue is not something you’d expect to find on the shores of Maui – Napili Bay, to be exact – but if you find yourself at the cleverly named Iron Imu BBQ Company, you can expect to find the unexpected. Case in point: the restaurant itself is located in the lobby of...

Slightly Salty Serves Up Significantly Scrumptious Fare (Maui Now) Sep14

Slightly Salty Serve...

If the words “slightly salty” bring to mind terms like brackish, saline and briny, then prepare to log a whole new entry in your mental (and culinary) database. Most days the Slightly Salty food truck can be found in the Food Truck Oasis, that little cluster of stands that gather daily across...

Veg Out Takes Fast Food to a Whole New Level (Maui Now) Sep06

Veg Out Takes Fast F...

Raised on the east coast by people who used the oven to store Wonder Bread and cereal boxes, we arrived at the University of California at Santa Cruz having never seen – let alone eaten – an artichoke, avocado or block of tofu. Hippie colleges have a way of making vegans out of a person, and...

Penne Pasta Cafe: You Get What You Pay For (Maui Now) Aug22

Penne Pasta Cafe: Yo...

Family friendly, easy-on-the-budget dining options on Maui are a lot like the Hawaiian Monk Seal: rare. Penne Pasta Cafe in Lahaina solidly fills that niche, although the food itself often underwhelms. Noting the mention of “penne” in the name, we started with the Baked Penne NY ($10.95). The...

Ka’ana Kitchen Is Worth Every Shekel (Maui Now) Aug15

Ka’ana Kitchen Is Wo...

Whoever said “the best things in life are free” clearly never dined at Ka’ana Kitchen in the Andaz Maui. Alas, pricey is the way the gourmet resort cookie crumbles, but we promise you this: it’s worth it. For those that take to more “creative” measures to fund your new astronomical...

Fernando’s Mexican Grill Brings the Heat (Maui Now) Aug08

Fernando’s Mexican G...

Critiquing Mexican (or any cuisine, really) food on Maui is the social media equivalent of wearing a “kick me” sign to a Tae Kwon Do exhibition. Clearly, we like to live dangerously. Similarly, if you enjoy playing fast and loose with your taste buds, Fernando waits for you in all his...

The Liquor Shack and Deli: Maui’s Best Burger? (Maui Now) Aug01

The Liquor Shack and...

When two different people told us Maui’s best burgers are being served at upcountry’s humbly named Liquor Shack and Deli (formerly Liquor Shack and Grinds, near as we can tell), we figured “if a shack is good enough for the B-52s, it’s good enough for us.” So we gassed up our Chrysler (it...

The Gazebo Restaurant Makes You Wait for It (Maui Now) Jul25

The Gazebo Restauran...

You see, in this world there’s two kinds of people: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. Scratch that. In this world there’s four kinds of people: Those with loaded guns, those who dig, those who stand in line for breakfast and those who would rather do anything other than stand in line,...

Mulligans on the Blue: Bogeys and Birdies (Maui Now) Jul18

Mulligans on the Blu...

Mulligans on the Blue in Wailea is a veritable Maui institution known for Thursday quiz nights, rowdy St. Patrick’s Day celebrations and regular doses of the musical magic that is Willie K. But how’s the food? Happily, there are some reliable pub standards available. However, much like the...

Italian Delight: Lahaina’s NYC Portal? (Maui Now) Jul13

Italian Delight: Lah...

Nothing gets people going quite like debates about religion, politics or – apparently – pizza. Ever willing to admit if we were wrong, when several people (angry villagers with torches) recently suggested (insisted) that the best New York style pizza on Maui isn’t in (friggin’) Kihei, but...

Big Beach BBQ: Get Your 4th of July On (Maui Now) Jul04

Big Beach BBQ: Get Y...

What says “Fourth of July” quite like attempting to blow up your yard, passing cars and/or your person; all while inhaling the smokey siren song of sweet, sweet barbecue? Although we can’t help you in the procuring and igniting of said boom, if you’re looking for some ‘Q today – and don’t...

The Daily Grindz: Wear Your Fat Pantz (Maui Now) Jun27

The Daily Grindz: We...

Are you a sumo wrestler who can’t quite seem to fill up? Does it take fourteen Hungry Man dinners to stop the rumbling? Have you ever been chased out of an all-you-can eat restaurant for “taking brazen advantage” of the situation? You may have an eating disorder. Look into it. Meanwhile, get...

Molokai Burger: At the Center of Everything (Maui Now) Jun21

Molokai Burger: At t...

The island of Molokai is 260 square miles and – including two coffee shops, the bakery where you get the late night sweet bread and that ice cream/snack food place – boasts 15 glorious eating establishments, give or take. For those counting, that’s one restaurant per 17 square miles. As a...