Eating a gut-busting Aloha mixed plate is getting about as close as you can to being Hawaiian. The islands’ ethnic mix of people invented the hybrid dish. The meat may be Japanese teriyaki, grilled Korean-style ribs or Hawaiian kalua pork. Two scoops of rice and one of macaroni salad crowd the rest of the plate. The folks at Aloha Mixed...

Cafe O’Lei has had as many location changes lately as a pop-up food truck. Gone is the home base in Wailuku as well as an outpost at Napili and the Makawao Steak House. The Kihei Rainbow Mall location, long a favorite with visitors, remains, as does a golf course cafe (Dunes at Maui Lani) For awhile, owners Michael and Dana...

Casanova Restaurant & Deli meets every edible need in Upcountry Maui with its Makawao-based Italian restaurant and deli. The day  starts early at the deli with breakfast, which might be home-made croissants and omelets. Of course there are lattes and any other espresso drink. Casanova got its espresso machine in 1986, the first in Upcountry, which has never been the...

Does Cheeseburger in Paradise dish up the best burger on Maui? Probably not. Is this the one place where you’ll line up in Lahaina? Probably. You and 1,200 other diners who do it daily. The Lahaina Cheeseburger opened more than 20 years ago. It started when two vacationing Southern California girls decided they were sick of fish. What they really...

Coffees of Hawaii is the place for a caffeine pit stop on Moloka‘i. The barista who serves up the Caramel Delite or the clerk who sells you a bag of Kini Kini beans will tell you the story of coffee from berry to mug. Out back, you’ll see rows of arrow-strait Arabica coffee trees. They thrive in the rich red...

Feast at Lele may be Maui’s most elegant lu‘au. You’ll sit at a table through the evening on an oceanside terrace at the 505 Front Street complex. A wait staff serves courses — no need to stand in a buffet line. Each course is matched to the entertainment, a journey to four islands of Polynesia plus dessert. The evening starts...

For a long time, Fish Market Maui made it easy for condo dwellers in North Ka‘anapali, Honokowai and Kahana to dine very well on their own lanai. They only had to pop in, pick up a foil pan of fish and go home to cook it. Directions came with the fish. No seasoning necessary; it was marinated. No pans to...

The Grand Wailea Lu‘au, or more poetically named Grand Lu‘au at Honua‘ula, takes its inspiration from Hawaiian myth as well as history. The show dramatizes the documented voyages of La‘amaikahiki and Moikeha, who settled on this area of Maui called Honua‘ula. Chants and hula also call on fire goddess Pele, Lilinoe of the mists and Maui mermaid Kananaka. Entertainers share...

Long before espresso drinks became fashionable, old-fashioned Grandma’s Coffee House was serving brew from homegrown Haleakala coffee. The family-owned business started in 1918, and four generations later, the coffee still flows out of this false-front building. The food served is much more elaborate than coffeehouse fare, with a surprising array of sandwiches, quiche, macnut pesto pasta or lasagna, meat loaf...

Hali‘imaile General Store, Bev Gannon’s first restaurant, has long been on Maui’s culinary map, though you may need a map to get here. Located at the edge of Upcountry, it’s on a crossroad that passes alongside the famed Maui Gold pineapple field. This once was the general store of plantation workers, though they wouldn’t recognize it now. Inside cheerful ceramics...

What do you get when you cross a cowboy with a surfer? The food style at Hana Ranch Restaurant. You’ll find Polynesian-inspired fare with fruit glazes on the meat and mahi mahi in the fish sandwich or on a salad, but you’ll also find a burger and steaks. It’s a great place to meet locals. Some days the entire Hana...

The reputation of this little storefront has reached the mainland. People in California talk about Honokowai Okazuya as if it’s a gourmet palace and not a strip mall take-out shop. And, truth to tell, it has detractors as well. The Pan-Asian menu runs to teriyaki, Kung pao chicken,  and salmon with Thai sweet chili sauce (yum). An okazuya is a...

Workers from the Maui Land and Pineapple Company used to eat their lunch on the porch of Honolua Store. Today Kapalua Resort employees do the same, but so do tourists who stay at Kapalua Villas, nearby upscale Ritz-Carlton or Montage, or elsewhere on West Maui. No wonder. Who could resist sweet bread French toast or the local favorite, gut-busting loco moco...

Not many Maui restaurants offer the chance to wiggle your toes in the sand while you munch away on crab wontons and sip a mai tai. Hula Grill has a prime location on Ka‘anapali Beach with open-air tables in the Barefoot Bar sitting literally on the sand. It’s a fabulous spot for sunsets and people watching.  Nightly entertainment takes place...

A conch shell wail and thundering drums open the fast-paced Hyatt Regency Lu‘au. Held on the resort Sunset Terrace, the Drums of the Pacific program covers dances and music of Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Rarotonga and New Zealand. It’s known for high energy and dazzling effects. A pareo (sarong) fashion show is an unusual feature of this lu‘au. Models demonstrate the...

Japengo’s awards could fill this page. It’s located in the Hyatt Regency Maui. ‘Aipono Awards for Best Pacific Rim, Best Asian, Best Sushi. And the list goes on. The $5 million elegantly spiffed up space consists of an indoor sushi lounge and open-air areas, arranged like a small Japanese village with nooks and separate levels. Widely spaced tables, satiny dark...

Java Jazz and Soup Nutz is a coffee house, café and live music hangout under two roofs. It spreads over a double storefront in Honolowai Marketplace. It serves breakfast. lunch and dinner. The bar is jumping from late afternoon into the evening, when you can add live music. You’ll never be bored. Photos, artworks, posters, flags and quirky memorabilia encrust...

Think flea market crossed with food stall and souvenir stand and you’ve got Kalama Village. Several aisles fill this covered market that is much larger than it appears from the street. More than 40 vendors crowd stalls, nooks and crannies under the soaring roof. Meander up and down and you’ll find trinkets and resort wear, much of it imported from...

Bread-run alert. The ovens at Kanemitsu are hot and the famed bread run reigns as Moloka‘i’s answer to night life. Line up at the back door about 10 p.m. Wait until the first fluffy loaves are whisked out. White is basic, but the bread comes in 19 flavors, which steam up the plastic bag that wraps them. Order the works,...

Whether or not to book a lu‘au — it’s the Hawaiian vacation dilemma. Some travelers wouldn’t dream of it. Too cheesy. Too touristy. But it may be one of the most Hawaiian things you do, in spite of the fact that you’ll be sitting with a few hundred other people and the entertainers are professionals. Hawaiian families hold lu‘aus to...