On our recent time in Maui, we revisited some of our favorite restaurants and found some new ones.

Dinners

Duke’s. A return from a lunch on our previous trip. Dinner was an experience. Our table, as we judged, was the third best (positioned for views and relative to the evening’s solo performer) in the packed (but with perfect service) waterfront Kaanapali restaurant. The food was as good as the atmosphere and the service. We shared very good two main plates: Herb-crusted grilled Swordfish with sautéed Macadamia nuts; and fire-grilled Opah with pineapple vinaigrette. Wine was a 2016 Duckhorn Sauv Blanc.  

Pacific’O. This is one of our long-time favorites places to eat. Although the evening began inauspiciously with a misunderstanding around our reservation and a poor handling of the situation, all ended well. We each ordered one of the selection of fish dishes. These were the wonderful combination of grilled ahi over O’o Farms greens, rice, Macadamia nuts, avocado, Flying Goat cheese and bacon-soy vinaigrette; and a “merely” very good grill-seared and olive oil-poached papia (mild, flaky white fish) with zuchinni and coconut puree. Just as important to the experience was a lovely 2014 Italian,  Livio Felluga Pinot Grigio. We ended with a fun, Moosetracks ice cream.  

Lahaina Grill, the best of our three dinner experiences so far. Grilled Opakapaka with risotto and vanilla bean-champagne sauce; grilled veal chop with port reduction sauce, truffle risotto ands asparagus, alone with an amazingly rich creamed spinach with marascapone and parmesan cheese. As if this wasn’t enough, we had to try the delicious three berry pie with raspberry, blackberry and black currant with strawberries and whipped cream. Dinner was accompanieds by a 2015 Bergstrom Cumberland Reserve Pinot. A wonderful meal.

Japango, a Japanese restaurant at the Hyatt Regency, where we began with edamame which for some strange reason, could not be properly cooked (and therefore not charged for), a delicious seafood udon with a lobster, shrimp, scallop, clams, baby bok choy, mushrooms and snow peas with udon noodles in a rich, savory broth. As if we really needed more, we followed up with a pleasant hoisin-glazed pork ribs with macadamia nuts and green apple slaw. The meal called for a moderately dry, savory sake such as that from Yuri Maramune.

Mauka Makai, in the newest of the Westin’s three complexes, where we had a wonderful table with a picture-perfectg view of the sunset over the pool., filtered by a ring of palm trees. Nore with dinner half-bad. Joyce enjoyed, but was not overly impressed with her seared ahi with roasted nutss, rive and asparagus tempura. I, however, thoroughly enjoyed a three-course dinner beginning with Kula tomato and Maui Surfing goat goat cheese salad. Then to pan-roasted broadbill swordfish with roasted vegetable nage and ginger-scallion pesto. The dinner ended with Baked Maui; pound cake, merengue, coconut ice cream and Kula strawberries. And our course there was our wine, a 2016 Mer Soliel Silver.

Lunches

Pailolo Grill, actually a food truck that is permanently stationed next to one of the Kannapoli Westin resort’s pools, offers a larger menu than one would expect for a food truck. We enjoyed our snack of shrimp and monchong (a type of Hawaiian pomfret) ceviche lettuce wrap with a side order of big, juicy (but slightly over fried for our tastes) onion rings. A nice snack for one of our few days ocean and pool swimming. We picked up an Ahi sandwich another day.

Lilioni Pool Bar at the Marriot where we had a nice, unusual tasty shrimp, avocado and zucchini wrap with teriyaki sauce. After all we have been eating this trip, that proved to be both sufficient and satisfying.

Inu, at Westin’s newest complex, is another pool bar at which we had huge, nicely-cooked and tasty, beer-battered Maui onion rings and a pretty good ahi poke bowl with avocado, seaweed and soy on rice.