Melissajoy

Now that I have some restaurants recommended to me for a romantic anniversary dinner, I have another question. Where can we eat for just plain old GREAT FOOD in South Maui, not touristy places, not fancy places, just where can we get some yummy, fresh, tasty food? Spicy is good too...

here_today_gone2Maui

I can tell you some of the places where we go, places where we grab an everyday meal.

For mixed plate, Da Kitchen or Maui Kitchen

Kihei Caffe for breakfast

KKO, Mulligan's

Aroma di Italia for spinach lasagna, Tiki Hut for sausages (they even have a few vegetarian sausages!)

Eskimo Candy take out counter for fresh fish, poke, sushi

Sala Thai

Horhitos on Tuesdays, $10 fajita night; Fernando's anytime for chile rellenos; Jawz Tacos, either their storefront or the taco truck at Makena

Sports Page for burgers, beer and the game

Sansei late night for sushi specials

Tradewinds for poolside pupus and happy hour drink specials. The poke is fresh and the portion is large.

Sala Thai
Vietnamese Cuisine

Those are all Kihei area.

But, here comes the disclaimer. These places are all good, some are better than others, some are always great. But since you asked for GREAT food, and you will probably be exploring the island to an extent, let me also share some of what my husband and I consider the best GREAT food. If you were coming to visit us, we'd take to these:

Pa`ia Fish Market. Hands down, best `ahi burger on the island. Wins the best-of polls of locals for a reason.

Milagros in Pa`ia for Mexican-inspired food, great for breakfast

Lahaina Coolers. Burgers, including a fabulous `ahi burger. We will drive to Lahaina for this one. Also, Lahaina Mixed Plate.

In Ha`iku, Colleen's for salads (the fries are pretty darned good too), Kitada's Kau Kau Korner for mixed plate.

Makawao, Casanova for Italian. It is a destination for us, worth the drive and the prices make up for the gas we spent getting there.

Finally, in Wailuku, Tiffany's Bar & Grill and A Saigon Café

Melissajoy

here_today_gone2Maui, wow, thanks for the list of good eats. I am already salivating for that 'ahi burger at Pa'ia FishMarket...I assume that's in Pa'ia up near the airport...which would be on our way to Hana since we're staying at the Maui Prince first. Hmmm but 'ahi burger for breakfast is a little weird...Well, I've got to try to fit that one in definitely!

Casanova might work because I want to stop in Makawao on our way up to see the sunset on Haleakala...we want to make that into a full-day trip.

Wonder if Milagros in Pa'ia would have food as good as the Mexican food we have here in San Diego...We could stop there for breakfast on our way to Hana.

Lahaina Coolers would be an hour's drive from Wailea? We might get up that far. We're mainly planning to explore South Maui, up to Haleakala area, and the road to Hana and areas near Hana.

Thanks!

here_today_gone2Maui

Well, Miagro's is Mexican-inspired, more of Nuevo Mexican-Pacific Rim.

Pa`ia Fishmarket doesn' t open till 11:00, but, if they were opened earlier I'd stop there for breakfast! But, then again, I eat fish for breakfast all the time. (It's my version of the cold pizza breakfast.) The sandwiches are pretty darned big. I usually like to order the upcountry salad and either an `ahi or ono burger and share them both with someone.

Darn, now i have an urge to drive to Pa`ia...

Melissajoy

Here_Today_Gone2Maui: I remember eating excellent ono in Kaui. In fact the best fish I ever had was ono in Kaui, but ever since then I have noticed that even if they have ono here in southern California it's never like the ono I had on Kaui...

what is ono anyway? Here in southern Cal we get different kinds of salmon and there are definite differences...I don't like Atlantic Salmon as well as some of the others. So are there different kinds of ono?

ahi is like tuna? (Excuse my fish ignorance here...) Tuna seems to vary a lot too!

travelinandgolfin

Maui, what do you think about Hirohachi?

here_today_gone2Maui

Ono is wahoo. I used to get incredible fresh ono at Gelsons in Silverlake. `Ahi is yellowfin tuna. I always was able to find that in great abundance in Pasadena. Altantic salmon is farmed raised, and nearly always dye injected, to give it that nice artificial red color. I don't eat Atlantic salmon, as the farming process is very environmentally unsound which puts it on the seafood watch Avoid list.
http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/cr_seafoodw..._regional.aspx DH is always embarrassed when we go out and I start the drill on the waitstaff--is the `ahi pole or long-line caught? Is the salmon farm-raised? Why are you still selling Chilean Sea Bass... Roy's still has Chelean Sea Bass on the menu from time to time. *sigh*

golfin'dude: Hirohachi is not on my list. Being right next to Sansei, I never make it to Hirohachi. Their prices are too high, when I can go next door for the same price. I've eaten there just once. I am sure that if they were in another location I'd probably go there again, but I keep getting sucked into Sansei, or over to Aroma for spinach lasagna.

Now, Ichiban, over in Kahului, now that's a good deal.

Melissajoy

h_t_gone2Maui: I know how DH feels...my husband Vin is a biologist and likes to tell me what I can't eat. I can't eat veal, plus certain fish, it's hard to keep track!

If ono is wahoo then what's wahoo?! Vin thinks its baracuda.

Where's silverlake?

Thanks for the fish tales!

here_today_gone2Maui

Silver Lake is east of downtown LA/Hollywood, adjacent to Glendale, Pasadena. Sunset runs through it.

I don't what a wahoo is, other than a wahoo, but then my idea of sport fishing involves drinking margaritas in the galley and/or ordering from the sushi menu.