I thought they stayed at the grass shack and dined "al fresco" in front of the whales

<I>"There's nothing more relaxing than sitting on a large ocean front deck drinking Kona coffee, scanning the horizon waitng and hoping for the next whale to surface".</I>
This should be the title of the book you will write ..

We used to have an album someone gave us - The Songs of the Humpback Whale. We would play it and our dog would run around the house howling. Never could figure that out ... I want to hear them too .. in real life... Will there be photos of the little grass shack ?
I remembered where I had heard that phrase .. I think .. I learned to hula when I was a little girl living in Hawaii. I think that was the song they teach you to hula to :D

Ahh...food! Yes, we ate quite well.

But first...The Ultimate Light Show

The weather pattern for south Maui is fairly predictable this time of year. Calm in the mornings, with the trade winds from the Windward (east) picking up in the afternoon. Makena is pretty far south, so it can get pretty windy there in the afternoon. There are the big puffy clouds drifting by with the occasional passing shower, but not a lot of rain falls and the temps tend to be pretty high(84/65).

This year the weather pattern seemed a little unsettled and different from what I remember in the past. Generally it seemed cooler, cloudier and the winds seemed to be coming from different directions. Don't get me wrong, it was still gorgeous weather, and it was nice having the clouds cool things down a bit, but it just seemed different. Maybe island residents can explain what happened, but the weather forecasters started predicting thunder and lightning storms due to some phenomena happening over on the Big Island. We didn't pay much notice to what was being said as we were too busy relaxing. That is until one evening as we were driving home from dinner in Kihei, Martin and I saw a HUGE flash of lightning that seemed to be coming from upcountry or even higher up Haleakala. This thing lit up the sky like it was daytime! I have never seen lightning so bright before. Of course, I am from Northern California and we don't get lightning storms that often, so maybe those of you that live in the mid west or the south wouldn't have been that impressed, but I was! An odd thing...we heard no thunder and there was no rain. The lightning continued all the way back down Highway 31 as we drove home. Sometimes we could see the bolts and sometimes it was just a huge, bright FLASH. As I am driving, I am thinking, "Oh man, I can't wait to get home and watch the show!" Our place not only had a great view out to sea, but the front yard had a killer view up Haleakala, so we'd be able to see the lightning from there as well.

As soon as we got home we settled ourselves on the deck and watched the show. And what a show it was! The lightning was coming from behind us mostly and when it hit, the ocean was lit up like a Christmas tree and you could see Molokini like it was daytime! Every 10 seconds or so there would be a bright burst then darkness. I was amazed at how quickly the strikes came. This ebbed and flowed. Then off in the distance around West Maui and Lanai there was another light show brewing. The clouds were lit up from the inside by the lightning. It looked like light bulbs were going off from inside the clouds. So we were getting it from both sides, front and back so to speak. We moved around to the front of the house and looked at the lightning coming from up the mountain. The bolts were welll defined and beautiful. Staring into the lightning was a bit hard on my eyes so I moved around to the back of the house.

A natural wonder!

Martin was woken up around midnight by the wind. It was whipping up a storm. Palm fronds were flying through the air and so were the beach towels that we had hung on the deck! He ran around and picked everything up and brought it in while I of course slept through it. The rain started around 2 am and that woke me up. Both of us stood by the window and watched as the deluge came. I love watching storms and this one was a doozy! What a treat!

The weather remained a little hinky for another day, but then things seemed to settle back into a normal pattern of puffy clouds, cooling breezes and warm sun. Paradise.

Scarlett, I brought my ipod with a gazillion Hawaiian songs on it and the "Little Grass Shack" song is on it. My favorite though is this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdLLS...eature=related

more later...

Photos are being worked on...you know how that goes. I might be a while.

I'm loving your report. The whales and lightning sound wonderful -- as does coffee on the deck.

I'M JEALOUS!!!

So ... how does Maui compare to Kauai??? There will come a day when I can drag myself away from Kauai and find out for myself, but in the meantime, I'm interested in your thoughts.

NO S'DOC NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.#-O

Songdoc, think of Kauai as an apple and Maui as an orange. That's the best I can do I am afraid.

