Migrant - Wailea, South Maui

To say Migrant is underwhelming is to be as fair as possible. The restaurant, situated at the Marriot in Wailea, is the brainchild of an award winning chef who competed on Top Chef: Seattle. One of Maui’s latest “in” food places to be is supposed to feature “a modern take on Filipino cuisine with seasonal, local ingredients,” which apparently means lots of salt. But I’ll get to that.

My wife and I arrived in the early evening, having made reservations based on Migrant’s good word-of-mouth. (As it is currently off season for the hotel, one usually need not make reservations for restaurants. But, you never know.) While we were on time, there wasn’t a hostess in sight as we lined up behind another couple. The hostess came along and finally sat the couple ahead of us, only to promptly disappear again; in fact, we never saw her again. Five minutes later – which is a long time even for “Island Time” a manager came along and seated us. Our server, also on Island Time, eventually came along so we could order drinks which he promptly got wrong. Being local, I understand good help is hard to find, but maybe Mercury was in retrograde or I had offended a local god somehow, resulting in especially bad service.

Onto the menu which was printed in a font so small I thought it was a legal document. Squinting, I could see that there wasn't much to choose from as all the ingredients are locally sourced, giving the chef little to work with. In fact, this night saw that the locally sourced hanger steak was off the menu much to my wife’s disappointment. We wound up opting for a cabbage salad, the 'OG' garlic noodles, some kind of brisket and noodle dish that was replacing the hanger steak, and the chicken and waffles. Well, the cabbage salad was drenched in a kalbi dressing so salty I thought it had walked straight out of the ocean. The brisket and noodle dish were also ridiculously salty. While I understand that hotel restaurants must cater to Mainlanders who have no sense for herbs and spices, the attempt to placate the average tourist with sodium might as well result in that tourist’s death. Meanwhile, the chicken and waffles came from two different worlds that when combined produced a taste that was…what's a negative synonym for 'interesting'? This is to say that the whole time I was eating it, I couldn’t decide if I liked it. Individually, both were fine for what they were, but to taste the chicken and the waffle together was just; I can’t adequately describe it. At least it wasn’t salty. Nor were the garlic noodles which somehow were almost salt free. I gave these noodles a thumbs up just for this fact.

Like any hotel restaurant, Migrant is nicely decorated but doesn’t exactly stand out in a crowded field despite its bold color patterns. In fact, nothing about Migrant stands out, so I’m not sure why this place comes so highly recommended. Maybe it has a nice view from the terrace in the daytime. Maybe its allure rests on the shoulders of its celebrity chef.

Directions: 3700 Wailea Alanui Dr, Kihei, HI 96753 at the Marriot in Wailea. Stay to the right of the lobby as you walk straight past the valet area, but stay to the left of the staircase that leads down to the pool area. You’ll come to a bar and hostess stand and should be able to see the ocean from there. Hours are 4pm-10pm. 25% off Kamaaina discount. 

Maui Brewing Company, Kihei

[This review is for the recently opened Maui Brewing location on the mauka side of Lipoa Parkway.]

The first thing that will strike you as you drive up Lipoa Parkway to Maui Brewing Company is how massive the building is. Seriously, it looks like an airplane hanger from the outside. That’s because this location is their new state-of-the-art eco-minded brewing location from which they plan worldwide domination. That, and they plan on opening a HUGE restaurant that will surely be to the chagrin of nearby Kono’s on the Green. Until now, I didn’t know buildings this big existed on Maui.

At any rate, the tasting room is really all that is open now, with the owner giving free tours of the brewery when he’s feeling whimsical. (That is, don’t come here expecting to get a tour.) The tasting room features all their brews neatly written on a blackboard over the bar, served

by an emotionally inconsistent staff (more on that shortly). Now, I’m a dark beer man myself and I have to say if you like dark beer, go beyond the already fantastic coconut porter for the Imperial coconut porter. Holy cow, you can chew this stuff it’s so thick! So you grab your drinks and you can grab one of the few seats indoors or you can head out the open bay doors and grab a table for a more communal feel. The view from this patio isn’t all that great; you’d think it be better this far up the road, but, not so much. If you want some grinds though the restaurant isn’t open yet, food carts on the road are currently servicing Maui Brewing’s food needs. So, all’s good. Well, almost.

A few things bothered me here. The female bartenders were unfriendly, the direct opposite of the male bartenders. I don’t know if the ladies are all cycling at the same time or what, but I found this off-putting. Second, Maui Brewing is selling a HydroFlask™ beer growler which clearly does not work. A friend of mine bought one, went through the wringer to get the leaky one he got replaced, and now the replacement doesn’t work either. Beware of the HydroFlask™ beer growler; it doesn’t work, period. Worse, Maui Brewing knows it and is still trying to offload them. That’s not cool in my book. It also doesn’t make sense that I can get almost a full six-pack in the supermarket for the price of one beer in the tasting room when the beer is might on location. Weird.

Still, I love their beers and I’m sure this will be an interesting location once the restaurant opens and the business park this location is part of grows. I’ll probably be back, but only for business lunches I can write off on my taxes.

Open 11 am to 10pm

605 Lipoa Pkwy, Kihei, HI 96753

808.213.3002

Fabiani's, Wailea Maui

A view from the bar.

