Yo Quiero

I have a confession to make.   It is in fact, a deep, dark, dirty, shameful secret whose revelation will probably elicit scorn and shun.  It is a scandalous, obscene base desire that haunts me every time it manifests its mortifying grip on my being.  My credibility as a contributing adult, much less a serious food afficionado, walks a precarious line with this licentious information.  But the truth is, I love Taco Bell (or should I say, "Yo Quiero").

Taco Supremes & Burrito Surpreme from Taco Bell

I know, I know.  Taco Bell hardly even qualifies as real food, much less authentic Mexican cuisine, as pointed out in my favorite webcomic, "It's Walky!".    But just like it's eponymous star, Walky, I harbor a ravenous desire for its tasty food like substances, and wind up ordering half the menu every time I walk in.   The thing is, that growing up, Taco Bell really was my first and only exposure to Tex-Mex cuisine.   I never even knew that tacos were originally soft tortillas, not hard ones, until they introduced soft tacos to their menu.   While I despised (and still do) refried beans, the combination of ground beef, sour cream, cheese, lettuce, tomato and olive, was such an alluring mixture (which for a long time represented their entire menu in served in different forms and ratios).  I think it was the sour cream that really made the difference.  The other ingredients can easily be found atop any burger, but the "Mexican" seasonings playing against the sour cream was just unique and addictive as crack.   Despite having been exposed to more authentic Mexican cuisine, I still fondly and uncontrollably covet their guilty, pleasure inducing consumables.

I have, in the course of my life, been exposed to more authentic Mexican tacos and burritos.   In L.A., where I went to grad school, and in New York, where my sister did, taco trucks are as bountiful as our lunchwagons.  Like our lunchwagons, taco trucks are the cheapest, most authentic forms of the indigenous food available.   There is nothing like walking down the street at 1 AM, wearing leather jacket and gloves, with your breath visible in front of your face, and ordering a steaming tortilla, covered with savory carnitas and fresh salsa from the side of a truck.  It's warm and delicious, and as authentic an experience as you can hope for.

If you're not up for eating something from the back of a truck at 1 AM, there are small hole in the wall places you can go to, but they are somehow equally as seedy.  When visiting my pal, Jim, in San Francisco, he took me to a little place in the Mission District, on Mission and 19th, called Taqueria Cancun.   The Mission District is a bastion of the Hispanic community in San Francisco, but is also home to some of San Francisco's more "colorful" elements.   When visiting Taqueria Cancun, you must be prepared to walk past some unsound, unkept, vagrants who will swear and offer lewd comments to your mother.  Seriously. (Mom and I just ignored him.)  But that just adds to the authentic experience right?   Once inside, it feels like a colorful, safe haven, with the spicy aromas of the foods steaming up the glass partitions.   Of course it isn't truly authentic, unless you've got calves' brains (sesos) and cow tongue (lengua) as beef options, and some exotic Mexican fruit drinks (agua fresca) to accompany them.  If you're adventurous enough to actually wander through the Mission District, Taqueria Cancun is the real deal when it comes to Mission style burritos.

Back home in Hawaii, you'd be a little hard pressed to find a real taqueria that offers the authentic beef tongue or brains.  Since we don't have nearly the Hispanic population that California does, we might as well kick it island style instead.   For that, you can head over to the Queen Kaahumanu Shopping Center on the island of Maui (or right over to Kailua Village in Kailua), for some Maui Tacos.   The great thing about Maui Tacos, is that they know that they can't deliver the truly authentic Mexican tacos and burritos, so they don't even bother to try.   Instead they blend Mexican cuisine with some island flavors to give it our own unique spin.  For example, instead of truly authentic mouth watering carnitas, they offer mango bbq pork and they marinade many of their meats in pineapple juice.   The result is a much fruitier, sweeter, more tropical version of Mexican food, that really has a local flavor.