Is that a banana in your Speedo or are you just happy to be on Maui? :))

there aint nothin like a farmer's market frozen apple banana dipped in dark chocolate

just sayin'

Q, how magical, whales singing and slapping during the day and a lightening show at night. Who knew ? lol

Hi Scarlett, yes the storm was quite a sight. I just wish those darn whales would come in a little closer. I don't blame them.

Food and photos to come.

Maybe it's the banana???

Glad to hear the storm didn't send that <i>Grass</i> shack <i>up in smoke</i> #o

"think of Kauai as an apple and Maui as an orange"

I think of them as pineapples and mangoes ;-)

Kal -- no need to panic yet. It'll be only Kauai when I return in June/July. But there will come a time ...

Hey JohnD! What a way to go!

Good eats on Maui!

I started this thread before going to check on a few places I had been looking into and we ended up eating at many of them.

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...ts-on-maui.cfm

We ate at:

Sansei in Kihei. We had a fantastic meal here! The butterfish was seared perfectly and the texture was firm, yet tender. The ahi sushi is good. The crispy shrimp cake is die for and try to order at least one of the nightly specials as they are great too, We ordered a shrimp tempura roll that was a work of art and had little dollops of a delicious crab salad on each section of the roll. The fried udon noodles were also a hit. Even if you're not a sushi fan, this place should be on your radar screen. They serve fantastic fresh fish preparations as well as a wide variety of rice and noodle dishes and tempura. They open at 5:30 and there are two lines that have been forming since 5:00, One for those woth reservations and those without. We made a reservation and I would suggest that route. The apple dessert is not to be missed. Great service in such a busy and bustling place was a nice surprise. Our server was a real sweetie. $89 with mandatory 17%service added on.

On our way back from Hookipia Beach we stopped in Wailuku to eat at the Main Street Bistro. Wailuku is off the tourist map mostly, but it has some great places to eat. We had some good Thai food there last time. The Main Street Bistro is a quirky sort of place that serves "tapas". They are open from 11 to 3 for lunch and 3 to 7 for dinner, Monday through Friday. The owner/chef who has been a mainstay on Maui for years is a real character who knows how to cook up some interesting dishes that we really enjoyed. Different, but good. We started with some onion rings. The onions were super thin sliced, almost shaved, well battered, perfectly salted and not your garden variety chunky rings. I loved them, M was not too impressed as he likes his OR thick, well battered and substantial. Next were the Ahi Cones. Pieces of raw ahi were stuffed into "cones" made of flats of fried parmesan cheese. There was a healthy stuffing of garden greens inside with a little too much balsmaic vinegar. They were huge and good and the ahi was fresh and tasty, but the "cones" were more like a burrito. Good, but different. Next was the butterfish that was prepared unlike you will get at a Japanese restaurant. There was a whole filet that had been lightly sauteed and served with a ragout of vegetables and surrouned in some sort of reduction sauce with cream. The portion size was huge and the fish was good, but it was our least favorite dish. Our favorite and the one I'd go back for just to eat was the grilled poblano pepper! Wow. This was amazing. Stuffed with real white grits, Jack cheese and LOTS of spicy chorizo sausage, this pepper was packed with flavor, texture and zip. The pepper was gigantic. For those of us who are used to tapas being more on the petite size...forget about that here! Portions are huge. As the owner told us "The locals saw the samll portions and went "eh"? So now he makes things large to appeal to the local taste buds. I would recommend this place to anyone who wants to get out of their resort for something real and different. Don't be put off by Wailuku, it is the real Maui. The burger menu looked real interesting and we'll focus on that next time. :-d The meal was a great value at $64 including a 20% tip.

