Na Koa Ikaika Maui's Pro Baseball Team

Before Dive Master Richard came into the office with last weekend sporting a logo hat and waving a banner like a kid fresh from a carnival, I had no idea Maui even had a Pro Baseball Team. After he went on (and on) to explain how fun, energizing and exciting the afternoon had been, never mind how downright cheap it was, I began taking interest.

“And when this guy came sliding into home…the crowd went wild! I nearly spilled my nachos!” Richard gushed.

“What else do they serve?” I asked, poking around at my quinoa salad and grilled veggies. “Something better than that, I hope.”

“Chief, you have to stop eating that junk. It’s making you crabby. Go to the next game – Cool Cats caters. Plus, they have all the usual food for a ball game, dogs,  nachos, ice cream and beer…”

I can always count on Richard to have the inside scoop.

Attend the game on August 31^st, Pack the Park Night and get $2 off all tickets, $2 Hotdogs, $2 Sodas. Cheap seats are already only $6/pp so it’s possible to get a $4 ticket and $4 meal while having one heckuva good time at the old ball game and get change back from your hard earned $10.

Na Koa Ikaika is Maui’s Home Team in The Golden Baseball League. The GBL is presented by Safeway Inc./VONS, is a professional baseball league operating in the western United States, Hawaii, Mexico and Canada. Golden Baseball League teams include the Calgary Vipers in Calgary, the Chico Outlaws, the Edmonton Capitals, the Orange County Flyers, the St. George Roadrunners, the Yuma Scorpions, the Victoria Seals, the Tijuana Cimarrones, and the Tucson Toros in Tucson, AZ.   Over 100 GBL players have been acquired by major league baseball or professional international baseball organizations during the last four years and over 70 former major leaguers have played in the GBL. Recently on of Na Koa Ikaika’s players, Keoni Ruth, was signed with the Phillies. More info on the league at www.goldenbaseball.com.

Besides the pro level of play, great competition, fresh air and sunshine, there is also between inning  promos and games just like in the big leagues.  And most importantly, they serve Cool Cats burgers, ball park franks, beer and peanuts.

Diamonds Ice Bar Kihei

Dive master Richard stumbled upon  Diamonds after a round of golf at Elliare Golf Club the other day and tells us the food is terrific.

Located in The Azeka Mauka shopping center on S. Kihei Rd. in the old Tip-Ups location, Richard reports they have a varied menu that runs the gamut of crowd pleasers from Mexican to Fish and Chips, and Cheesesteak Sandwich. “No wonder they couldn’t say what style food they served when I walked in to ask… they have everything!”

Richard spoke to Diamond’s Mgr. Damian who said they were currently working on a new menu which we will share with everyone very soon.

Diamonds Caesar Wrap

Meanwhile, they offer a very nice full bar, a pool table, shuffle board and multiple TVs for sports and distraction. Richard also reported, “There was a combo playing on the small stage that night but I couldn’t stay for that. I had the Mexican Burger with fries, and my friend had the Mexican Club Wrap, both were excellent and reasonable at $10.00. We most enjoyed the friendly service by our Bartender/Waitress, Linda. If you stop in, tell her Richard sent you!”

Diamonds Burger

Encouraged by Richard, other members of the WCM crew stopped by a few days later to check out Diamonds for themselves and found a lively happy hour bunch playing pool, the jukebox style games at the bar, bowling and grooving to the trio who had taken to the stage for the sundowners segment of the evening show. The decor was the typical wood floors, exposed beams, lots of windows – a warm sort of industrial space with plenty of room for dancing and meandering when the place gets crowded. For those who want to get away from it all or roll with their own posse in peace, there is an upstairs private bar with a sofa strewn lounge area loft overlooking the main action on the stage and dance floor below. All the makings for a very fun VIP party for those special occasions.

Diamond’s claim to fame is Happy Hour All Day, so they enjoy a loyal following of local patrons as well as some tourists who seem to be catching on to the place gradually. They also offer a discount on your first drink if you just came off the golf course, “So that was really cool for us,” Richard tells us.

Check out Throwback Thursdays with DJ Big Mike, no cover, $2 shots and other great drink specials.

Much Aloha ’til next time!

Dive Master

Vietnamese Burritos

Cane and Taro early bird/ happy hour special includes: half off all food if you are seated between 5-5:30  p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and order by 6 p.m. If you can keep that straight and follow the rules you will be handsomely rewarded. Take 25% off Thursday-Sunday before six. Discounts on Food Only.

Try the Frings, a giant sized share platter of fried onions, sweet potato, and french fried shoestring potatoes which are worth every calorie! Also highly recommended are the stir-fry chicken and wok fried sliced beef with vegetables which comes to the table still sizzling on a fajitas style pan.

WCM: So, Richard, let us what you thought of Tiffany’s.

Steak Bites Pupu

Richard: Great place, full bar, great Korean style food with lunch about $8-15 – it’s a local hang-out. At lunch there were as many business people and construction guys there as there are regulars – all casually dressed, of course.

WCM: Makes sense. Many tourists?

Richard: Naw, I don’t think so. Like me they need to be reassured it’s okay to stop by if you’ve never been before.

WCM: Will you go back?

Richard: Are you kidding? I only had time to order one entree. There was a parade of great looking dishes coming from the kitchen and I’d like to try them all eventually. My server, Salina, suggested the Teishoku Plates which are small portions of several dishes; a great way to try the best of what they serve.

WCM: What did you try?

Richard: Spicy pork plate lunch with rice and mac salad. It was super good. They also brought me a sampler of the pickled condiments, kimchee style, daikon, cabbage, onions -  all of which were delicious. I’d go back just for those, especially the onions.