Mild End of the Salsa Bar at Maui Tacos

Probably the best thing about Maui Tacos is visisting their salsa bar.   They have a nice variety of about 6 different salsas, ranging from mild to hot (well not THAT hot, but hot enough), each with their own unique flavor.   One the mild end, their sweetness (or the tartness) of the tomatoes is really dominant (depending on how sweet or tart the original tomatoes were).   Sweet or tart, the freshness of the tomatoes is what really shines through.  They've also got a nice salsa verde (green salsa) in which you can taste the fresh tartness of the jalapenos.  

Hot End of the Salsa Bar at Maui Tacos

On the hotter end, their chipotle salsa is brightly sweetened by the infusion of mango.   Unfortunately, the sweetness kills all the nice smokiness (but not the heat) that chipotle normally brings.  It's a very different flavor than what you're expecting of chipotle.   Chipotle is also the hottest that they get, much less wandering into habanero territory.   But their best, most original salsa is their pineapple passion salsa.  It is instantly recognizable being bright yellow instead of green or red.  The pineapple gives such a refreshing, sweet taste, that it really brightens up whatever you pour it on.   For dipping and eating straight, none of their salsas can compare to the perfect blend of spice and fresheness of the singluar salsa that Torito's offers.  But Maui Tacos makes up for it in variety and originality, and it really compliments their food when pouring over thier tacos or burritos.

Chimichanga (with Mango BBQ Pork) from Maui Tacos

As the chimichanga is my favorite Mexican dish in general, I tried that first.    Rather than the very crunchy thicker tortilla you find at Torito's, the chimichanga at Maui Tacos has a lighter crispier shell.   All of the ingredients inside reflect the whole freshness that Maui Tacos has in general.   A nice change from those wretched refried beans at most Mexican restaurants, you can get whole black beans.  But they still aren't cooked long enough to have the nice uber creamy texture that cajun red beans and rice does.  The steak really has a flavorful char broiled taste to it.   But I did have to pour some of their salsa over it to liven it up.  In general, however, their chimichanga just isn't as good as the melty, savory, yumminess that is the one at Torito's.  Their approach, emphasizing the freshness of each individual ingredient, is solid but it doesn't compare to the flavorful blended harmony that Toritos' has.

Lahaina Burrito from Maui Tacos

Rather than a chimichanga or taco, the thing I liked best at Maui Tacos was their Lahaina burrito.   To me the best thing about the Lahaina is that it is stuffed with Mexican rice rather than beans.   Since I don't like beans to begin with, this is a huge bonus to me.  But also, the rice works really well with the tender savory mango bbq pork.  Additionally, the burrito being served "wet" (covered with Mexican red sauce) gives it the right flavor and moistness, that you don't need to add any more salsa.   This burrito is also seriously stuffed and a nice size for a good lunch.

The Signature Maui Taco from Maui Tacos

Maui Tacos is just about the opposite end of the spectrum from Taco Bell.   While one is a greasy pseudo-food item that feeds your junk food addiction, the other emphasizes freshenss of each individual ingredient.  Neither of them are authentically Mexican, as Taqueria Cancun, but the originality and tropical fruity flavors at Maui Tacos makes them stand out.   The only problem is that every time I go there, I keep thinking of those super annoying Bu La'ia radio commercials they used to run.  Somehow his slovenly, crass, unrefined demeanor is so contradictory to the fresh, tropical flavors that Maui Tacos offers.

I don't know that I'll ever get to walk down the street in Mexico city, and encounter a bubbling cauldron filled with assorted animal parts to be savored over a warm just handmade tortilla under a sprinkling of freshly chopped and mixed salsa.  Then again, at home, I'm comfortable knowing I'm not going to be spending the rest of the night riding the procelain express either.

Local Food Maui Style

So I would fly all the way over to Kauai for a bowl of Hamura's Saimin.   I can't wait to get back over to Hilo for some ox tail stew at Ken's House of Pancakes. But what about Maui?  What's good on Maui?   That's a funny question to ask, isn't it?   Isn't Maui supposed to be "no ka oi"?   Isn't Maui gonna have the same local food as the other islands?  Well, for a good while, my wife didn't think so.    

