First Kaanapali Fresh Festival Lures Foodies to a Maui Retreat

IMGP0190
IMGP0191
IMGP0195
IMGP0199
IMGP0202
IMGP0211
IMGP0217
IMGP0219
IMGP0220
IMGP0221
IMGP0222
IMGP0223
IMGP0278
IMGP0279
IMGP0280
IMGP0283
IMGP0508
IMGP0509
IMGP0510
IMGP0512
IMGP0515
IMGP0517
IMGP0521
IMGP0525
IMGP0544
IMGP0546
IMGP0550
IMGP0551
IMGP0558
IMGP0559
IMGP0569
IMGP0745
IMGP0747
IMGP0770

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 kicked off with a Progressive Dinner on Friday night, August 31. (Photo: MvB)

(Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Progressive Dinner at Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa's Napili Gardens (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Progressive Dinner at Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa's Napili Gardens: lobster potstickers and more (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Progressive Dinner at Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa's Napili Gardens: poke tacos (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Progressive Dinner at Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa's Napili Gardens (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Progressive Dinner: on the beachfront path between the Hyatt and the Westin (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Progressive Dinner at Westin Maui Resort & Spa's Aloha Pavilion (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Progressive Dinner at Westin Maui Resort & Spa's Aloha Pavilion: the creation of poi (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Progressive Dinner at Westin Maui Resort & Spa's Aloha Pavilion: pork belly and poi, from Chef Garret Fujieda (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Progressive Dinner at Westin Maui Resort & Spa's Aloha Pavilion: seared beef and hamakua mushroom poke with ulu crisps, Hawaiian chili pepper soubise, from Chef Garret Fujieda (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Progressive Dinner at Westin Maui Resort & Spa's Aloha Pavilion: grilled Colorado Natural lamb loin chop with sweet ginger soy glaze, pohole fern, and hearts of palm kim chee, from Chef Francois Milliet (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Progressive Dinner at Westin Maui Resort & Spa's Aloha Pavilion: deconstructed Hawaii Island Kampachi Lau-Lau with braised kale, shiitake mushrooms, Maui onion, smoked duck, bacon, capers, basil foam, from Chef Francois Milliet (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Progressive Dinner at Westin Maui Resort & Spa's Aloha Pavilion: steamed snapper with tarragon ogo relish, from Chef Garret Fujieda (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Progressive Dinner at Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa's oceanfront lawn (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Progressive Dinner: Desserts from Greg Gaspar at Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Progressive Dinner: Desserts from Greg Gaspar at Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Progressive Dinner: How to choose between the chocolate macadamia nut flan and frozen haupia chocolate bomb? Desserts from Greg Gaspar at Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Food & Wine Festival: five-pepper seared ahi with eggplant tapenade (Traje Farms), zucchini and yellow squash slaw, tomato-chili oil, from Chef Greg Gaspar (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Food & Wine Festival: herb-crusted pork tenderloin with green bean (Traje Farms) miso stir-fry, garlic jasmine rice cake, banana chutney, from Chef Greg Gaspar (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Food & Wine Festival: Pan-seared Char Siu Bao with 5 spice braised veal cheek, Kula Farms baby bok choy and crispy kimchee green papaya, from Tropica Restaurant & Bar chef de cuisine Jennifer Evetushick and executive chef Garret Fujieda of The Westin Maui Resort & Spa. (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Food & Wine Festival: strawberry (Kula Country Farms) and sunflower sprout salad with vanilla-roasted corn, shiso vinaigrette, heart of palm fritters, smoked 'alaea sea salt, from Chef Garret Fujieda (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Food & Wine Festival: (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Food & Wine Festival: Kampachi ceviche with coconut-lime aioli and Hawaiian chilies (Otani Farm), from Chef Bernardo Salazar (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Food & Wine Festival: Silverado Vineyards was paired with the Kampachi ceviche and seafood enchilada from Chef Bernardo Salazar (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Food & Wine Festival: "Kalbi-style" Wagyu flat iron steak with Waipoli greens salad (Waipoli Hydroponic Greens) and yuzu vinaigrette, from chefs Matt Dugan and Greg Grohowski (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Food & Wine Festival: Pork belly sous vide in truffle unagi sauce from Chef James Domingo (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Food & Wine Festival: Curried shrimp and mango "ice cream cone" with namasu vegetables (Ho'o Pono Farm) on a nest of beets from Chef Chris Schobel (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Food & Wine Festival: local produce overflows (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Food & Wine Festival: From Chef Ivan Pahk of Maui Fish & Pasta (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Food & Wine Festival: Molokai Purple (L&R Farm) sformato with butter-poached prawns, merlot grape salad from Chef Francois Milliet (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Food & Wine Festival: Molokai Purple (L&R Farm) sweet potato with wild boar bacon, Kula onion, currants, pine nuts, micro basil, from Chef Francois Milliet (Photo: MvB)

