Eat With the Locals in Hawaii Part 2
Posted on 11. Sep, 2009 by Elaine Johnston in Articles, What's Cooking?
As promised, here is the continuation of my first article...Eat With the Locals in Hawaii
Let’s go to O’hau and Maui………
O’hau
O’ahu will continually surprise you with all she has to discover. Hawai’i's “Gathering Place” is for visitors who want to indulge their senses and still be able to feel the throbbing heartbeat of Hawai’i's resort excitement.
O’hau is an island of contrasts, a cosmopolitian city back-dropped by two magnificent mountain ranges and home to Diamond Head and the beach that first made these islands famous – Waikiki.
O’hau has more restaurants than all the other islands combined. Picking and choosing is not an easy task, but for fast food that doesn’t taste like fast food, head to the Diamond Head Market & Grill, just outside of Waikiki.
If you have ever visited a Whole Foods Market – located throughout the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom – you’ll feel right at home at Diamond Head Market & Grill.
You can grab gourmet items – both inside at the deli or outside at the counter – before you embark on the day’s adventures. Kapi’olani Park is nearby and perfect for a picnic.
Chef and owner Kelvin Ro has assembled a stellar menu…but, craved-after items include blueberry cream-cheese scones and an irresistible portobello mushroom burger perfectly grilled.
Open Daily 7 Days a Week
Hours of Operation: Market/Bakery/Deli: 6:30am-9pm
Grill/breakfast: 7:00am-10:30am Grill/lunch & dinner: 11:00am-9pm
Please note: breakfast ends 10:30am & lunch begins at 11:00am
3158 Monsarrat Ave. Honolulu, Hawaii 96815
(808) 732-0077 fax (808) 732-0088
Maui
When readers of Conde Nast Traveler and Travel & Leisure magazines were asked to name the “best island destination in the world,” they chose Maui. Not once, mind you, but seven years running.
It’s really no wonder that this island’s sun blessed beaches, her “golf coasts” and scenic small towns nestled at the base of volcanic summits have captured the hearts of those who know her. Maui, the second largest island in the Hawaiian chain, is many destinations in one.
Here you can golf, tennis, hike, bike, windsurf, snorkel, luxuriate in five-star comfort or kick back in a country bed and breakfast.
Only on Maui could the excitement of historic Lahaina Town with its trendy Hawai’i Regional Cuisine eateries give way to the solitude and serenity of a sumptuous sunrise at Haleakala crater.
No visit to Maui would be complete without a drive “upcountry.” Upcountry is a state of mind as well as a region that begins at about 1,000 feet above sea level at Pukalain and climbs up the slopes of magnificent Haleakala to the ranchland communities of Makawao, Kula, Keokea and ‘Ulupalakua. This is home to Maui’s oldest and largest ranches, where paniolo, as Hawaiian cowboys are called, still ride the Maui range.
If you happen to find yourself “riding the range” in your rented 4-wheel drive jeep, head for Kula. Flower farms flourish here, where the upcountry climate provides a congenial home for protea, carnations, bird of paradise and orchids. Farms here also grow sweet Kula onions and giant strawberries as well as the exotic produce served in many of Maui’s best restaurants.
It’s no wonder that French native Thierry Michelier has lived on Maui for close to 30 years and says he “knows what locals like.”
At his Kula restaurant, La Provence, you can get tropical scones, apple turnovers, quiches, tarts, and croissants from Wednesday through Sunday (the only days they are open). But on Saturdays and Sundays, a full breakfast menu is served, including the ever popular salmon and spinach crepe.
Don’t ask for muffins or donuts. Chef Michelier won’t make them…
La Provence is located in Kula, in Maui’s Upcountry, high on the slopes of Haleakala (House of the Sun), overlooking Maui’s Central Valley.
To get there from Kahului, take Highway 37 up Haleakala until you get to Kula Hardware, at the corner of Highway 36 and Kaa Street.
Turn left on Kaa Street, then right on Lower Kula Road. La Provence is about 1/4 mile down Lower Kula Road, at 5355.
Hours of Operation
La Provence is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner Wednesday through Sunday, from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM.
Don’t forget…tell them I sent you. Thanks so much!
Thanks for your time. If you have plans to visit Hawaii some day in the near future, I’m here to help. I am proud to say, I’ve been a Hawai’i Destination Specialist since 2005. Being a “specialist” gives me the ammunition to “make all your Hawaiian travel dreams come true!”
Please call me at 931-484-8228 or Email Me
In the words of Julia Child – “bon Appétit!”
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