Breakfast in Maui

I should be more specific I suppose and make it clear that I’m talking about the north shore. Nothing wrong with the south side, I’m just rarely there for breakfast and it’s mostly tourist places. Except the Keihei Cafe, which serves an excellent breakfast and absolute stone killer coffee cake.

So you crawled out of bed early and you’re rolling through Paia to join the dawn patrol. But your stomach is growling and you won’t be worth squat without some coffee. You’re in luck if it’s after 5:30 AM, because Anthony’s Coffee is open (probably) and they can fix you up. Eddie and Kerry (not sure I spelled that right) run a great place–super friendly, full of interesting people, and knee deep in local color. Plus they have the best coffee I’ve ever had–Eddie roasts it himself. The roaster used to be right in the store, but Eddie moved it to a separate building when the place got too crowded. Diane and I buy dozens of bags of Anthony’s coffee every year, both for ourselves and to give to deserving friends.

And one look in the doorway of Anthony’s is all you need to understand–the place has so much soul they haven’t even unpacked most of it. Anthony’s also has local pastries, great bagels, and serves a full breakfast. I’m not wild about their eggs benedict–the hollandaise is some kind of a mix. But they’ve got lots of other choices and it’s all pretty good. Don’t get hashbrowns unless you like those little pre-formed bottom-feeding patty thingies. But the country fries are just fine.

Good ice cream too. Kerry (Ed’s wife) cooks amazing cakes, but she doesn’t do it as often as she used to. It’s just as well, I always felt really weird eating pineapple bundt cake for breakfast. But I never wanted to take a chance that it would be gone when I got done surfing.

If it’s a little later, and you’re hungrier, then there’s Moana Cafe.

I hear that Moana is a great place to have dinner. they have music there a lot, and it usually looks interesting. But I’ve never been there for dinner, and rarely for lunch (I’m usually on a board of some kind during lunch). For me Moana is breakfast. And what a breakfast.

The Funmobile in it’s accustomed place.

First of all there’s the eggs benedict. It’s a rare restaurant that makes their own hollandaise–usually it’s a mix. Not only does Moana make theirs from scratch, but it’s perfection. Light, slightly lemony, with the delicate flavors that the bogus mixes so totally lack. Perfect poached eggs–not disappointingly hard, or disgustingly runny. Perfect. Spicy blackened Mahi, or other choices that I’m sure are excellent. I wouldn’t know–I can’t pass up the mahi. Wonderful home fries–crisp on the outside, flaky on the inside. great coffee, excellent service. What more could you ask for.

The deadly pastry case–super croissants

Well, actually there is more. Their waffles are excellent, clearly made from scratch, you just can’t get that crispness any other way that I’ve ever found. Diane gets the waffles frequently. And Moana is a bakery–their croissants are excellent.

This is a local hangout. Did I mention the waitresses are all gorgeous?

They also have a really great lamb wrap thats great for lunch. I’ll just have to try the place for dinner sometime soon, but for me Moana means breakfast.

Grab a window seat if you can, but don’t take mine. Hey, that guy’s sitting in my seat!