Lahaina cleans up its act - Hawaii

Sunset, April, 1996 by Jeff Phillips

For lunch, you can't beat the burgers and open-air tables with views of the harbor and Front at Cheeseburger in Paradise (661-4855; 811 Front).

SHOPPING AND DINING

Shops and galleries stretching along Front Street and radiating up most side streets are largely what you'd expect. One exception is Take Home Maui (121 Dickenson; 661-8067), where you can sip coffee on the old plantation shack's veranda while a clerk boxes Maui onions, pineapples, papayas, and preserves to ship home. And you can stop by Lahaina Hat Co. (705 Front; 661-8230) for a straw fedora. Lahaina Whaling Museum (865 Front, in the Crazy Shirts store; 661-4775) has a sizable collection of whaling-era artifacts.

Lahaina dining comes into its own in the evening. At dinner (reservations essential) you'll enjoy the regional influences of Hawaii and the Southwest at David Paul's Lahaina Grill (667-5117), or the flavors of Asia and the Pacific at Avalon Restaurant (667-5559), which has patio and inside dining.