Before I forget...one of our great food finds this time was the Green Dragon Farmers Market in Kahului. We ate breakfast and lunch in for the most part and we always try to shop the farmer's markets when on island. This market was amazing! So many stall filled with so many wonderful things. We wandered around in a daze for a while before settling on which vendors and what to get. We focused mostly on the afforementioned apple bananas, papayas, pineapples and limes. Had we wanted to do more cooking at home, we would have been in heaven. Fresh corn, tomatoes, all sorts of beans and greens and things I have never seen before. If we lived on island (hmmmm...), this is where we would shop for our produce for sure. Prices were very low. 4 lovely and large papaya for $5 sounds good to me anytime. The hours are strange and change by the season. When we were here they were open from 7 to 4 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but I was told that they would soon be open everyday with longer hours, cooking demonstrations and live entertainment. This is a must do if you like fresh fruits and veggies sold by real local producers, and if open would be a great place to stop on the way from airport to your digs. Even a hotel mini-frig would hold enough items to make this worth a stop. ((Y))((Y))

Next up: Star Noodles, a GTG and more!

mmmmm - Sansei and tapas and farmers markets oh my!!!

all this banana talk has my head spinning and my stomach thinking banana fana. . .shirley, billy, marteen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2HBFdO7W0Q

Ahhh, love the lightening storm story. It seems you and Martln are treated to magical moments on your travels. I remember the whale breaching story from your previous trip. I wonder if some people are privy to those special events or more likely in my thinking, that some people have a bigger capacity to see the beauty in life. I think some people's take on the storm would have been "we had crappy weather for a couple of days while we were on Maui!"

LOL SeeHag! I was wondering and thinking the same thing about the attitude one takes regarding things that happen while traveling.

However, we've been fortunate to often be at the right place at the right time, but then again there was that time in New York where 10 seconds after I sat down on a bench, a bird flying overhead took a HUGE crap that landed right smack dab on my head.

That was not a moment to be savored, but Martin couldn't stop laughing and that helped me to get over it too. :-d

Funny Bill! At least it makes for a great story! We have managed to turn our "family food poisoning in London" story into a funny family lore story. My two sons who are adults now enjoy recounting the gross details. It figures that I take them to Europe for cultural enrichment and they remember porn on tv in Copenhagen, drinking in pubs at 16 and puking and pooping in our Knightsbridge flat.

bill, you were properly initiated to NYC!!!!! And, for the record...I grew up in tornado country and lightening scares the crap out of me!

Tornados scare the crap out of me!

More FOOD on Maui.

Star Noodles and a little Fodors GTG. About a week before we left, fodorite paula1470 let me know on the restuarant thread that she and a friend would be on Maui at the same time we were, and she proposed a GTG. Why not? I had missed meeting her at a SF GTG a few years ago and what better time to meet up with a fellow fodorite when we are both traveling?

It turns out we had both read food maven MelissaHI's blog entry and review of Star Noodles in Lahaina a few months back and were intrigued enough by the positive remarks to want to try it. I proposed that we meet up in Lahaina and eat dinner at Star Noodle, which is what we ended up doing.

So, after Martin and I dragged ourselves away from the art dealer who wanted us to part with a bag of cash we headed up the hill...WAY up the hill above Lahaina to Star Noodle to meet Paula and friend. As fate would have it, we both pulled into the parking lot at the same time and even though we'd neve met before, we somehow knew who was who. After introductions the four of us went in and found a wonderful, lively and busy little place with a lot of style. Meeting fodorites for the first time is always fun and before we knew it the four us were yapping away like we'd known each other before, and more less continued for the entire evening. We had a great time talking about recent trips and traveling and just about anything else that came up. We were starved and anxious to order and with a little help from our server here is what we had.

We started with the pork buns. These were more like little pork sandwiches and were not your conventional pork bun, but they were delicious. The pork was tender and the "bun" was great. They brought out several sauces for spicing them up if we wanted to. Order these. Then we had the crispy Vietnamese crepe with shrimp, pork and sprouts. We left the cutting duties to Martin and he did a great job divying it up into four equal size pieces. It was unlike any crepe I have had. More like a taco in some ways. The "crepe" crust was very crispy and had a nice flavor. The shrimp and pork filling was plentiful and tasty. It was a bit messy, but so far we were two for two as far as I was concerned. Next up was the Singapore noodles, a vermicelli noodles with veggies, chickena and shrimp. It was a bit light on the shrimp, but the dish overall was great and was goobled up. We ordered another noodle dish that was my favorite. The Star Udon with pork and scallions waa amazing. The Udon noodles were cut into inch long pieces and tossed with amasing spices and delicious ground pork. They were tender, yet with plenty of toothiness. This too was goobled up with gusto. We ordered the brussel sprouts, but they never came and we never noticed. Oh well...Yummy malasadas ended the meal and a really fun fodors GTG. Star Noodles is a real winner and so is were paula1470 and friend.

