While Lahaina continues to rebuild after the 2023 wildfires, Maui visitors are finding they can still experience Hawaiian culture and the island cuisine associated with the historic whaling town while staying in nearby Kā‘anapali.
Jan Kealani Kitaguchi, a kumu hula and cultural practitioner, taught hula for years to adults and children in Lahaina, where she was born and raised. Now she teaches guests to dance “The Hukilau,” play “Pearly Shells” on the ukulele and string a lei of fresh orchids several days a week at OUTRIGGER Honua Kai Resort and Spa, where “guests describe it as a highlight of their stay,” according to General Manager Ryan Kelly.
“Many families appreciate the shared, immersive experiences — it’s not just passive entertainment like live music, it’s something hands-on that leaves you feeling a certain way and you learn something more about where you’re staying,” he explains. “It’s just such an awesome experience to see our cultural activity instructor working with people of all ages. She finds different learning modalities for people of all ages and paces, and shares her aloha and her background.”
Kitaguchi’s cultural activities take place in the North Kā‘anapali resort’s hospitality lounge, which opened in June 2025 and, like the program, is exclusive to OUTRIGGER guests. “With OUTRIGGER being a company operating in Hawaii for 77 years and counting, we have a longstanding commitment to caring for our culture, our community and our place,” Kelly says. “This allows our guests to engage respectfully with Hawaiian cultural practices in an educational environment, with someone very experienced who is comfortable telling the story, and guests feel comfortable to ask questions.”
The current lineup of classes are just “the beginning,” Kelly adds. “We’re looking to expand more in terms of cultural experiences and making sure are guests are learning something that they can take away when they go home.”
From the 38-acre beachfront condominium resort, it’s just a short drive to the undamaged northern end of Lahaina’s Front Street, where visitors can enjoy free hula performances on Sundays and live Hawaiian music on Fridays at Lahaina Cannery or book a private table at the oceanfront Old Lāhainā Lū‘au, renowned as the most culturally authentic luau experience on the island. Waves also lap close to the luau’s long-popular neighboring restaurants Mala Ocean Tavern, Honu Oceanside, Star Noodle and Aloha Mixed Plate.
Across the street lie the lively newcomer Coco Deck, opened in 2024, and the Dining Lot, Lahaina Cannery’s enclosed, air-conditioned food court where the hula shows and concerts take place. The latter offers indoor-outdoor seating and dining from food trucks Bistro Gourmandise, which specializes in crepes; Ganotisi’s Pacific Rim Cuisine, an offshoot of Lanai City’s gourmet Filipino/Asian restaurant; Lahaina Sushi Ko, a former Front Street restaurant that had morphed into a food truck back in 2016; the new Lahaina Thai Ono and Sergio’s Cantina, which Kelly notes features the recipes of the former Frida’s Beach House, closed just a few months before the August 2023 fire. Lahaina Gelato, which opened on Front Street more than 30 years ago, has also found a new home in Lahaina Cannery, next to Safeway.
“Despite the things the local community have gone through, business that have lost their operations during the fire are finding ways to still keep operating via food truck, another location or an express location,” Kelly says.
Other examples he cites include the former Front Street burger joint Cool Cat Café, which has “a huge following, with one restaurant in Kihei and an express location in Whalers Village,” and the beloved Italian restaurant Sale Pepe Pizzeria E Cucina. After losing its downtown restaurant to fire, Sale Pepe chef and co-owner Michele di Bari created an express version with fresh pasta bowls and salads in Whalers Village and a new dining room in north Lahaina, which led to his being named a 2026 James Beard Award semifinalist.
“The thing I love about it most is the resiliency of these longstanding operations to get creative to offer things to our guests and the residents who grew up with these favorites,” Kelly says.
Honua Kai guests can get a further taste or two of Lahaina even without leaving Kā‘anapali. While Kimo’s, the flagship Front Street outpost of TS Restaurants, was similarly destroyed, “not too many people know it was a sister property to Duke’s, which we have on site, and to Leilani’s and Hula Grill in Whalers Village,” Kelly notes. Local artists and food purveyors, including Paia Gelato, also sell their wares in the onsite Hokulani Market, he adds.