B on Hawaii

New Menu Items a Homerun at Mama's Fish House

Once in a great while someone will email us asking why we cover the same restaurant twice before choosing to write about others. Well, when you talk about a high-caliber dining experience like that of Mama's Fish House on Maui, there really needs no explaining.

Fairmont Hotels are edging to become the islands' most eco-conscious large-scale resort group with yet another move to improve the 'aina. The Kea Lani (Maui) and Orchid (Big Island) just announced that they would participate in a global environmental event organized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on Saturday, March 27, whereby the hotel will "go dark" for one hour at 8:30 p.m.

The start of a New Year never fails to excite chefs and restaurateurs to get things off to a booming start. We've come across three such events in the coming few weeks that, if your palate is one that needs to be stimulated, you might want to consider attending.

Those that have been following the developments at Kapalua know that here, in one of the most spectacular locales on Maui (and the entire island chain), things have been evolving for the better part of two years.

In these lean economic times, when the numbers at Hawai`i's hotels are staggeringly low, what does the newest hotel chain on the block do? Why, they advertise the opportunity to "Own Your Own Resort for $25,000 per day", of course. Duh!

We recently sat down with Maui Chef de Cuisine Rich Hinojosa, the most recent culinary import to the Valley Isle. Posting up at Ka`anapali’s most expansive al fresco restaurant, Tropica, Hinojosa is pushing the envelope with creative platings that he honed at award-earning restaurants in Arizona.

Hawaii’s most Grammy Award winning producer, songwriter, composer and musician, Daniel Ho, has checked in from Los Angeles to let us know that he’s submitted a handful of albums for consideration of this year’s Grammy for Hawaiian music. As most of you know, Ho and Tia Carrere took last year’s Grammy with their duet album, ikena.

We've all heard the phrase "A Little Aloha Goes a Long Way". But "Aloha" isn't the first sentiment that comes to mind when you hear about big, corporate groups that descend upon large-scale resorts across Hawai`i for meetings or incentive travel. One small company is making a run to change all that.

The 10th Annual Maui Film Festival at Wailea could have faced shockingly low attendee records this year, thanks to a faltering economy and a collective tightening of the traveling public's purse strings. There could have been no celebrity attendees, a sweltering heat wave, and numerous other obstacles.

We’ve finally come down from the high that was the 28th Annual Kapalua Wine & Food Festival. This event has truly evolved over the 5 years we’ve attended: Where the focus used to be on the master sommeliers and their wealth of knowledge, it has come to be a showplace for the incredibly diverse (and also evolving) class of winemakers located eastward across the Pacific.