Makana at Kaanapali Fresh 2012 Food & Wine Festival (Photo: MvB)

Maui Brewing Co.'s van comes with on-tap choices. At Kaanapali Fresh 2012 they unveiled a very island-minded Mana Wheat (with Maui Gold pineapple). (Photo: MvB)

Kaanapali Fresh 2012's Moonlight Concert at the Royal Lahaina (Photo: MvB)

Third Eye Blind at Kaanapali Fresh 2012's Moonlight Concert (Photo: MvB)

21 years ago, a dozen Hawaiian chefs set out to define something bewilderingly vast called Hawaii Regional Cuisine. While you had seemingly unlimited freedom to fuse cooking styles and techniques, the goal was to use the freshest local ingredients, where possible. At the time, that made for a shorter list of suppliers.

Two decades later, Hawaii is sprouting food-related festivals that often showcase full farm-to-table menus, to the surprise and delight of rare-to-well-done visitors shuffling in from the beach in search of dinner. The second Hawaii Food & Wine Festival is this weekend; last weekend saw the launch of Kaanapali Fresh, which also bids to become an annual event. (“Did you know? There are more than 1,100 farms and 150 ranches on Maui.”)

To give you an idea of the draw, I had never been to any Hawaiian island before traveling to Maui for Kaanapali Fresh (after Starwood Hawaii came to town, they got back in touch with an invitation to attend the festival and stay at a reduced rate–the flight was on me).

With the onset of Facebook and real-time vacation-photo uploading, it’s been harder and harder to ignore Hawaii’s existence during Seattle’s gray stretches. (Mid-winter, you sometimes wonder if anyone’s left in town at all, outside of Starbucks staff and injured snowboarders.)

But a whole vacation of beach, blankets, and bingo is just not in my wheelhouse. It was the temptation of wining and dining on the fat (and taro) of the islands that got me to plan a long Labor Day weekend trip.

Kaanapali Fresh wasn’t as outsized an experience as the Hawaii Festival, but it came with an impressive itinerary: the event began on a Friday with a Progressive Kaanapali dinner (appetizers, dinner, and dessert in three locations), continued with a farm-to-table extravaganza on Saturday night, and culminated with a lower-key beer-barbecue-and-music celebration on Sunday, featuring Third Eye Blind.

You could also go on a coffee plantation tour, shop at a farmer’s market at Whalers Village, take in a champagne brunch, and learn about infused cocktails. (Save up for next year’s installment: early-bird packages went for $365, so if you put aside about $30 per month, you should be all set.) On its inaugural year, the Progressive Kaanapali evening and Moonlight Concert sold out.

On the evidence, it helps if your “first annual” anything is backed by the Kaanipali Beach Resort Association, who are used to convention-sized logistics. There were no absurd lines or shortages, and substantial thought had been given to your comfort and convenience. Despite being held in the open air on the Royal Kaanapali Golf Course (you were directed to the 3rd green), Saturday’s Food & Wine Festival came with arrangements of sofas you could relax into, as well as taller café tables for the stand-and-eaters.

It would be unfair to compare the setting to festivals elsewhere, as Kaanapali makes you feel like you’re in a movie from sunrise to sunset. Sustained breezes in the mid-70-degree evenings blew napkins and empty cups about, but also fanned palm trees against the sky. Every evening was punctuated by a rush of the camera-bearing toward a luminous sunset.

If you can attend just one event, and local food is your interest, you can narrow your choice down to the first two dinners. The progressive dinner, with its on-the-move highlights, holds its own with the major food and wine festival night–the Westin Maui Resort & Spa outdid itself, thanks to the talents of chefs Garret Fujieda and Francois Milliet.

But if you’re interested in chatting with farmers, chefs, and winemakers (as well as sampling their work), the festival night is the clear winner. The actual winner of the Food & Wine Festival was Francois Milliet, of the Westin Ocean Resort Villas, who with partner Chef Wesley Holder and L&R Ranch won gold for his Molokai sweet potato with wild boar bacon dish. Silver went to Chef James Domingo, of Leilani’s on the Beach, partnered with Watanabe Produce, for his sous-vide pork belly tossed in truffle unagi sauce appetizer.

According to my informal polling, this year’s musical winner was featured slack key guitarist Makana, who was the topic of all the non-food-related conversation for the rest of the weekend.