Wonderful reading! So glad you and Martin had a lovely time - makes me want to be in Hawaii NOW!

Forgot to mention the price of dinner at Star Noodle came to arouund $107.00 includes tip, one glass of wine and a bottle white jasmine sparkling tea.

and yet more FOOD info.

We loved our meal at Coconuts Fish Cafe in the Azeka Center (lots of strip malls in Kihei, many with good, local eats). This was our first dinner on our first day. We were a little wiped out and didn't want anything super fancy or expensive and this place fit the bill perfectly. You order at the counter and they bring your food out to you. There are lots of characters on Maui and the owner of this place was no exception. He zeroed in on us and shmoozed and chatted us up to no end. Nice guy and was obviously proud of his place. He even joined us at our table! Turns out he used to be police chief of a small, affluent community one burb north of where I grew up. It think I even recognized him (don't ask me how). Anyhow, he retired and moved to Maui 17 years ago and started Coconuts about two years ago. The place is cute with surfboards as tables and benches. Their specialties are fresh fish sandwiches and fish tacos all made with either ono or mahi. I love opakapaka, so when he told me that he had some as the special I had to order it. $11.00 brought me a nice sized piece of wonderful, fresh fish, a generous helping of brown rice and a good sized salad. It was very good and a great value. Martin had the mahi fish and chips and loved them as well. Whoever deep fried the fish knew what they were doing. It was super crispy, but the fish was just so tender and moist. The fries were great. The owner talked us into trying his chowder and that was great as well. We talked about returning for the fish tacos, as they looked delicious, but we never made it. For a cheapish, casual, no frills fish dinner or lunch, this place is a good choice. With soft drinks and tip the bill came to around $35.00

I had read some pretty positive reviews on yelp of a Japanese place in Kihei called Izakaya Matsu. We gave it a try and were glad we did. It is a small place and not at all fancy like Sansei located near the post office in Kihei. The menu runs the gamut from shabu shabu to sushi, to noodles, etc, etc. It took us forever to decide on what to eat as the choices were many. Our servers helped us decide. I think it was a mother/daughter team with the husband back in the kitchen. They were lovely people. We had the butterfish as I wanted to compare this one with the one we had at Sansei. It was very good. The fish was not quite as well prepared as Sansei. A little "wetter" or undercooked maybe, but the miso flavoring and spices on the well seared skin on this one blew Sansei's out of the water. It was very flavorful thanks to the perfect amount of miso seasoning. We liked it so much that we ordered another dish of it. The ahi sushi roll was just okay, not great but fine. The spider roll was better. The udon noodle dish (not soup) we had was very large and full of pork, shrimp and cabbage. Really good. We ordered fresh asparagus with bacon and that was a nice surprise too. Very simple flavors, but it worked. My favorite was the chicken kaarage. Ohhhh....the batter on the chicken pieces was to die for! Martin wanted to ask for the batter recipe, but didn't. Two orders of gyoza and two fried rice cakes later and...burp...we were done. All of this with tip came to around $65.00 which I think was a great deal. We'd go back.

My mouth is watering and now I am starving!!!! Wondering what I can do with some boring ole chicken for dinner!!!! Your trip reports are always such a wonderful read! Aloha!~

Marinate the chicken is soy sauce. Batter it and fry it up in small pieces just like the Pono Market on the hell-hole does it! Not exactly "eating light", but you asked! :)

Billlaaaaaaaaay...$107??!?!?!?
I hope that included Paula and friends!

Songdoc...we are shooting for May/June (late b'day present for Mrs K) for Taste Of Hawaii but I'm sure we'll be in different places together again on Kauai.

Great report! It sounds like a fantastic trip!