WCM: Ambiance?

Spicy Pork and Rice

Richard: Very friendly service, bending over backward to please the customer. No wonder they have such a devoted following.  I’m sure there’s a rousing good bar scene after the sun goes down. They have many TVs spread around the bar and dining room, so they probably get a sports crowd at nights and on weekends. There is easy parking at the side of the building and in the vacant lot adjacent which is key in a big city like Wailuku.

WCM: You’ve convinced me I have to check it out.

Richard: You won’t be disappointed. Oh, and they have Karaoke every night so anytime the Idol urge hits, head on down.
More on Tiffany’s

Maui Wine News

To add a bit more excitement to I`O’s monthly wine tastings, this month will feature the Wine Olympics. Tasters will vote for their favorite wines by country or origin … will it be Spain, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa, Chili, Australia, France, Italy or the good old USA? Stop and catch the fun and excitement for yourself along with great tasting wines, old and new favorites and a wonderful selection of pupus to match for only $30/pp. Stop in any time 7-9 p.m. Reservations not required. Phone 808-661-8422 for more information.

Teams Gather for Competition

Not the least of these is Bamboo Lounge, the ubiquitous but lovable dive located at 505 Front Street in Lahaina, Maui. If you know Maui you know Bamboo, and if you don’t know at least one likable local who hangs out at Bamboo, you don’t really know Maui.

Bamboo serves sushi, local plates, Japanese, Vietnamese, and authentic Thai plus a popular breakfast and  late night menu. (All dives serve late night menus; it’s a prerequisite. Dive Master Richard would have it no other way.) When he called to invite the WCM staff to Bamboo’s first regular Monday Night Team Trivia event, we were on it like white on two scoops rice.

Fried Rice

Fabulous Pho

Kalbi Beef

Chicken Stir Fry

The night started with dinner, a grand selection including stir fry, fried rice, kalbi beef, pho and spicy chicken . All were deemed tasty, with plenty of left-overs, and the tab was only $80 for four, including drinks.Those $3 beers and well drinks go a long way…

Team Trivia Leader Board

Trivia kicked off around 8:30 p.m. after about eight teams filed in ranging from a group of visiting Ivy-Leaguers (who surprisingly didn’t place in the top three), local brainiac-techies, and middle-aged retirees, one team boasting former school teachers as ringers. (Who surprisingly didn’t take the top prize either.) A lone scholar took on the other teams of 4-6 people each, and fared well with a second place finish. But it was A Kiss from Granny who sneaked up in round three like an unsuspected tsunami and wiped us all out with a first place finish. Congrats! They won a $50 credit against their tab.

More about Bamboo Grill:

Sushi Specials Fri, Sat, Sun

Bamboo Grill has been family owned for about 10 years, Vietnamese, Japanese, and authentic Thai. Breakfast is served from 8:00 A.M. till noon, check out the $4.95 special, and drink specials all day. Early bird specials, noon til 3:00 P.M. Half off sushi,  Fri., Sat., and Sun. 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Service is efficient and friendly even though the bartender, Richard, doubles as waiter most of the time. Ricky and Q. come in later to provide super service throughout the evening.

Check out WCM’s listing of other great fun places where you can have a meal tout ensemble while enjoying special activities, events, game nights, karaoke. The fun is free and the drinks and food well-priced.

Carne Asada Tacos

Local residents and regular visitors to Maui revel in Nacho Grande and its neighboring bar, which serves bargain drinks during an off-the-radar-extended happy hour every day of the week.

It’s what you might aptly call “a dive” and hence is one of Richard’s favorites place to start the day. He takes a seat at the bar running the length of the small room alongside tradesmen, tour operators, timeshare salesmen and surfers who file through the doors just after dawn (in winter that’s around 7 a.m. Maui time) to grab a $3 breakfast burrito substantially stuffed with nutritious egg, meat and potato filling that will see them through ’til lunch. Huevos rancheros and pancakes are other favored eye-openers enjoyed by Nacho Grande’s breakfast club members. I won’t comment on what goes on in the bar this early in the day … it’s the beauty of places like this.

Fruit Flavored Favorites

We stopped in recently for an early dinner/late lunch on the food only side and feasted upon a grand selection of Nacho Grande’s best, including the especial del dia, that masterpiece of Mexican menu items, chili relleno. This one came stuffed with manchego (cheese), dipped in batter and fried then drenched with more melted cheese smothered in an authentic Mexican sauce. Be still my heart — after one bite I was begging my ticker for forgiveness.

Another bite or two of the carne asada taco, over which I’d poured a little much hot sauce, worked my metabolism into overdrive. Seeking to squelch the fire, I was happy to find that Sergio carries every flavor of Mexican soda, apparently bottled specifically for the dousing tongues afire. Haven’t you always heard that sugar negates peppers? Indeed, I chose the Mango flavor which set the stage perfectly for the next course, chicken enchiladas, a milder dish with a particularly authentic Mexican taste sensation stirred into the gravy.

Nachos are  typically served as a starter, but I think it makes a great dessert – a cheese course, if you will. Piled high with chips and shredded pork, slightly goopy with a mixture queso, beans, quacamole and sour cream, the perennial party favorite sealed the meal. Cooling, soothing and tantalizing all at the same time, Nacho Grande delivers a great version of this classic.

Great Place to Hang Your Hat

The owner/proprietor Sergio Ricardo Gallardo hails from Guadalajara, baby, so there’s no messing around with the traditional flavors of his homeland.

Sergio serves the food of his youth from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Whether it’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner most dishes are available ‘round the clock. There’s usually a swinging bar crowd next door if you need a little perking up or someone with whom to share your nacho platter and fishing stories.