Cary, Karin, and Will at Your Service

Maui Prime has clearly established itself as the best place in West Maui to procure gourmet foods. The wide selection of gourmet pantry items, wines, prime meats and seafood, and super customer service are only some of the elements that make shopping at Maui Prime a pleasure. Working behind the counters are two honest-to-goodness chefs, Cary Buttons and Will Hawkins. Both are eager to help customers in any way they can; from choosing the best cuts of meat and seafood, to sharing insights on the best methods of preparing everything they sell.

Beluga, Oesetra, Maui Prime has it all

Karin is the wine and cheese expert and can introduce you to all the imported cheeses and other delicious items shipped in daily, along with great value wines.

After placing my holiday Turducken and Free Range Organic Turkey order, I asked Chef Will if he would share his favorite holiday side dish recipe with What’s Cooking Maui readers. Knowing you would want something simple but special, he offered the following method of preparing Potatoes Dauphinoise. The famous dish was purportedly created to coaxed young “Dauphine,” later known as King Henry II, to eat his vegetables. As if we’d ever need coaxing to eat potatoes!

Chef Will’s Potatoes Dauphinoise Fit for a King

6-7 peeled potatoes, preferably Yukon Gold
2 pints cream
Salt
One clove crushed garlic

Peel  potatoes then slice 1/8 inch thick using a mandoline, if available. It’s important to keep the slices uniform for even cooking.

Do not rinse the potatoes after slicing, although many recipes suggest doing so. This keeps the starch on the potatoes and helps to set the dish.

Pour cream into a bowl and salt to taste. This is your only chance to season the dish so just put in a little salt at a time, tasting after each addition. What’s important- don’t over or under salt.

Crush a clove of garlic and rub it on the bottom and sides of the 9 x 13 baking pan.

Layer the potato slices in the pan evenly and up the sides. Pour the salted cream over the top.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees, 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes to brown. Let stand 15 minutes prior to serving for dish to set-up.

Creative add-ons for the dish include sprinkling with Gruyere Cheese before final browning, adding some grated nutmeg to the cream mixture, or including thinly sliced onion with the potatoes. Here’s your chance to be creative.  Just be sure to follow the basic instructions for a simple but delicious addition to your holiday table!

If you have any questions, call Maui Prime at 661-4912 and ask one of the knowledgeable team members for tips on everything from which wine to serve with Turducken to which grade caviar to order for New Year’s Eve!

Maui Prime
142 Kupuohi St # F7
Lahaina, HI 96761-2711
(808) 661-4912

Ocean Bay Trail Near Oneloa Bay

Ever Beautiful Kapalua Bay

Ambassadors of the Environment

The former tennis garden near Fleming Beach has been transformed into the Ambassadors of the Environment Hale which serves as the starting point for numerous fun environmental awareness programs. Launched last fall in partnership with Kapalua, Ritz-Carlton and Jean-Michael Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society, AOTE’s programs offers visitors in-depth explorations of the wonders of the natural world. Underwater photography sessions, hikes to the Maunalei Arboretum, and myriad exciting and unique keiki programs lead by trained naturalists, foster a greater appreciation for the world’s interconnectedness. Costs for the program range from $59 – $89.

Ambassadors of the Environment Hale

Kapalua Adventure Center

Have you seen the Unimoggs yet? Ever wonder where they are going? The open-air, all-terrain biodiesel vehicles transport guests from the Adventure Center to Kapalua’s Mountain Outpost. From there intrepid explorers get their kicks on one of the biggest, meanest, baddest zipline tour in North America. The dual system course offers 8 zips carrying adventurers silently above the tree canopy over deep gorges giving a true bird’s eye view without disturbing the natural environment below. Besides the ziplines, the Adventure Center boasts a comprehensive high-ropes challenge course, a four station climbing tower suspension bridge and a thrill swing built for two.

Unimoggs Transport Guests to Adventure

Guests can also hike any of Kapalua’s 100 miles of trails., accessing those at the Mountain Outpost trailhead via the free shuttle that departs five times daily from the Ritz Carlton. Adventure tours range from $45 for the pineapple express tour to $199 for the deluxe zipline tour.

Cafe Kapalua

We’d be remiss if we failed to mention here the wonderful Cafe Kapalua, the perfect spot to start or end your journey into the wilderness areas of the resort. Offering well-priced and delicious breakfast, lunch, snacks, smoothies, coffees and pastries, the unassuming cafe tucked into the back of the Adventure Center next to the outfitters shop across from the golf range,  delivers so much more than you’d expect at first glance.

What might elsewhere be ho-hum —  huevos rancheros, salads, wraps, sandwiches — are elevated to gourmet status by the use of premium, fresh ingredients gathered from farms across the island, in particular, the Kapalua Farms right down the street. Whatever else has happened in this crazy world of ours over the centuries, we humans have retained the ability to recognize fresh at first bite and seem to appreciate that particular trigger to pleasure more and more. So stop by, enjoy the taste of fresh at Cafe Kapalua. Then, get out there!

Ocean Hiking Trail

One of Kapalua’s simpler pleasures is the Ocean Trail, especially during whale season. Running from Kapalua Bay to Fleming Beach, the path passes by the newly completed Ritz Residences and has been recently upgraded to include a boardwalk over the dunes at Oneloa Bay. It’s stunning, it’s easy and it’s free.

Kapalua's Ocean Trail traverses some of the world's most beautiful scenery.

Golf Practice Course

My favorite Kapalua improvement in recent months is the revamped 3-hole practice range on the former Village Course. Each hole has three different tee boxes and although it’s short and sweet, the course provides ample opportunity to practice skills beyond the range and putting green without committing to a full round. It’s also the perfect place to test your skills after a lesson at the Golf Academy. Check in at the learning center before heading to the course; cost is $25.

Kapalua Golf Learning Center Views

Bocce Ball

There’s good reason Italian’s love the game of Bocce; it’s fun, sociable, and you can drink wine while you do it. For a little taste of la dolce vita in Kapalua, get your pals together under the shaded courts located directly across from the Honolua Store. The glorious views the overlooking the Bay Course will inspire even if your skills are initially lacking. If you’ve never played before, don’t worry. Bocce is a game with a quick learning curve and thus appeals to beginners and aficionados alike. Team members take turns rolling bocce balls as close to the pollina (set ball) as possible — and that’s pretty much it. Good hand eye coordination helps, but anyone can get in on the action. The Villas Registration Center loans out bocce sets at no charge to guests and residents.