Kal, you know that Marteeen can eat $107.00 worth of noodles easy.

Actually, I think it was $107.00 just for paula1470's wine tab. :)

Bill-I'm not on here to defend myself so you mention the wine tab!! Maybe you should tell them about the jasmine sparkling tea. Bill and Martin ordered the tea and then looked at the menu. The waitress had already walked off so we got her attention and Bill said, "Are you telling me that I just ordered tea that costs $20?" The waitress says, "Yes". It was pretty funny but after some discussion they decided to spurge and order the tea. I will say it was a very big bottle but I doubt any of us will order $20 tea again any time soon! My wine was a little expensive for a glass but it was from Au Bon Climate which is a fantastic winery in Santa Barbara. We really did get a lot of food and drink for our $107.00.

The GTG was so much fun and Bill was right about seeming like old friends in just a few minutes. The food at Star Noodle really was great. We did have one more dish which was a special that night. Can't remember the name but it was grilled tofu with brie, bacon and other ingredients. It was cut into triangles and was very tasty. I think the Crepes were
my favorite but I enjoyed everything. Will definitely eat there again next time I'm on Maui.

I've never had much luck seeing the whales. It's like they know I'm coming so they head the opposite way. But they were defnitely out this trip and so amazing to watch. The electric storm was very exciting and I was told by people who live on Maui that this type of storm is pretty unusual. My friend and I had driven to the upcountry that afternoon and the storm was definitely coming from that direction.

Not to take over Bill's trip report but I will give a quick review on one restaurant I tried this trip and really enjoyed. When Bill started his restaurant thread, some had recommended 808Bistro in Kihei. My friend and I ate dinner there the first night we arrived. We made a reservation as suggested and noted that the restaurant is BYOB. They don't have a corkage fee. We went at 7pm and they were very busy so glad we had the reservation. Nice patio dining. My friend had the Pork Chop with Carmelized Black Current Onions, Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Vegetables. I had the Braised Boneless Short Rib with BBQ Mustard Sauce, Potatoes and Vegetables. Both dishes were very tasty and the meat was cooked just right. We had ordered one salad to share before dinner but the waitress forgot to bring it. The manager comped a salad for each of us which was very nice particularly because we didn't complain. The prices were very reasonable with each entree running $17-18 and the small salad running $8. I ate mostly fish and Asian during my week in Hawaii so enjoyed this dinner to get my meat and potatoes fix!! They do have fish on the menu.


Bill-thanks for your review of the other restaurants. Izakaya Matsu sounds good and will have to try it next time.

<i> Bill was right about seeming like old friends in just a few minutes.</i>

I find this hard to believe about the two of you. :^o

More places we ate...

Any visit to Maui would not be complete without a visit to the Hali'imaile General Store in the thriving upcountry metropolis of Hali'imaile. This was our splurge dinner of the trip and it was so worth it. I just love this place. It is unique to anything else on Maui and is consistently good and the service is excellent. We were treated like the queens we are.

We skipped the sashimi napoleon for a duo of other tasty apps. I had the poached heirloom tomato filled with herbed goat cheese and served with basil aioli and a browned butter crostini. This was amazing! The tomato was actually poached in olive oil and was served warm so the goat cheese stuffed inside the tomato was sort of melty. Oddly enough the brown butter crostini was almost better than the tomato. Our server came by as I was finishing it and savoring the last bite. She asked me how everything was and I looked at the last crumbs of the crostini and then at her and said, "The crostini was amazing." She said, "Do you want another?" "Yes, please." In a couple of minutes a small plate with TWO crostini was delivered. What service! Delicious. Martin is already planning to make the tomatoes this summer when the tomatoes at the farmer's market come in. I told him he can make the brown butter crostini anytime. Martin started with the Asian Duck Tostada, which he said was fantastic. It was more like a duck confit salad served on a crispy tortilla. There was a lot going on flavor-wise, but it was good. I think mine was better though. Martin ordered the blackened ahi for an entree. It was hot and spicy and cooked perfectly. I had a hanger steak (I know what was I thinking?) It was good and served nicely, but of all the delicious things on this menu I am still mystified by my choice. Martin won round two. Pineapple upside cake for me for dessert and Martin had the lilikoi brulee in an almond brttle cup. The upside down cake was soooooooooooooooooooooo good and the brulee was very good too, but we both agreed that the winner was the cake.

