Poke in Hanapepe

The Mele's truck in Hanapepe. Photo by David Lansing.

Every time I drive from Lihue back to my bungalow at Waimea Plantation Cottages I pass by a little sign along the side of the road pointing inland towards Hanapepe, “Kauai’s Biggest Little Town.” I’m not sure what they mean by that. The fact is that for years Hanapepe was the town on Kauai. The harbor at Port Allen was just down the way and the island airport was there. During WWII it bustled with G.I.’s and sailors preparing to go fight in the Pacific Theater. Then the war ended, the nearby sugar plantations shut down, and Hanapepe all but went away. The final blow almost came in 1992 when Hurricane Iniki all but wiped Hanapepe off the face of the earth.

But, you know, little towns like Hanapepe are resilient. They look for ways to survive. In the last twenty years, Hanapepe has transformed itself into kind of a cutesy little artistic colony. In addition to being “Kauai’s Biggest Little Town” they’re now also the art capital of Kauai. Walk along the curving main street (you can get from one end of town to the other in about five minutes) and you’ll pass boutique galleries selling handmade jewelry, dramatic photographic prints of waterfalls and crashing waves, and oil paintings of hibiscus flowers and Hawaiian sunsets.

Most of it isn’t my cup of tea but yesterday afternoon, as I strolled about, I noticed that the galleries certainly were filled with a lot of lookie-loos, if not buyers. I was more taken with Hanapepe’s other small charms: the Talk Story bookstore, the swinging bridge over the Hanapepe River (rebuilt after Hurricane Iniki destroyed the original), the Hanapepe Café and Bakery (which was doing great business), and a catering truck parked alongside the road called Mele’s Kusina where shirtless surfers and young mothers with toddlers sleeping in strollers were lined up to order Kalua pulled pork sandwiches, fish tacos and a plate called “Local Grinds” that came with rice, potatoes, and mac salad.

I ordered the #4 plate: poke bento with rice, edamame, and mac salad. It wasn’t the best poke I’ve ever had but it wasn’t bad. And I was happy just to spend the afternoon eating my grinds along the banks of the Hanapepe River in Kauai’s biggest little town.