Letter from Bev
On October 14, 2007, Hali’imaile General Store began its 19th award-winning year. Amazing! A gourmet takeout food shop turns restaurant with the owner/chef never having worked in a restaurant before…miracles do happen! It has been a fun and exciting time. The best part has been meeting all of the wonderful people that have walked through our doors. I have watched many celebrations of life including marriage proposals and baby’s first outings. How lucky have I been?!!
I have been very humbled by the awards that have been bestowed upon my Upcountry restaurant over the years: My favorite award to date is the 2006 Best Chef Maui No Ka Oi Magazine’s ‘Aipono Award that was voted on by my peers. How great a feeling to receive that award from other chefs! In 2004, I was honored to receive a nomination for the prestigious James Beard Award for Best Chef Northwest/Hawaii, 2004. Honolulu Magazine’s Hale ‘Aina Award (2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 1999) for best Maui restaurant, Maui No Ka Oi Magazine’s ‘Aipono Award (2004, 2005, 2006) for Best Hawaii Regional Cuisine Restaurant and Best Desserts(2004, 2005, 2006), Honolulu Advertiser’s Ilima Award for best Maui restaurant, Best Chef Award in The Maui News, one of Hawaii’s top ten restaurants from Gourmet magazine and ranked one of Hawaii’s top restaurants by Zagat guide.
The restaurant has also been very fortunate to collect rave reviews in numerous international, national and local publications as well as many television appearances. To name a few: Travel and Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler, Food and Wine, Bon Appetite, Gourmet, National Geographic Traveler, USA Today, Wall Street Journal. I have enjoyed appearing onThe Food Network’s Best of,The Food Hunter, Sara Moulton Live, Chef’s Challenge; The Discovery Channel’s series Great Chefs of Hawaii, as well as NBC’s Today Show and CBS Morning Show. The accolades are the fruits of labor from an excellent and creative staff. They are the cornerstones of our operation and without their help we would not still be here.
Since 1999, I have also been fortunate enough to share my talent and cuisine with Hawaiian Airlines as their corporate chef. In October 2003, 2005, 2006 Conde Nast Traveler magazine named Hawaiian Airlines top domestic carrier in the United States for both food and cabin service.
We call our food eclectic American with Asian overtones. These flavors are based on the Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement of which I am honored to be a charter member.
The Hali’imaile General Store Cookbook was published in 2002 and features 100 of my favorite recipes for you to recreate at home.
A lot has happened in 19 years, all beyond my wildest dreams! I have fed Arnold and Maria, Jack Nicholson, Rob Lowe, Harrison Ford, Elton John, Alice Cooper, Chris Rock, Dennis Miller, Helen Hunt, Sharon Stone, Bonnie Rait, Nobu Matsuhisa, Mario Batali, Roger Verge, Dean Fearing, to name a few.
So…as we begin this 19th year, my promise to you, our customer, is that we shall continue to strive for excellence. I have been very fortunate to have a group of employees that understand our need for excellence and consistency. We shall always be “trying to raise the bar”. My hope is to give you a memorable dining experience that has you telling all your friends to come and dine with us!
P.S. You can visit my online blog for recipes and stories from Hali'imaile General Store
