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Maui's On Main
1022 North Main
(at Lexington)
I don't get out as much as I used to. Partly this is because of the increasingly intractable heat of the summers around here, and partly it's just plain ol' lack of interest in the world around me. But sometimes I force myself to shower and shave and go through all the tedious effort of selecting clothes to wear and deciding where in this vast and bustling city I feel like going. Often, the answer is "Nowhere," and so I stay home again.
But last night my wife and I managed to rouse ourselves to action, largely by the draw of curiosity about Maui's On Main, a newish (six months old or so) and well-regarded burger joint not too far from home. It's in the space once occupied by Pete's Tako House, which long ago made the short move into downtown; and later by a locavore spot that wasn't good enough to long survive.
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It might have been nice enough out to sit on the patio, but we opted for a table in the tiny dining room. When we were making that choice I thought it was too windy outside -- I saw the decorations billowing in the breeze -- and only after we were seated did I realize that there was a huge-ass fan going out there. But we were comfortable enough inside. There was a kid's video playing on the one TV on the wall behind me, softly enough not to distract. Later, the sun got low enough that I had to change seats or be blinded; they could use a shade on the west-side window. But overall the place was exactly as it looks: small, unpretentious, funky, maybe even hip (I'm no judge of that anymore, I can assure you).
The food seemed to take a substantial time to arrive, but that may have been more perception than reality (owing to my own thoughts provoked by the particular video being shown), so let's not linger on the point. It came before too long, and the only consequence was that my wife's fries weren't as hot as they should have been. Everything else was fine.
I don't know what makes Hawaiian rolls so good -- I've seen all kinds of recipes, some with sugar, some with brown sugar, some with pineapple juice, but I've never tried making them -- but after tasting my wife's excellent (and very large) burger at Maui's, we both have a new favourite. If I was rating the food based on just that burger, it'd be five jalapeños for sure. Everything in the burger was excellent and just thinking about it now is making me plan another visit. Best burger in town? Gotta say yes.
My own dish, Loco Moco, was good too. Not as good; so few things in life are. But good. It consists of spam-fried rice, a traditional Hawaiian dish, topped with two hamburger patties, brown gravy, and two sunny-side-up fried eggs. It's served with a pasta salad. Both the main dish and the side dish come in copious quantity. I could only manage to eat half my dinner, but it came in a go-box so was no trouble to pack up and carry away. I expected to have a complaint about the cheap single-use plastic utensils, but they proved to be up to the task in this instance. (Though I still wish more restaurateurs would avoid them.)
I was happy with the dish overall. A lighter touch with the brown gravy would be an improvement; it overwhelmed the other flavours of the dish, to the point where I couldn't actually taste the spam at all. And if I'm being honest, I would have been content with one hamburger patty and one egg on the dish. But this is America, Land of the Supersized Serving, so who can really complain about that? And I loved the pasta salad for its creamy simplicity.
Anyway, it doesn't matter. Because next time I go to Maui's On Main, I'm getting the burger.
