Yes to Maui! Fabulous!

My fabulous friends, allow Dave Sensei to state the obvious: Maui is a big island with about a million options for accommodations. Si o no? Claro que si! So let me save you some time and energy: you don’t want to stay in the 1,000-room concrete hotel tower megalopolises. You want to stay in the small village of Paia. Why? Because it is off the beaten track, and because the village of Paia is super-duper charming. More specifically, the Paia Inn is the place you want to be because it's right on the beach. And what a beach:

Aside from the weather being picture perfect every single day, the water is warm here and the waves are just the right size to play in without being smashed into pieces like on some tropical beaches. This here beach happens to be wide open with very few other folks, except for surfers in the morning. You only have to share with a few locals, such as this gentleman:

Remember, Kids: share, share, that's fair. And if you don't want to share the beach with Mr. Turty here, then go to your room. Your Paia Inn room, that is, which is quite fabulous:

No matter which room you are in, you will be only a few yards from the beach. We were in Lucky Number 11, and we loved the joint:

Beautiful Hawaiian artwork , lovely hardwood floors, And note the comfy day bed on which to lounge and recover from sunburn. And Candice the hotel manager was very gracious and kind, catering to any request we made and happy to offer some fabulous Hawaiian Aloha with her hospitality to us.

My daughter and I attended every sunset, followed by a dinner of Thai food and a Netflix binge on The Queen's Gambit, a series that we absolutely fell in love with and I highly recommend. But every evening at bedtime (after my bottle and bedtime story, of course), they put me down to sleep in this fine dream-making apparatus below:

My family has been to all of the Hawaiian islands many times, but we keep returning to Maui and to this beach in particular because of the ambiance. Owner Michael Baskin is an architect, and his taste shows throughout the suite. Something to savor, lads and lassies!

Speaking of savor, Holy Cats! Thai Spice is that rare combination of super-tasty and super-cheap!

Our first meal of green curry got us addicted, and the portions were so big they became lunch and dinner? Red curry next, followed by House Special Noodle.

Lord, have mercy! We almost felt guilty paying so little for so much joy in our mouths. But, we got over it.

I discovered another resort by asking some friends who are long-time residents of Maui for advice. They suggested I go for an Old School resort and I’m glad they did because the Napili Kai Beach Resort feels like Old Hawaii, and believe me: that’s a good thing.  

The beauty of this area is that back in the 1960s the locals had tremendous foresight and they passed an ordinance forbidding high rise condos. The small-town feeling, with many locals living around the resort, really makes a big difference. Both lovely and low-key, the Napili Kai Resort is situated on a bay that is like a calm bathtub where it’s easy to swim, snorkel, or paddle board.

We got the best of both worlds, because Napili hired a brilliant designer who preserved this Old Vibe while renovating many of the rooms into the 21st Century.

And did I mention the view? As soon as you enter the room, you are sucked out onto the balcony to see the ocean which is 20 yards from the balcony. The sights and sounds of the ocean are primal. In the same way we find campfires hypnotizing and can stare at them for hours, I couldn’t get my daughter off our balcony. She just wanted to lounge in the gorgeous wicker chairs and look past the waving palm trees out onto the ocean, with the sound of the surf in her ears. I spoke to many guests who have been returning to this place annually for decades. I understand.

And with a million restaurant options, how to choose? I have good news for you: as a travel writer I get jaded, and if you read a lot of travel articles, perhaps you get jaded too. But my Maui friends sent me to a chef who renews my faith in chefs, and he served us food that my daughter and I still rave about weeks later. I’m talking about the Restaurant Honu in Lahaina.

It was my daughter who started off the raving. Her Ahi bruschetta was a perfect combination of ahi tuna fresh out of the ocean, with edamame puree and a 20 year-old balsamic vinegar, all on a crispy flax seed bread. To quote her: “WOW, taking a bite wakes up your taste buds and says take note! You can’t think or talk, you can only savor.”

What my daughter meant was that Honu’s food woke her up, the way Buddhists talk about a moment of Enlightenment. Have you ever experienced a moment when suddenly you felt fully alive and fully present, and you notice even the tiniest, most routine details around you? It’s as if you become hyper-alive, and it seems like in the past you’ve been asleep until this moment when you wake up and become fully conscious of your reality. It’s the simple pleasure of being fully present.

If you’re like me, then during most meals you just mechanically fork food into your mouth, chew, and swallow, while thinking about something else. Some people sleepwalk, but this is “sleepeating.” If we don’t spend quality time being fully present to our food, seeing its beauty and languorously inhaling its fragrance, we are getting less than half the pleasure we could derive from eating.

If you have forgotten to be present to your meal, Honu is one of those rare places that can wake you up. My daughter’s awakening brought me fully into the present, and suddenly I knew the mussels in tomato sauce were going to be fantastic before I even tasted them, because they smelled amazing. And I’m super picky about my octopus, having lived three years in Japan, but this grilled octopus with a beurre blanc sauce totally owned me.

So of course, I had to ask Chef Mark Ellman what separated him from other chefs, and the authenticity of his response moved me deeply: “Fear of losing it all,” was what he said. The restaurant business is so tough, and he has built such a reputation, that he has to be fully awake every day. He reads about food constantly. He samples other chefs. He is constantly in his restaurants, listening and observing. Mark Ellman creates superlative food because he is awake, and fully present to what he is creating. There is no arrogance here. What I am calling “being present” is what Mark would call “practising Aloha.” This man gives back to his community and has mentored many chefs on Maui, and the ones I spoke to had nothing but praise for Mark.

You’ll recognize the name of one of the graduates of Mark Ellman’s mentoring. Chef Sheldon Simeon has appeared on Bravo Network’s “Top Chef,” and he and his wife run an amazing mom and pop eatery in Kahului known as The Tin Roof.

In the Life-Changing Department, try the spicy chicken sandwich, the kale salad and the garlic noodles. Sure, the food looks great and tastes great, but take the time to practice sampling the “nose” of this food, because its fragrance is just as fantastic as Mark Ellman’s. Another big win.

Maui is always just the perfect place to chase away your winter blues. I wish you the same culinary and joy of nature that we have found here, so many times!

Love,

Your fabulous Dave Sensei