We coffee’d up this morning and headed north with our cameras, as we decided the surf looked a bit high yet to snorkel off our beach. We noodled along in a relaxed way and drove as far as the Honokowai Valley, an area with one of the scariest roads EVAR. Normally, there’s a little school bus parked there at the top of the road, which acts as kind of a cue to stop and look over the one-lane road that goes down into the valley. But it wasn’t there today (maybe because it’s President’s Day, because I did see a sign for it.
Here’s what it looked like on one of our previous trips, anyway.
We noodled along after turning around at the bottom of the “scary road” and headed back toward Kaanapali, thinking that we’d stop in and get some brunch somewhere. But I erred in telling David to park at Kahekili Park, when we should have driven farther down towards the Sheraton. We discovered that the “beach walk” gets detoured away from the beach and through the grounds of the Royal Lahaina Resort, going WAY out of our way. Hungry, hot, and tired, we finally lost the trail entirely and wandered into the Sheraton and found something quite tasty to eat at their “Cliff Diver” beachside bar.
Feeling revived (we’d also walked down the steps to Honolua Bay, and walked back up), we didn’t look forward to the long, boring trek back to the car. Decided to cut away from the “beach path” and actually walk on the “beach” itself, which was pretty good exercise if a little hot and quite a workout. Drove back “home” to relax and futz with various Internet chores.
We’re now members (again) of the Pacific Whale Foundation and also booked on an all-day excursion tomorrow with them, so we’ll be on the water at last. Hoping to get some good photos tomorrow, we’ll see how they turn out.
Dinner started to loom and we decided on Cuatro, based on some favorable reviews on Yelp, and I’d have to totally agree with this one:
When Sansei turned out to have a 45 minute wait, I turned to my handy yelp app for an alternative. Fortunately, Cuatro was right next door and had no wait.
Our party of 4 wasn’t drinking, so we were able to sit outside. They don’t allow alcohol at their outdoor tables. Outside was a great option, as it was rather warm inside. Cuatro is cozy and cute, with a small number of tables. I was kind of relieved to find someplace that was going to be relaxing and quiet.
This place has an unusual concept – Mexican/Asian fusion. Very interesting. Their menu is simple, fresh fish with a selection of a few different preparations. It was perfect, we were looking for some good fresh fish and it looked like we hit the jackpot. I settled on the seared ahi prepared Mexican style and my dinner companions settled on the ono served Mauiterranean style.
My ahi arrived perfectly seared and incredibly tasty. The fish was spiced well and served with a fresh salsa on top. It was accompanied by a delicious mushroom rice. I seriously couldn’t stop eating it, it was that good.
My friends enjoyed their ono as well. The Mauiterranean preparation was light and simple, yet flavorful.
I also had the Mauiterranean-style ono, and it was a “WOW!” David enjoyed his ono too, which was the Riviera version. We also sat outside, because there were no available tables inside and we’d already had a beer at home. So that was no problem, and the people-watching was pretty good. It’s right next to the Kihei police sub-station, but nobody was doing any perp-walking or bringing in big busts. It’s just a quiet little strip mall by the Foodland, and Sansei is indeed at the end, with a long wait for a table. We were very happy with our dinners, but thought they needed maybe one more person to run interference inside (it’s a very small location). We did have a pleasant talk with the guy who took care of us (who may have been a partner or part-owner).
It was a nice evening, even though it was odd that some guy was on the pay phone near our table, speaking Spanish, for the entire time that we were there. He couldn’t have been a criminal, because, hey, the cop shop was right there. So we did wonder.
More specific to the meal, my fish was perfectly grilled, hot but not overcooked. One thing the Yelp posters didn’t mention was the delicious and tangy salad dressing, on a bed of very fresh and tender greens. Come to think of it, the turkey wrap I had at the beach bar had amazingly tasty greens, too. That’s something about Maui – if you’re at a restaurant that knows their business, no matter the price range, they serve locally grown produce. Mmmmm.
Tomorrow, not so much gourmet stuff is likely, as we’ll be nomming on board the excursion boat, and we’re planning on making pasta. Easy, peasy, we’ll be pooped from a day on the water with our marine mammal friends.
