Virtuoso Life - March/April 2009 - (Page 68) Hanalei’s charms include (clockwise from top left) the Old Hanalei School building, Yellowfish Trading Co.’s vintage Hawaiiana, and toothsome tapas from Bar Acuda. En route from Poipu to Hanalei on the island’s north shore, we passed through Kapaa, which is home to a weekly farmers’ market and a few good restaurants. Farther north, Princeville’s resort polish prevailed at a tasteful shopping center. The St. Regis Princeville Resort, which is closed for major renovation and slated for a July reopening, stair-stepped down a dramatic promontory above the ocean. Hanalei was the proverbial pot of gold near the literal end of the rainbow. The town’s center, a little string of shops and restaurants, is dwarfed by imposing green mountains. A few blocks away, surfers congregated at the sandy horseshoe of Hanalei Bay. Beach cruiser bicycles with surfboard racks leaned unlocked against shop railings. People eating shave ice lounged under thatched umbrellas at picnic tables. A passing shower had departed, leaving a rainbow in its wake. At Shave Ice Paradise, a stand decorated with biblical quotes in rainbow colors, we ordered a guava-pineapple version of the frosty Hawaiian treat. “Ba ba ba!” Oliver gushed when Ben spooned some of the slushy dessert into his mouth. “That’s right, buddy,” I told him. “Can you say ‘beach’?” “Da ba ba ba!” Inside The Hanalei Gourmet, one of a few businesses housed in the former Hanalei School, a chalkboard menu listed enticing fresh-fish sandwiches and fish-and-chips. Nearby, at sleek Bar Acuda, tawny staff members were prepping for tapasstyle dinners featuring such dishes as honeycomb from the island’s north shore with Humboldt Fog cheese and sliced apple. 68 VIRTUOSO LIFE
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