It was funny to see how pasta and chicken look when passing through an X-ray detector at the airport. But there we were, barefooted and watching TSA authorities screen our cooler in Kahului. G.B. and I were willing to surrender our bottles of water and ice packs, but we weren't about to let them confiscate our leftovers from dinner the night before at Pulehu, an Italian Grill.
A weekend getaway to the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villas turned into a memorable two days of some of the best dining G.B. and I have experienced on the outer islands.
And it started with a simple order of salt-and-pepper chips with a sweet Maui onion dip ($9) at Pailolo Bar and Grill. This dip isn't the kind you typically find in the refrigerators at Foodland or the type that's made with a tub of sour cream and a box of Lipton's onion soup. This one was homemade, thick, slightly sweet and tart, and G.B. took teaspoon doses of it — without the chips.
Named after the channel that separates Maui and Moloka'i, Pailolo is an indoor-outdoor sports bar, where armchair quarterbacks huddled last Sunday and local fans of Philadelphia Phillies centerfielder Shane Victorino cheered on the Maui-born native.
The menu here is simple with the mandatory bar fare of hot dogs, hamburgers, mahimahi and chicken sandwiches, as well as "local-style" plate lunches. However, the dish that best epitomized simplicity was the roasted asparagus and Hamakua mushrooms, which were wrapped in foil, flavored with butter and garlic, and cooked on the grill. Nothing fancy but effective.
The same could be said about our dinner at Pulehu, which initially opened as a steak-and-seafood-type place but has since been reborn with an Italian menu.
The resort's food and beverage director Harolyn Shimabukuro-Miyashiro told me they polled their guests and asked them what they wanted to see in terms of cuisine. Italian was the unanimous answer.
Led by Shimabukuro-Miyashiro, chef Adam Tabura and Javier Barberi, Pulehu may seem like an odd name for an Italian restaurant — and it is — but rest assured this is one of the best eateries of its kind on Maui, and a top contender for certain on Oahu.
Everything tasted fresh, none of it "canned," and all of it contrived and well executed. The classic Italian antipasti of bruschetta ($8) visually popped with a heaping mound of vibrantly red diced tomatoes, with each crispy bite giving way to hints of garlic.
An order of crispy calamari ($9) offered deep-fried ringlets of squid, which were chewy but not to the point of being rubbery like so often happens when we order this appetizer.
Barberi is responsible for the wine list and he has hand-picked some affordable by-the-glass wines, including the Tormaresca, which I chose with my pollo piccata ($23), while G.B. sipped on a Sauvignon Blanc while having her mahimahi saltimboca ($29).
I've been disappointed at times with piccata entrees because they often come dry, bland and tough.
Not this time. My chicken piccata was moist, buttery and a delight to chew on with each morsel. It couldn't have been cooked any better and with the right balance of citrus and capers to tickle the taste buds. No way were the remains not coming back to Oahu.
The saltimboca was about as Pacific Rim as you're going to find on the menu, and only because it's prepared with Pacific mahimahi, which was enveloped in a slice of pancetta and served with a creamy parmesan risotto.
G.B. and I couldn't leave here without trying one of the pastas so we opted for the lobster-and-sausage baked penne ($28), which was bathed in a deep rich pomodoro sauce and gooey mozzarella. Again, this was simple rustic food that any Italian nonna would nod in approval.
TSA officials did, and we were cleared to go home ... with our precious cargo filled with chicken piccata and penne pasta.
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