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AROUND THE TOWN . . . Celebrating old Hawaii in the historic town of Lahaina, the Lahaina Plantation Days will be presented for the last time Oct. 16 and 17 at the Old Pioneer Mill smokestack site.
Highlights are signature dishes by 15 Maui restaurants, a beer and wine garden, coffee tent, keiki game zone, farmers market and art gallery. Entertainers include Amy Hanaiali’i, Willie K and Melveen Leed.
The Plantation Life tent will highlight cultural cuisines of this era, including Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Portuguese, Korean, Okinawan and Puerto Rican; along with displays of cooking implements, cooking styles, foods, preserving methods and vegetable gardens.
“These wonderful activities will be a fitting tribute to an era that has touched so many lives,” says Theo Morrison, the longtime executive director of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation.
Sometimes it’s been said that the best wine is a beer. But this will not be the case at the annual Hui No’eau Wailea Food & Wine Celebration that will have Chambers & Chambers Fine Wines merchants pouring some of the best vino in America.
Tickets are now on sale for the affair that will flow from 5 to 8 p.m. Nov. 14 at Hotel Wailea. Participants include from host restaurant Capische? to 5 Palms to Cuatro to Ruth’s Chris Steak House. Standard tickets are $150 and premium tickets are $275. Call 572-6560 or visit www.huinoeau.com/events.
Restaurateur and chef Mark Ellman has a funny sense of humor. He used to write me that his email messages were sent from his Vitamix. In his latest note, he says it’s sent from his Nigerian pygmie goat.
Funny guy. But his upcoming event Oct. 9 is for a serious cause. He’ll host a fundraiser for Kula Kauapuni ‘O Nahi ‘ena’ena Hawaiian language immersion school in West Maui at his Lahaina restaurants, Mala Ocean Tavern and the adjoining Honu Seafood & Pizza as well as Frida’s Mexican Beach House. Just come in that day for lunch and dinner – and he’ll donate 10 percent of sales from each to the school programs.
Ellman’s sister, Gerry Ellman, says that the whole fish at Frida’s is cooked to perfection and then presented with all manner of fun Mexican salsas and accompaniments. It’s usually fresh opakapaka.
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BITS AND PIECES . . . Owner-baker Kellee Houghtaling of the new Maui Pies in Kihei is whipping up cream versions laced with lilikoi or chocolate haupia. Word on the street is that the strawberry and mango crumb is da bomb.
Armchair quarterbacks will want to get in on the gridiron action during NFL season at Pineapple Grill Restaurant in Kapalua. With four flat screen TVs in its lounge, it boasts drink and food specials every game day.
The build-it-your-way Bloody Mary bar is interactive, in the sense you may choose your favorite brand of liquor along with a selection of interesting food enhancements like shrimp, bacon and pickled asparagus.
The enhancements change weekly for every NFL game and the array of ingredients will score a touchdown in the taste department.
Tap beer selections are specially priced on Sundays with Kona Big Wave pints only $5. Chef Robert Barrera’s football menu is a winner, too, with appetizer plates of chili cheese dogs, kalua pork nachos and Niihau lamb sliders from $5 to $9.
Restaurant Week Wailea is coming up Nov. 1 to 7, so pencil it in now for multicourse meal deals at a number of top restaurants, including Wolfgang Puck’s Spago as well as DUO and Ferraro’s Bar e Ristorante at Four Seasons Resort Maui.