Located in Fairway Shops, a resort retail center, Muʻumuʻu Maui — described as an Italian trattoria in the heart of Kāʻanapali — opened last December, right before Christmas. It was the previous home of Belly restaurant, which closed earlier last year.
Executive chef Paul Maloney says this is the first time he "built a restaurant and its menu from the ground up."
The eatery’s name doesn’t refer to its cuisine — which is Italian and Mediterranean — but rather, the casual feel the owner wanted the restaurant to have.
“He (the owner) wanted a good place that you didn’t have to dress up for,” Maloney explains. “You can come in your muʻumuʻu, your beach gear or beach attire, and get really good food — borderline fine dining — with your family and friends, be relaxed and have a good time.”
The menu comprises appetizers, salads, pizzas, pastas, side dishes and entrees.
“It’s Italian/Mediterranean,” Maloney explains. “We’re not just locked into Italian (food); we can have some fun with different ingredients and different cuisine styles. We try to do some local ingredients with Italian pairings.”
Originally from Philadelphia, Maloney is a retired U.S. Navy veteran and is a certified executive chef through the American Culinary Federation. He says he has more than 20 years in the food service/culinary industry; while he was stationed in Naples, Italy for three years, he honed his pizza-making skills.
“Italian food is my all-time favorite food,” he says. “I could eat pizza every day of the week; I really could. Somebody asked me a long time ago, ‘If you were on death row, what would your last meal be?’ ‘Pizza, all day.’”
Maloney’s previous experience includes working as an executive sous chef at Fleetwood's on Front Street, which was destroyed by the 2023 Lahaina fires.
“My wife is from Lahaina; that’s my tie to Maui,” he explains. “She’s born and raised here; that’s why we’ve traveled and finally came back here.”
It was important to Maloney to feature authentic Italian cuisine. He notes that the eatery’s mixer and pizza oven were both bought from Italy.
“The mixer is meant to mimic two hands to make the dough; it’s not your typical mixer where it spins it (the dough) around,” he says. “We make eight to 10 of these bins (of dough) a day; we go through 100 dough balls on a busy day. It’s a lot of work.”
He explains that Muʻumuʻu features Neapolitan-style pizzas, which are known for their thinner crust.
“It has our thin, hand-tossed crust,” he says. “It’s a delicate process (to make pizza); it cooks fast. The oven is about 850 degrees inside; pizzas cook in two to four minutes. If you eat pizza from other places, you feel full and weighed down; ours has fresh ingredients.”
The eatery’s margherita classico ($24) — mozzarella, basil, pomodoro, parmesan — and Bianco ($26) are crowd favorites. The latter features an alfredo sauce with Aliʻi mushrooms, caramelized onions, parmesan and basil.
Other pizza flavors include Italian sausage ($27) — complete with broccolini, ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, pepper flakes, and pomodoro — Da Kine ($26), which is topped with jalapenos, pepperoni, mozzarella, parmesan and pomodoro; and prosciutto ($26), to name a few.
“I work on the pizzas a lot because I love interacting with customers,” Maloney says. “Pizza is a different skill set; you’re under pressure and people are watching you.”
Popular appetizers include the eatery’s zucchini fritte ($18), or panko-breaded crispy zucchini with parmesan and lemon aioli; burrata caprese ($18) and Italian chopped salad ($20). The latter comprises Romaine with Kalamata olives, heirloom tomatoes, salami, chickpeas, pepperoncini, mozzarella, red onions, parmesan and a lemon oregano vinaigrette.
The restaurant's pastas range from rigatoni bolognese ($32) and chicken parmesan ($29) to linguine di mare ($34), spaghetti and meatball ($25) and lobster alfredo ($38). The latter features fettuccine with creamy alfredo, lobster, zucchini and crispy prosciutto.
“We started off making our pastas in house, and we scaled back to only a few that we do in-house,” Maloney says. “I’m revamping the menu soon; we’ll do some fresh pastas for that when the time comes.
“Our number-one seller every day is our rigatoni bolognese,” he adds. “It’s got ground Italian duroc pork sausage, beef short rib, our homemade tomato sauce — which is made with San Marzano tomatoes — fresh basil and fresh garlic. It’s a really good, hearty, satisfying dish.”
The eatery’s last menu change was earlier this spring, according to Maloney. He says he upgraded some dishes, and took others off the menu. He plans to revamp the menu again this month, before the holidays.
“I’m going to do a pizza of the week special; I’m going to have fun with that, it’ll be off the menu,” he says. “We’ll have different entrees and different pastas with more fall-themed ingredients, like butternut squash and brussels sprouts.”
Muʻumuʻu Maui is open daily; happy hour is from 2 to 5 p.m., while dinner is from 5 to 9 p.m.
“Some customers come by and we talk a little bit,” Maloney says. “They say, ‘We’ve been here for one week; this is our third time here.’ That’s amazing. It’s a good feeling to hear that; it makes you feel like you’re doing something right.”
CONTACT
Muʻumuʻu Maui
2580 Kekaa Drive, Lahaina
808-214-5100
muumuumaui.com/home
Instagram: @muumuu_maui
Open 2 to 9 p.m. daily (happy hour 2 to 5 p.m., dinner from 5 to 9 p.m.)
Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.
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