Popular Maui Restaurant Gets a ‘Top Chef’ Makeover

There are some restaurants that, for whatever reason, you keep coming back to.

Sometimes it’s nostalgia. Sometimes it’s convenience. And almost always it’s because there’s something there that you love: atmosphere, service, sizzling steak bites with onions.

That’s how it’s been for me with Tiffany’s Bar & Grill in Wailuku, a family-run neighborhood sports bar that’s been around for nearly two decades. Its cavernous dining room packed in the mostly local clientele, here for the local classics this restaurant was known for.

But the Orite family who owned Tiffany’s decided to call it quits. That’s when a loyal customer—who just so happens to be a “Top Chef” alum and James Beard-nominated chef—stepped in.

Sheldon Simeon and his wife, Janice, who have owned other restaurants on Maui, took over this one—now called Tiffany’s Maui—last year. The couple refreshed the 3,600-square-foot space, which includes a 12-seat bar with murals and lyrics from some of their favorite songs on the walls.

Inside the 3,600-square-foot restaurant in Wailuku.
Photo: Catherine Toth Fox

What people may remember about Tiffany’s is its extensive menu, with more than 150 items. Simeon pared that down to about 50, keeping some of the most popular dishes, like honey-walnut shrimp, sizzling steak bites with onion, and kim chee fried rice. But he’s added his own touch, with more Filipino-inspired fare and an upscale approach to local comfort food.

(Left) Hamachi sashimi and Ovaltine champorado from Tiffany’s Maui.
Photos: Catherine Toth Fox

One of the most popular dishes right now is the hamachi (Japanese amberjack) sashimi, served with a ponzu finadene sauce and Maui onions. The fish is fresh and firm, and the sauce is puckery good. (Order a side of white rice with it. Trust us.)

The desserts are just as creative, with a rotating lineup that includes a kiawe bean blondie, black sesame mousse cake, and vanilla bean ice cream topped with hurricane popcorn and furikake. We tried the warm Ovaltine champorado, an innovative take on a Filipino dessert consisting of a chocolate-flavored rice porridge made with sticky rice and tablea. Simeon swapped chocolate with malt-y Ovaltine and added mochi, puffed rice, evaporated milk and Nutella ice cream.

The daily specials take advantage of seasonal, locally grown ingredients, like these ʻahi cakes.
Photo: Catherine Toth Fox

The menu may be elevated, but there are still a lot of homey, local-style dishes that lure the regulars: loco moco, miso butterfish, garlicky mochiko chicken. But this is where Simeon is a master—creating a new experience eating something so familiar. Take, for example, the Wailuku saimin. It has everything you would expect from a deluxe bowl of saimin—pork belly, won ton, egg, kamaboko, choy sum—but the noodles, specially made for him by Honolulu-based Sun Noodles, is a mix of dry mein and chewy saimin noodles. It’s subtle, but I got it.

Or his version of the beloved oxtail soup. Instead of oxtail, he uses slow-roasted brisket, served with shiitake mushrooms, peanuts, onions and cilantro.

The vibe is relaxed and lively, the cocktails on point, and the menu one you’ll want to come back for again and again.

We know we do.

1424 Lower Main St., Wailuku, tiffanysmaui.com; @tiffanysmaui