Wine Spectator recently published their Top 100 List, the magazine’s “annual roundup of the year’s most exciting wines.” Following this, Front Street’s I’o restaurant is picking an adventurous “around the world” line-up from this illustrious list, to be featured at their December Wine Club tasting. READ ON, AT MAUIVENTS.COM

Beach bar shark sighting!

I love the spaciousness of this joint–the wonderful open-air feeling, even when all the doors and shut up for a night’s concert (like the Voodoo Glow Skulls on Saturday, September 19th). The screens that line the top of the bar loop a mix of surf videos and underwater scenes, branded with the Oceans logo. Though here in Hawaii you might feel inundated with said videos, you cannot help but be lured into the blue (the booze helps too).

Little place, big taste!

“I’ve got a case of katsu!” Phat Tony groaned, stuffed after having devoured a huge plate lunch of the most ono chicken katsu (his, kindly substituted with teriyaki sauce vs. tonkatsu sauce), one giant scoop of rice and some mean mac salad.

The place was packed,always a good sign for an eatery, no matter how small (and it is, small), jammed with locals and tourists alike. Good signs (like, as already mentioned, a crowd well-past the lunch rush hour; or beef stew that looks and smells like my Dad’s best; or the batches of fresh, mochiko-battered fried chicken, seen being cut carefully in to strips from within the open kitchen) are all well and good, but we need none. We already know it’s the bomb!

Mmm... Katsu.

The only bummer about the joint is that all too often we show up only to find it closed. A family place, their hours seem a little loosey goosey. But you know what? That’s totally okay with me. I guess good things are worth being patient for, and tasty katsu comes to those wait.

Dude, that's a super big knife! Glad this dude was super cool!

Check out the Maui Time Weekly Dining Listing at:

http://www.mauitime.com/Listing-22259.112113-30806.112113_Ko_Ko_Ichiban_Ya.html