Being Italian (Sicilian actually), moving to an island in the middle of the Pacific may not have been the best idea when my native food cravings occur. Aroma D'Italiano's may have been the go-to place up until two years ago, but since that restaurant closed there had been a dearth of reasonably palatable Italian food, to say nothing of the lack of edible pizza on Maui in general. That all began to change with the arrival of Fabiani's Pizza and Bakery a year and a half ago (as of this writing) in Kihei. Driven by the success of Fabiani's Kihei location, Fabiani's has opened a second location in Wailea, an area that is essentially the Beverly Hills of Maui.

Found at the north end of the Wailea Gateway Plaza building at the southernmost end of Piilani Highway, Fabiani’s Wailea is not usually busy. This may be due to the fact that the new location is still gaining traction amid stiff competition from Monkeypod Kitchen across the parking lot and Manoli’s Pizza a very short distance down the road. Although those restaurants are perfectly respectable, there is something about Fabiani’s that feels a little more like home.

Despite being located in Wailea, this Fabiani’s location does not go out of its way to wow its customers with expensive décor. This may seem like a negative given that this location does not have a view of the ocean (although Wailea Gateway Plaza is located on a hill), but what stikes me about this Fabiani’s is that it is clean; very, very clean. Granted, this may be because it is new, but having been in the military, I respect cleanliness.

“But what about the food?” you ask. Although the pizza menus differ slightly between locations, there is something for everyone on each menu. And, if you don’t see a pizza you like, you are given the option to build your own. Here at the Wailea location, my brood usually opts for the Real Hawaiian (Pineapple, Portuguese Sausage & Caramelized Onion) or the Makena Meaty (Portugese Sausage, Ground Beef & Applewood Bacon). It should be noted that the pizzas are basically personal-sized if you take into account what is a typical portion for most Americans. All of Fabiani's pizzas are thin-crusted, too. So, if you’re really hunger, a single pizza may not satisfy you. This is okay, however, as there are many other choices.

There is, of course, lasagna. I can’t say Fabiani’s lasagna will knock your socks off, but I do think it is the best I’ve had on Maui in the last two years. It’s not overly salty, though, which may displease some customers. If you would like a little seafood, there will be the catch of the day which is entirely dependent upon the fish market; you simply cannot expect that Today’s Catch will be a really good fish such as Mahi Mahi. There are always the crab cakes, too, but again, they’re not something that is going to bowl you over. If you’d like a little garlic bread for an appetizer, they come four to plate and are very buttery and garlicky. Overall, I cannot see anyone walking into this restaurant and saying there is nothing on the menu they would order. Even if they did, hopefully they saw the dessert display when they first walked in which is immediately to the left. All the desserts are made by the owner’s wife for both Fabiani’s locations. If the Red Velvet Cake and the various macaroons are any indication, everything else in the display case is magnificent.

Service-wise, you have to keep in mind that Maui’s population is transient to say the least, so you have to take any bad service with a grain of salt. This is not to say I’ve ever had bad service at either Fabiani’s, in fact, just the opposite. But, I have to keep this fact in mind about Maui service just in case the service ever does slip. Currently, there is an Irish girl waitressing whose voice I could listen to all day, but she is going back to Ireland at the end of summer. Then there is a new bartender, a “mixologist” by his own account, who should be able to step it up when it comes to devising incredible cocktails. This is good news to a Portland, OR transplant such as myself.

Lastly, the prices at Fabiani’s are more than reasonable given the location they are catering to (entrees will be anywhere between $13 to $25). This location also has an unlisted Happy Hour from 3-5pm which gives you half off the pizzas plus you do not have to sit at the bar to get Happy Hour prices, unlike their Kihei location (where Happy Hour is only at the bar).

Overall, Fabiani’s Wailea is a cozy-casual, family-run business that delivers on most accounts. My biggest complaint is that they do not have a view. On the other hand, here on Maui, you generally get what you pay for and the prices reflect a room without a view. However, if you have been at the beach all day, does that really matter?

Delicious Fabiani's pizza.

Deserts!

Monkeypod Kitchen,Wailea

I wanted desperately to like Monkeypod Kitchen more as they have made an effort to use as many local ingredients in their food as possible. The interior is also nicely decorated and clean, something you don’t see too often north of their location in Wailea Village Mall. I especially love the hanging ropes that serve as dividers between the patio, bar, and dining room. Nice touch there. Unfortunately, that’s about as good as it gets at Monkeypod Kitchen as the immediate view off the patio is of the main road that winds on down to Wailea, tiki torches notwithstanding.

Despite the use of local ingredients, nothing great comes out of it. Yes, the Garlic-Truffle-Oil Fries with Aioli sauce are a respectable attempt, but it’s not enough to give you that surprise you long for when you try something that sounds so good at first.  

Cocktails, spirits, and beer are all par-for-the-course. While Monkeypod Kitchen boasts a greater variety of beers on tap than any other restaurant on Maui, all of their tap beer can be bought at any local supermarket for much less money. $10 for a coconut porter? I can get a four pack at the store for $8. 

Service was respectable, neither fast nor slow, though you tend to get the sense that no matter who serves you on Maui, you can tell they are thinking about surfing while taking your order. Personally, I don’t care how distant my local server is as long as I don’t go completely unnoticed and I’m served what I actually ordered. I’m relaxed that way. 

Fortunately, not many people come to Maui expecting great dining experiences. While you won’t be disappointed here, you will not be wowed either.