Maui through food

One of the reasons Scott and I chose Maui for our honeymoon was the restaurant scene on the island. Maui has some great Hawaiian Regional Cuisine chefs. Basically, there are 2 types of cuisine in Hawaii (well, actually 3 if you count American food too). There is Hawaiian food, which is native Hawaiian food you get at luaus ( poi, roast pig, lomi-lomi), which is a mix of Hawaiian, Polynesian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spam. The fine dining establishments tend to stay away from this cuisine, but there are many local places, especially in Honolulu, where you can find good plate lunches (meat, rice, and potato salad). Now in the 1990s a few chefs decided that Hawaii needed a fine dining scene, so they "invented" a new style of cooking called Hawaiian Regional Cuisine, and it is delicious!! To be considered Hawaiian Regional Cuisine, the food must come from the islands. For example, locally caught fish vs. Alaskan halibut, Kula Farm beets vs. shipped from the mainland. Hawaii has been the front runner of local eating for years now, and now the mainland is finally catching up. Needless to say, Scott and I were totally spoiled our whole trip, knowing exactly what dairy our goat cheese came from (Surfing Goat), to the slopes where the lamb was raised (Haleakala). I was really thrown for a loop when we returned to California and the restaurant menu did not specify where the greens in my salad were grown!
So here's some of our meals we enjoyed on our Hawaiian honeymoon.

At Lahaina Grill. I had Lion Paw Scallops, celery root mash, local asparagus, pancetta chips, champagne-pomegranate buerre blanc sauce....Scott had pink snapper, garlic mashed potatoes, Dungenous crab, tomato confit...my scallops were one of my favorite dishes of the trip!

Mama's Fish House. This place was amazing, set in a private cove and decorated with an almost kitschy Hawaiian theme. People travel from far for this place (we drove 45 min. to have lunch here). They are known for their FRESH fish (take a look at the menu, you know EXACTLY where it is from!) They were a bit pricey though, a cup of coffee cost $10!!
Merriman's Kapalua. This restaurant opened a week before we ate there. Peter Merriman is our favorite Hawaiian chef, and we ate at his flagship restaurant on the big island 4 years ago, and it is still one of our most memorable meals together. We didn't even know he was opening a place on Maui, a server at a place by our hotel told us, we called them up and canceled our Spago reservations to eat here instead. It was well worth it, and we would have eaten here every night if we could!!! Scott's sashimi....ahi poke with sesame oil and local hamichi with citrus julienne, served with carmel soy sauce. My salad: Kula Farms heirloom beets, this was the best salad I have ever had, so simple and fresh. The amuse bouche was a pineapple gazpacho, my third favorite dish of the trip...Scott needs to reproduce it at home for me! And the view was amazing, the restaurant is on a point overlooking the ocean and Molokai...anyone going to Maui has to eat here!!