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Coladas is now targeting early February for its soft opening in the former Wailea Kitchen & Tap and, before that, Joe’s. It has the same owner as the Farmacy health-food outlets in Wailuku and Pukalani. Menu items will include luau-leaf spanakopita, zucchini pasta and cauliflower wings with vegan ranch dressing.
“I believe we’re going to be the first vegetarian restaurant in Wailea,” says owner-chef Christopher Malik. “I’ve been doing vegetarian and alkaline gourmet foods for five years now. Coladas is aimed at the tourist. We’ll be making ‘clean’ foods and ‘dirty’ juices, meaning it will be a juice bar with a liquor license.” For more details, call 868-2323 or visit coladasmaui.com.
Across Wailea Ike Drive is Wailea Village, the new shopping and dining destination that houses the new Akamai Coffee Co. (near Manoli’s). Now it’s hooked a big catch with ‘Opihi, a 5,000-square-foot restaurant targeted to open by Nov. 1. The owner is Hawaii-born Troy Guard, named one of the “Great Regional Chefs of America” by the James Beard Foundation. A former protege of Roy Yamaguchi, Guard has cooked for Roy’s in Tokyo, Hong Kong and New York. While he now resides in Denver and has 13 restaurants under his belt, he plans to buy a house here. Guard said on a recent tour of the restaurant that some of his favorite childhood memories are picking opihi with his dad, uncles and cousins while growing up on Oahu.
“I wanted the restaurant name to have a personal meaning and also stand for something important. My wife and I want to make sure we appreciate the culture correctly and respectfully by sharing knowledge about the state of opihi now and what we can do to keep it thriving,” he said. “We want to bring awareness to its plight of decreasing population due to over-picking. We will be supporting the ‘Opihi Rest Areas (no-pick zones) initiative by Kipahulu Ohana’s Malama i ke Kai program through various fundraisers leading up to the opening.”
While ‘Opihi will boast a raw bar with oysters, crab, poke, ceviche, crudo and such, opihi will not be on the menu. Guard said the restaurant will focus on seasonal and sustainable harvests of seafood, prime meats and fresh produce. He also plans to support Maui County Farm Bureau’s “Agriculture in the Classroom” program at Haleakala Ranch this spring, teaching more than 1,000 students over two days about the nutritional benefits of fresh produce. For more details, visit opihirestaurant.com.
BIG PARTY FOR BIG GAME
Maui Arts & Cultural Center in Kahului will be the place for armchair quarterbacks Feb. 2, when the San Francisco 49ers battle the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV, to be broadcast live on Hawaii’s largest movie screen inside the Castle Theater and on a high-definition LED screen outdoors in the Yokouchi Pavilion. “The Big Game” features Willie K and his band, food trucks including Three’s Bar & Grill, Pele’s Pizza Hawai‘i, The Corn Project and Real Fruit Ice Cream Hawaii along with alcohol and soft drinks and desserts.
Admission to the all-ages event is free; gates open at noon with kickoff at 1:30 p.m. No outside food or beverages allowed, and no tailgating in the parking lot, please.
Another free MACC event is “Art=Mixx: Enchanted” from 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday for the 21+ crowd. It’s a fusion of visual and video art, music, fashion, dance and more. Costumes are encouraged. Purchase tickets to the VIP Lounge for $40. Visit mauiarts.org.
LUNAR NEW YEAR FEAST
Lion dancers from Au’s Shaolin Arts Society will offer wonderful photo ops and a lively display of dancing at 10 a.m. and noon Feb. 2 at Ka‘anapali Beach Hotel’s annual Chinese New Year Brunch. There will be fireworks and Hawaiian entertainment as you dine on auspicious, all-you-can-eat fare from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the open-air Tiki Terrace and Courtyard, spreading into the air-conditioned Kanahele Room to accommodate the hungry crowds.
Begin with broccoli, tofu, watercress and bean sprout salad tossed with sesame dressing, and pile on char siu duck, shrimp egg foo young, braised short ribs and steamed fish in ginger, scallion and hot oil — all prepared by executive sous-chef Chris Napoleon and KBH staff. Chinese desserts range from almond floats to ginger creme brulee. American and island-style cuisine also will be plentiful. Cost is $50 for adults and $25 for keiki 6 to 12 years of age. Reservations are required. Call 667-0124.
Enjoy these Sunday brunches while they last — KBH is good to go on a $65 million renovation that will close Tiki Terrace and its iconic outdoor bar when the new Huihui oceanfront restaurant is targeted to open in December. At 5,000 square feet, Huihui will double as a canoe hale and Hawaiian sailing academy and will be set just 85 feet back from the shoreline.
IT’S COOKING AT UHMC
At the University of Hawaii Maui College’s Pa‘ina Building in Kahului, The Leis Family Class Act has reopened for the spring semester. It is rotating American, Asian, Moroccan, French and Italian multicourse luncheons from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays. This is Open Table’s top restaurant in Hawaii in terms of value and No. 2 for best food, based on diner reviews, and reservations are coveted. You may BYOB. Call 984-3280.
It’s tradition to award culinary arts students with minischolarships of books and tools. Most improved students from the fall semester are Sheila Simon, Shaina Simon and Ariana Hurdle; best display of hospitality, Nikolett Walker and Jose Antonio Rodriguez Gomez; excellence in back of house/kitchen, Meili Jahja and Karla Mae Madariaga; and excellence in front of house/service, Charlene Ramos and Mikel Espinosa Reyes. Walker also won student choice/camaraderie and Jahja for pastry arts.
Before classes resumed this month, students were treated to a fine-dining feast at Hotel Wailea, where executive chef Zach Sato showered hospitality on the eager bunch at The Restaurant.
“Students dined in the garden terrace at a long table nestled in front of The Restaurant’s newly designed show kitchen,” said Class Act lecturer Mark Malone. “They experienced the flavors of Waygu beef, fresh truffles, amazing seafood and had the opportunity to plate their own fish course, which provided a real and memorable see, taste and feel experience.”
Veteran journalist Carla Tracy pops the cork on Maui’s dining and entertainment scene in her weekly column. Email her at carlatracy808@gmail.com.
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