Awesome Food: Mama's Fish House, Maui

I love looking back at pictures of vacation food. It never fails to conjure up feel-good holiday spirit and culinary inspiration to recreate some of the exotic cuisine. While in Maui, The Fella and I – on excellent recommendation from our friends who had honeymooned on the island – made it a point to eat at Mama's Fish House. It's been around nearly 40 years, and let's just say, "Mama" sure knows how to make good seafood! This "Old Polynesian" restaurant by the sea is island-rustic and whimsical in the eclectic design details – canoes and rusty anchors perched on the shores of the resto outside, and wood and metal accents inside.

The menu features "Today's Fish", where almost all of the daily seafood entrees are creatively executed with the day's catch from local fisherman. I love how the individual fisherman is credited by name and that you know exactly where the catch was made. It elevates the farm-to-table concept to a whole new level and makes eating my dish all the more satisfying – a deep-water ahi, caught by Billy Wakefield offshore from South Point!

{ peppercorn grilled deep-water ahi with Hamakua mushroom sauce and sweet-potato mash }

{ trio of sashimi – I really can't remember what the flavors were,
except the first one which was lemongrass with coconut, my fave! }

{ mahi-mahi caught off the North Shore of Maui,
stuffed with lobster, crab, and Maui onion, and baked in a macadamia nut crust }

{ all done! }