Eating here feels so comfortable and relaxing even when the bill is produced :-d. Two big ((Y))((Y))

The only semi disappointing meal we had on this trip was at Bistro 808 in Kihei. The food wasn't terrible, it just wasn't that great and the service left a lot to be desired. The owner of the place brought out our main courses while we were still eating our appetizers. When we looked at him and said we were still working on the apps, he mumbled something about Martin doing a lot of talking and it took us to long to eat the apps as if that slowed us down and screwed up his pacing. WTF? While we continued to eat our apps, he moved things around the table and put our entrees down and walked away. Yikes. Nothing we ordered was memorable, but the prices are reasonable. I guess that is better than unmemorable and expensive, LOL. The place is popular and by the time we left at around 8 pm it was packed, so they must be doing something right, just not for us I guess. It is a pleasant atmosphere as you are eating outside in a garden setting with a view of the ocean across the street, but that would not be enough to get me to come back. Too bad.

One place a wanted to try, but we never made it too was Cuatro. We walked by one night and looked at the menu and it just didn't seem that interesting, but in retrospect, we should have trusted what some here and other places have said about it and eaten there. Next time.

Another place I want to try next time is the Monkeypod Kitchen in upper Wailea. It is a new place run by Peter Merriman's company. It just opened in February. If anyone by chance has eaten there, please post a review or let us know how it was. It looks like it could be a winner.

So that is it. We had a great trip. I love Maui the way we do Maui. A week at the Westin, or the Hyatt would not be for us, but the vacation rental route works for us and we've been fortunate to have found great places. A week is never long enough, but we'll remedy that next time we go. Maybe 10 nights in Makena and two or three in Hana?

I am happy to answer any questions. Mahalo.

Ah paula! You had to mention the $20 bottle of tea! @-) LOL. That was a bit shocking, but what the hell? It's Maui and we're at a GTG! When we got home we found that you can actually buy it at Whole Foods (Whole Paycheck) for a very reasonable $13.00! Gasp. A one time deal for sure. And thanks for mentioning the tofu and brie thing. That was very good too as was the rest of it.

Interesting about your experience at Bistro 808. Just goes to show you how different people's experiences can be and to take all these reviews worth a grain of salt. I am glad that you dinner there was better than ours.

I am also happy that you got see the whales this time. Thanks so much for initiating the GTG. Hopefully we can do it again sometime soon.

"Turns out he used to be police chief of a small, affluent community one burb north of where I grew up. It think I even recognized him (don't ask me how). "

I don't know 'how' but I can guess with numerous theories 'why'

fantastic report, mahalo for sharing and malama pono de secret hale de grasse

Bill-I feel bad about your experience at 808 Bistro because I think I had told you we enjoyed our dinner there. I will agree that the service left something to be desired. Like I said, the waitress forgot our salad so the manager brought us two. I am shocked, though, at what was said to you. If that happened to me, I'm sure I wouldn't go back. We did enjoy our meal so I think for the price, the restaurant has good value and a nice setting. Was it the top on my list? Absolutely not. As I'm sure you noticed, my friend is not the most adventuresome eater, so it was a good restaurant for those who like more traditional food.

Hi paula- don't feel bad, it wasn't your fault! I've just never experienced service that weird before. That was the only questionable dinner out of 7...not bad!

I am really looking forward to going back to try the other places that got missed and to vist Star Noodle again. YUM!

I am going to have to look for that tea at Whole Foods!

Jealous that you and Paula got to get together. Paula and I tried for sometime to gtg in Southern California and for a variety of reasons it never worked - but she has been to my home... long story :)).

I HATE when they bring the entry on top of the appetizer...

momdd, I think paula is going to be in Hawaii again sometime soon. Maybe something will work out for a GTG then? She is a real sweetie and fun too!

I am afraid the $20 tea story is going to morph into one of those travel stories that will be fun to tell over and over again as the years go by.