Maui cheap eats

[torakris]

Maui will be the second stop on our 2 week 3 island vacation this month and we will be there for 6 nights. My husband and I actually lived in Kihei for a while in the early '90's so we aren't newcomers to the island but our last visit was 12 years ago. It also looks like a lot of our favorite places have closed, I can't believe we will no longer be able to enjoy Nazo's oxtail soup or Azeka ribs....

We are renting a condo in Kanaapali so we plan on cooking some meals in, mostly breakfasts and some dinners. I have already made a reservation for my husband and I at Merriman's (Kapalua) for dinner one night but other than that I am looking for some cheap meals, mostly lunches.

I am thinking of going to the Honolua Store with my 12 year old for lunch before the 2 of us hit the zipline and rope challenge course at the Kapalua Bay Resort. We are also planning to try Da Kitchen in Kahului after we land as I have a feeling we will be starving.

Any other ideas for a family of 5 (kids 9,12, 14)? Like I mentioned in the Oahu thread, we are all adventurous eaters and prefer local foods when possible.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Da Kitchen is the real deal for local kine grinds.

[arni psito]

I'm not sure if this fits what you're looking for, but if you're heading toward Haleakala, there's a great French bakery/brunch place up in that direction. I think it's called La Provence, and to find it, you drive on Upper Kula Road till you see a hardware store. You take a left there, take a right behind the hardware store, and it's a few buildings further on, but doesn't really have a sign. They serve several varieties each of fantastic crepes and eggs benedict, not too pricey. By the way, I've really enjoyed some of your Cleveland tips when I go home to Ohio.

[torakris]

Thank you! We have a whole day up country trip planned so I will check them out.

[torakris]

I just had to share the most amazing thing that happened to us on Maui!

As I mentioned in my first post my husband and I lived there briefly many. many years ago and while we where there our favorite restaurant was called Nazo's and it was in Wailuku, they had the most incredible oxtail soup that I have been trying to recreate for 15 years. Unfortunately they changed hands and then closed a couple years ago.

Well anyway, on the last day of this trip we got together with a friend of ours from the island for a couple hours and she brought along her good friend Betty, whom we had never met before. We had been talking for about 2 hours when the conversation moved to food and Betty mentioned that her husband used have a restaurant but has since retired. It turns out they were the original owners of Nazo's! My husband and I almost cried. Betty doesn't use a computer but she has promised to send me the recipe for Nazo's famous oxtail soup!

As to the food we DID eat. Merriman's was absolutely wonderful, the only thing I was a little disappointed in was that we had made reservations for New Year's Eve and I didn't think to check that they would have a special (and very limited) menu. I had really wanted to order a couple of the tasting plates from the regular menu but was unable to. Everything was wonderful from the mojitos to the desserts that I am still dreaming about!

We didn't get to eat out as much as I had planned because we bought too much food at Costco and ended up cooking in almost every day.

We did have a nice lunches at both Maui Tacos (chicken and mango salad was great but the chicken tacos--Tuesday special-- were pretty gross)and the No Ka Oi Deli (wonderful sandwiches). Because our Go! flight leaving Oahu was delayed by 3 hours we didn't make it to the Da Kitchen in Kahului so we ended up going to the one in Lahaina. I found it to be average but maybe I was expecting too much. The Loco Moco was by far the favorite dish of our group. The chicken katsu was a little bland, especially compared to the one we had at Ted's Bakery on the North Shore, Oahu. The fried fish special was good but way too batter heavy.

All in all it was a wonderful trip.

[gfweb]

I'm not a big fan of Da Kitchen. Seems to all be very greasy and sit like lead in the stomach. Must be an acquired taste.