My wife used to work for a company that would send her over to Maui for work at the High Performance Computing Center, roughly about once a month.    She would fly over, go to work, go to the company apartment for the night, go back to work, repeat for a few days and fly back.   She didn't really get to explore the island, or have any real holo holo time there.   The only time she had to look around, was during lunch.  It just so happened one day she wanted a bento, so she asked her co-workers where to get a good bento and they didn't even know what a bento was!  Okay, so her co-workers were haoles from the mainland and didn't know where to find a good bento, but she herself drove around Kihei every lunch hour, and simply could not find any good local food.  So she was convinced, that Maui had become so haole that there were just no more local places to eat there.

Later on, I too had to go over to Maui to work.   But, luckily for me, while she was stuck down in Kihei, I was working in Kahului and Wailuku.    Even more luckily for me, I happened to be working for some of the most hardcore native Hawaiians you will ever find.  Not the uber radical Hawaiian sovereignty type people, but people who really cared about Hawaii, about the culture, and the aina.   People who would when I would get there in the morning, after taking the 5AM flight, would be chanting a sunrise chant in Hawaiian to greet the day.   That's true Hawaiian.   So I asked them all about the good places to eat on Maui, so that whenever I could drag my wife back to try experiencing Maui for fun not just for work, I would know where to take her.  They of course did not steer me wrong.

The first place they sent me, was a real Wailuku town favorite, Sam Sato's.   Sam Sato's is the kind of place where you find almost two dozen local people waiting outside at any given time, waiting for a table.  Luckily I could also just take stuff to go and head back to work.  They are famous for 2 things.  Firstly, is their "dry mein".  What the heck is dry mein?  I'll give you a hint, it's supposed to rhyme with saimin.   It's basically their take on gon lo mein with saimin noodles instead of Chinese noodles.   It's NOT the kind of fried saimin you get at carnivals and stuff.   It's saimin, served with the usual saimin toppings, drizzed with a little oil and seasonings, and served with a bowl of broth on the side for dipping in.   It's an interesting variation, but not everyone likes their saimin so dry.   The other thing they're famous for?   Manju.   Either filled with the traditional azuki bean, or their sweetened lima beans, they've got a great flaky texture.   If you're visiting Maui, and trying to figure out what kind of uniquely Maui omiyake to bring back (and don't want Krispy Kremes), then you can't go wrong with a box of Sam Sato's manju.

The other place that my friends sent me to, is perhaps the best local food place on Maui, and probably the one formost on everyone's lips.   The place?   Da Kitchen!   Da Kitchen is another one of those places where you continuously find a line of local people waiting to get in the door.  Even Zimmern visited the place at one point to eat spam.   They even have a small Kihei location, that my wife could've found, but she still would've been disappointed.   The food at the Kihei location isn't nearly as good as the Kahului restaurant.   The Kihei one is a lame, fast food, operation with a very limited menu, whereas the Kahului location is sit down, and in addition to their regular menu always has a variety of specials.   The dish that is probably their most unique is their fish tempura.   That's right, fish, not shrimp, tempura.   I'll admit, it was pretty good.   But what I really liked at Da Kitchen was their special combo 4.  

Special Combo 4 at Da Kitchen

The special combo 4 is a mammoth sized plate.   Atop the bed of rice that seems to cover the entire plate, are 2 pieces of spam, 2 pieces of teri chicken, a mound of kalua pork and a hamburger steak with onions.   This thing would've rivaled even something off of Masu's menu.  The chicken was okay, and spam is always spam, but what was really great was the hamburger steak and kalua pig.  The hamburger steak was thick and meaty, and not at all dry.  But the sauted onions just made it perfect.   If there was one thing Masu's did badly, it was their hamburger steak, which was always way too breaded.  This plate was so big, that I had to take it home, which unfortunately being on Maui, meant that I had to carry my leftovers on the plane, but that's okay.

The best thing about this plate though, was it made me feel right at home.  That this was still my Hawaii, just another facet to explore.  Having found real local food on Maui, not to mention the real local people, I feel perfectly comfortable, going back, for work or for play, and taking my wife along, not just to prove her wrong, but to let her enjoy Maui for a change.