Kauai Part 3; Venice

Kauai Part 3

We left the Marriott at  Lihue and moved to the Westin in Princeville. The Westin is a hotel/timeshare/condo resort in the planned resort of Princeville. Princeville is beautiful and has several top golf courses. It also has a St Regis hotel. The St Regis is an over the top place with a Jean Georges Vongerichten’s restaurant http://www.jean-georges.com/restaurants/united-states/princeville/kauai-grill/ . The hotel is on a cliff overlooking Hanelei Bay, think The Decendents. Westin guests have privileges at the St Regis, so we could use their beach. The Westin sort of overlooks the ocean but it high on a cliff. No beach.

Upon check-in we were offered all types of deals including an upgrade from our studio to a 1 bedroom. We paid $75 for this and we also signed up for a luau. The 1 bedroom unit was very nice and I had a full kitchen with granite countertops. It was the 5th anniversary of the hotel and they were having a special luau with some of the top talent on the island.

 

 

The luau was in a tent in the middle of the resort. We had a lightning storm in the middle and lost power for about 20 minutes. It was interesting. The food was good as the hotel chef created some Hawaiian food.

It was also the 100th anniversary of the Kilauea Lighthouse. Apparently the lighthouse was important because it is located at the westernmost part of the Hawaiian Islands and boats used it a marker for arriving in Honolulu. It is on a beautiful small peninsula. http://www.kilauealighthouse.org/

I finally relented and cooked a meal for us at the Westin. I found some nice steaks at the supermarket, Princeville has a great Foodland supermarket and then I found a small wine shop that had some excellent wines at reasonable prices. I bought Brancaia Tre Toscana IGT 2010 and 2009 Vietti Langhe Nebbiolo Perbacco. Both were about $20 and they were very good. The Westin had a number of very good outdoor grills for use and I grilled the steaks.

 

We had very poor weather in Princeville. We made reservations for our first  helicopter ride on the second day we arrived. We went to the airport and the weather was rainy and cloudy. The helicopter people told all would be well in the air. What else would they say. We used Sunshine Helicopters  since they were the only company to operate out of the Princeville airport. The copter was deluxe but the weather spoiled the experience. We were underwhelmed. We saw some spectacular spots but nothing blew us away. I took videos and some pictures. The pictures are through glass windows and rain and clouds.

On our last day on Kauai, we had a 5pm flight so we headed south to Poipu. We had been to Poipu earlier in our trip and had found a farmers market in fancy out door mall. WE found the PIe Lady stand and bought a slice of Mango/Passion fruit pie. It was great. A thick pie loaded with slices of mango. We also had a beer at Merriman's casual restaurant at the mall. http://www.merrimanshawaii.com/kauai.htm  Peter Merriman is a Hawaiian chef who I believe started a restaurant on the Big Island. We ate their years ago and it was very good and very expensive. He has since branched out and open a number of restaurants in Hawaii. He used local and organic ingredients. When we reached Poipu on the last day we went to the Marriott Vacation Club and had lunch at their place on the beach. We had a good fish sandwich. We then realized that we had made a mistake by not staying in Poipu. The weather is much better than Princeville and the beach is gorgeous. Poipu is also not that far from Lihue. The photo above is a local joke. Kauai has wild chickens everywhere. NY Theater We saw Venice at the NY Public Theater http://publictheater.org/  on Lafayette Street last weekend. It is a new musical by Matt Sax who also stars in the play. It is a Public Lab production so the tickets were $15. The play was very good. Some Shakespeare type plot with rap and other genres of music. The music was engaging and Matt Sax is great. The actors are top flight. It is only playing to the end of the month. Go see it! Recent wines:   2005 Vieux Château Champs de Mars Johanna Good Bordeaux; $18 I have stored this wine for several years. 2012 Brancott Estate Sauvignon Blanc $10. OK NZ wine. I have had better vintages of this wine. 2011 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Chardonnay Arthur $30 I love their wines. Excellent chardonnay with some oak. Good fruit. Expensive wine is the only negative. 2012 Tiefenbrunner Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT $9. Forgettable but drinkable Italian white. 1999 E. Guigal Châteauneuf-du-Pape $35 when released. My oldest stored bottle. Wine Spectator #1 wine of the year several years ago. The wine was great. It was at its peak. A touch of port-like flavor. I am really enjoying CDP's these days especially the 2010's. 2010 M. Chapoutier Côtes du Roussillon Villages Les Vignes de Bila-Haut $11. This wine always tastes different. I like this bottle. WA gave it a big score. Good value. 2012 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Pinot Noir Édition Rosé $20. Great rose but not a light sipping wine. 14% alcohol. Apparently the 2012 vintage in the Willamette Valley is great. Hopefully this wine is leading the way. Pinot Noir grape is used for this wine. 2007 Mount Veeder Winery Cabernet Sauvignon . Surprised me. A good California cab. Not overly complex but good balance and not a fruit bomb. We liked the wine. My garden is beginning to grow. I have harvested lettuce. Looks like it may be a good growing season. Sour cherries should be coming to the local farmer's markets soon. Looking forward to them and the resulting cherry tart. Enjoy.