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THAT’S AMORE . . . “When the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie, that’s amore.” . . . Hey, it’s the full moon tonight, and pizza does feel . . . like something to be smitten over for dinner.
Maui Brick Oven in Kihei tempts with its gluten-free crust. It’s flavorful, chewy and crunchy all at once.
“We use a blend of tapioca, rice, potato starch, xanthan gum and a few other starches to make up the flour,” says owner-founder Terry Covington. “Our food costs are a little higher, but it’s worth it. We’re not making hand over fist here, but Maui Brick Oven is a a successful concept.”
I’ll say. The little Kihei mom-and-pop opened in 2012, and by November of last year, the second Maui Brick Oven opened in Germantown, Tenn.
“Now that the two locations are operating, we are finalizing the forms needed to sell franchises,” says Covington. “To date, we have over 50 individuals in three countries interested in being a franchisee. We hope to offer locations this spring.”
Top-selling pies are the Meat Lover’s, the pesto-based Mediterranean, and the Polynesian Passion.
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LIFE IS A MASQUERADE . . . I’m still humming the soulful Leon Russell tune that jazz great George Benson turned into his signature and sang Tuesday night at the Castle Theater. As it turns out, three Maui non profits are also thinking along the lines that life is a masquerade.
On Friday, Maui Academy of Performing Arts will present Adventure on the High Seas Swashbuckling Soiree in which you are invited to dress as a pirate, a mermaid or an aristocrat. Food will be tops and some tickets are still available. Call 244-8760 or visit www.mauiacademy.org.
It’s months away from Halloween, yet you may dress up for Women Helping Women’s fundraiser on Sunday. Themed, “Sometimes You Have to Be Your own Superhero,” the event in King Kamehameha Golf Club in Waikapu also invites you to dress in costume.
Choose from Wonder Woman to Bat Girl and dine on classic Caesar salads, tri-color pasta, pepper-crusted New York steak with caramelized shallot au jus, Cornish game hen in an organic-apple glaze, horseradish mashed potatoes, vegetable medley, Kona coffee and tea.
“It will be an open bar, and we will also have magnificent desserts created by Chef Cheech Shurilla from UH Maui College’s Advanced Baking Program,” says Women Helping Women Executive Director Stacy Moniz. Call 242-6600.
On April 3, Imua Family Services will throw its Fantasia 2015: The Black and White Ball at the Hyatt Regency Maui in Kaanapali. Wear purple. (NOT! It’s the full moon talking.) The after party is themed A Return to Disco and the hotel will reinvent Studio 54. Platform shoes and polyester? Call 244-7467.
Even the Ai Pono Awards Gala on April 26 at the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa in Kaanapali has a theme, “Come With Us to the Casbah,” which can be confused with “cash bar.” Nah-nah just joking.
The famous line comes from the 1938 film trailer for “Algiers,” starring Heddy Lamar and Charles Boyer. But it was Pepe LePew in the Warner Bros. cartoon that turned it into a pickup line.
Remember that you may come as you are to any of these events – and they are all for good causes.
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BITS AND PIECES . . . Come to the first anniversary celebration at MiGRANT in the Wailea Beach Marriott Resort & Spa from 3 to 8 p.m. Sunday.
MiGRANT Chef Sheldon Simeon and managing partner Shep Gordon want one and all to “Come My House, Celebrate!” by opening early and offering food specials and happy-hour pricing all day. Willie K and Yoza will perform.
“Check out the oyster shooters, Tocino sweet pork, Korean fried chicken, roasted ahi belly, pancit noodles and Ay Kudesh! spicy garlic noodles, says Manager Melanie Wicker.
I hear that Chris Kulis of Capische? is headed to the White House for a culinary gig of the highest level. But first the chef will prepare foods for the Taste of School Gardens benefit Saturday at Hotel Wailea. Word has it Outrigger Pizza will be there, too. Now that’s amore.