Hawaiian Good Eats

This is probably going to end up longer than I hoped but every restaurant has a story behind it. And I understand if you don't care. I wouldn't have cared (and didn't care) until I went to Hawaii myself. Now that I'm back I notice it everywhere and crave more. So this is for me and my fellow island visitors.

Travaasa is the name of a hotel in Hana. It's about the only thing in Hana. We quickly realized this as our plan to drive the Road to Hana involved getting lunch in the namesake town and there wasn't exactly a "town". So we stopped there to have brunch. Brig ordered banana pancakes (w/ macadamia nuts & coconut syrup!) and a side of pineapple and I got eggs benedict (I know, boring. But they're new to me and I'm kind of obsessed now.) The waitress brought out a plate with legit one full side of a pineapple. It was the greatest thing I have ever tasted. I will never have pineapple again unless I'm in Hawaii because what we consider to be pineapple is not actually pineapple.

Cafe O'Lei is not a French restaurant (Cafe Au Lait) like Brig thought or a Mexican restaurant (Cafe Ole) like I thought. I don't remember this restaurant very well but I think it was OK. We ordered our first mai tais here.

Fred's Mexican Cafe & Cantina is a place Brig had heard about through her preparations for our trip. We sat outside and enjoyed their selection of real tropical beers (read: not Corona). Brig ordered an enchilada and the cook wrote Aloha on it in sour cream! If you like the Border Cafes/Margarita's of the world this is of the same ilk.

Kula Lodge & Restaurant was another Travaasa-type stop as we were hungry and happened to see it. The host took a while to seat us (he was running around but it wasn't busy). They had floor to ceiling windows so you could see their outside area but it was closed that day. This was another place we ordered brunch from. (It took us about half the week to get our bodies in synch with the 6 hour time difference.)

I made a point to check into all our restaurants on Foursquare for the express purpose of recreating our experience (and showing off to all my Twitter followers) but one place I didn't check in was Jack in the Box. That's right, we were in Maui and went to a Jack in the Box. Truth is neither Brig nor I had been to one before and we wanted to try it. The big letdown was that they were out of sourdough so half their sandwiches were off the board.

Kihei Aloha Ice Cream was a little place that had 100 different flavors written on a chalk board that took up one entire wall. I'm not a big I Scream guy but I liked it.

Moose McGillycuddy's shares a space with Fred's and is located right above it. They had some great burgers and Brig even got to keep her beer glass for her birthday! (They don't know this.)

Mama's Fish House is one of the best recommended restaurants on Maui. It is, of course, a seafood specialty place. They had their own private beach and were very popular. We had to make dinner reservations for 4:30 (which actually wasn't bad considering it was 10:30 EST). Their menu was updated daily and gave specific information on the fish they caught, who caught it, and where they caught it. For example, "Deep-water Ahi caught ten miles offshore from Hana by Matt Smith." Yeah, it was pretty serious. The food was top notch and I liked everything except our waiter.

Fat Boy Burger was kind of an accident. Brig had been watching the local channel the night before and it mentioned a restaurant down the street from us that she wanted to try. We had the address but 100% could not find the place. So instead, I saw this burger place (of course I did) and that's where we ended up. The burgers were fine, nothing extraordinary. It's not a dine-in restaurant but they do have a few tables set up in the courtyard.

Thursday night, we went to a luau at the Wailea Marriot called Te Au Moana (The Ocean Tide). First, it was a fantastic show but it also included a pig roast buffet (excellent) and an open bar. This is the luau to go to when you visit Maui.

Cheeseburger in Paradise was a spot that was recommended to us by someone at Ulua Beach. She had been staying in Lahaina and we were planning on taking a day trip up there so we added it to the itinerary. The place was packed but was very low-key. It was right on the beach and you could see the little crabs scuttling around below. Brig was able to get a huge tiki glass (she bought it this time) to take home.

Maui Tacos is a Hawaiian chain. They have a bunch of locations all over the island, usually pretty small shops. We saw a lot of people picking up to-go orders and only a few ate there. We went in not expecting much but were pleasantly surprised. I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you we considered opening a franchise here. I think it would be a big success.

Maui Gelato was a clean, bright place with a very knowledgable server. I say all that because I didn't like it at all. I got mint that was too minty and it turned into liquid too quickly and I got it all over myself. Next.

Last but not least was Stinger Ray's Tropical Bar & Grill. We spent 4 hours there waiting for our flight in the Kahului Airport. Good beer, good service, plenty of apps. Just don't get the chili chees fries before a 5 hour, overnight flight. You're welcome.