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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

The Market by Capische (as it’s called on the signage –  other sources give it other appellations, but we’ll let those slide) is, as the name implies, a market. However, it’s more a shop of the ‘$100 picnic’ ilk than a place for area residents to grab some basic staples on the way home… well,...

What do Thai food, three-wheeled auto rickshaws, and a psychedelic school bus straight out of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test have in common? If you said “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” or “The Grateful Dead,” you’re probably right. However, in this particular case, the answer we were...

Izakaya Matsu, located in the Makai Azeka Shopping Center, offers a unique opportunity to sample some traditional Japanese pub fare here on Maui. If you aren’t already familiar, an izakaya is a Japanese tavern that serves Japanese-style tapas, making it akin to a Japanese gastropub. (We will...

By David Kvasnicka Vanessa Wolf  of Maui Now has been nominated for a national award for food journalism by the Association of Food Journalists. The AFJ selected Vanessa Wolf as one of three finalists in the ‘Best Restaurant Criticism’ category for her reviews of eating establishments on...

If you were alive at the time, you may recall that back in 1934: Dirt storms swept across the American Midwest, destroying 100 million acres and damaging another 200 million resulting in a natural disaster now known as the Dust Bowl. Adolph Hitler became Fuhrer. Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker...

In the book “It Must Have Been Something I Ate,” award-winning food writer Jeffrey Steingarten dedicates an entire chapter to one topic: pizza. How much can be said about pizza, really? Watch and learn. Largely considered an Italian invention, pizza (or a concoction going by that name anyway)...

If you’ve ever been to Costa Rica, you know the expression “pura vida” – literally translated as “pure life” – is used extensively as a greeting, farewell, toast, adjective meant to communicate a laid-back lifestyle and even a synonym for “excellent.” But why? According to Wikipedia, “Pura...

First off, let’s just come out and address the obvious: Kihei’s Eskimo Candy is the epitome of false advertising if ever there were. Is it a chocolatier run by Inuits? A confectionery staffed with native Yupik people? Nope. Not even close. There aren’t even any sweets… well, unless your idea...