Category Archives: Travel

Dining, food, Travel

Places to eat in Lahaina Maui

Lahaina is located in West Maui, about one hour from the island’s main airport in Kahului. If you’re staying in Lahaina or any of the nearby areas, such as Ka’anapali or Kapalua, here are my “local’s knowedge” recommendations for where to eat, shop and play.

I’ll start with the disclaimer: This is a local knowledge list written with a bias for great food, low prices and hole in the wall joints. Mainland chain restaurants aren’t included. So if you’re looking for details about Cheeseburger in Paradise or Starbucks, this isn’t the place to find it. The local yellow pages is your best bet since all of those places pride themselves on being the same.

Where to Eat in Lahaina

The chain restaurants like Cheeseburger in Paradise, Bubba Gump and Benihana are already familiar. You pretty much know what to expect–large portions of deep fried or themed food–so I will skip those. For a casual lunch that is not overpriced for the quality, try Auntie Pasto’s or Balle.

For a fancy dinner Lahaina Grill (formerly David Pauls), Vino or Sansei are winners. Sansei offers an early bird special of half-price sushi before 6PM. If you can make it to dinner that early, one of the best fresh fish joints on Maui becomes downright affordable.

Other great dining options are I’O, Plantation House, Roy’s and Cafe O’Lei. The latter two also have locations in Kihei and are very family-friendly.

If you’re looking for where to eat in the Kihei area, take a look at my entry “In Kihei: Places to Eat”.

Culture, maui, Travel

The Maui Film Festival

What else is there to do on Maui when the weather is not postcard perfect? This holiday season the Maui Film Festival offers plenty of choices. Located at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center (or the MACC as locals calls it) in Kahului, the film fest brings together a few encore screenings of films previously shown at the MACC as well as a new line up of independents–many of which have been shown at other fests, but are new to Maui.

Before the evening shows, the Candelight Cafe is open in the courtyard, where food, drinks and music are available. For dinner last night before the 7:30 screening of “Juno“, I munched on a chicken caesar salad ($7) and washed it down with a glass of organic red wine ($6) while listening to a jazz trio (free) who brought it.

With an occupied tummy, I laughed heartily along with the near sell out crowd at the prickly dialog delivered by rising teen star Ellen Page along with a talented cast that included Jennifer Garner, Michael Cera, and Jason Bateman. The other films that I have seen so far this festival are “The Walker” starring Woody Harrelson and “I’m Not There” about singer/songwriter Bob Dylan. With another week and so many interesting films to go, I’m going to need to buy a second pass.

The festival started on December 12, 2007 and runs through December 30, 2007. Each day of the festival there are three screening times: 2:00 PM, 5:00 Pm, and 7:30 PM. A different film is shown each time. Screening listings, times and ticket information are available online.

Politics, Travel

Hawaii Superferry Traffic Jam in Maui

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This morning I left my house one hour ahead of my 11 AM dental appointment. The drive with normal morning Maui traffic takes 30 minutes or less. Sipping my chai latte from my stainless steel to go cup, the drive along Hana Highway to Kahului was clear as I zipped along in the morning sunshine. I pictured myself arriving early at the clinic, leisurely filling out the forms and maybe being called in early.

The last mile of my journey took 35 minutes. The road was open–no accidents, road crews or lane closures. My car was running fine–no flat tires or spewing pipes. As I turned onto Pu’unene Avenue, I inched a little closer to the center line to rubber neck the delay. In the distance at the end of the road docked next to two cruise ships was the Hawaii Superferry. It had just pulled into the Kahului Harbor and was offloading cars from Oahu.

As I finished my tea and watched the clock tick pat my appointment time, my frustration boiled. This situation is exactly what an environment impact statement (EIS) would have uncovered. The State, County and Superferry would have had to work it out before letting the ferry start ferrying. But at the last minute in special session and under major pressure from the governor, the State legislature passed a new law specifically for the Superferry exempting it from doing an EIS.

For those residents of Maui who may be open to the ferry but find such strong arm tactics by our government to be a mockery of democracy emitting the stink of special interests, elections seem too far away. As I got my teeth cleaned, I drooled over the idea of a legislative house cleaning.