My culinary anticipations for my loved ones holiday vacation to Maui have been small. Not mainly because there isn’t great meals on the island—looking at you, Tin Roof and Sam Sato’s—but since we had been 8 grown ups, two youngsters, and just one rented Chevy Impala keeping around the resorts of Kā‘anapali. I steeled myself for a 7 days of 5 p.m. *White Lotus–*type lodge dinners. But a hot idea led us to guide a reservation at Waicoco, the newly opened restaurant at the Westin Kā‘anapali. The chef, Chris Kajioka (who co-owns the restaurant with Mourad Lahlou of San Francisco’s Aziza and Mourad), did tours at Places to eat You Have Read Of on the mainland before returning household to Hawaii to open his very own James Beard–recognized spots. That type of chef-y tasting menu strategy can be challenging to translate to a lodge cafe the dimensions of a football subject, but Kajioka and his workforce killed it. We ate “ohana type,” sharing household-design platters of heat Hawaiian rolls flecked with crystals of salt, rosy pink seared ahi, and umami-abundant black garlic Sun Noodles. The total loved ones was satisfied, from the four-12 months-aged (who bogarted the rolls) to the 74-yr-old (who liked the mai tais). Vacation resort eating throughout the superior year is generally not some thing to create property about, which is particularly why Waicoco was among the my most unforgettable meals of the yr. —MacKenzie Chung Fegan, senior commerce editor
Kasama
1001 N Winchester Ave, Chicago
As somebody who just cannot make it very significantly into the day with out caffeine, I come across myself rather allergic to breakfast activities that entail prolonged traces. But the wait (down the block) for breakfast at Kasama in Chicago was truly worth just about every minute, and I’d do it again for a taste of that garlicky sinangag with tocino. The Filipino-inflected menu is full of extraordinary breakfast sandwiches (I lucked into a couple of bites of the longanisa, egg, and cheese) and thoughtful pastries, like a miniature ube and huckleberry-stuffed take on a gâteau Basque. Following time I go I’ll nab a desk inside of the cozy, inviting cafe for some coffee and savory treats and then get as many pastries as I can have to go. —Anna Hezel, Epicurious senior editor
Myers + Chang
I went to Boston with my loved ones for my brother’s school tour weekend, and I was identified to squeeze in a handful of good meals while there. We ended up at Myers + Chang, and it is a scarce location that all four of us were being equally energized to consume at. Walking into chef-owner Joanne Chang’s restaurant and currently being warmly greeted felt like remaining welcomed into a friend’s home for a supper party. Ravenous immediately after traveling, we purchased almost the entire menu: lemony shrimp dumplings, crackly scallion pancakes, wok-roasted lemongrass mussels, crispy tofu with pickled jalapeño, chewy udon noodles in a black bean oyster sauce (that had us savoring the dregs of sauce at the base of the bowl with a spoon). Each dish was a spotlight, and there wasn’t a one miss out on in our order. Heat, bustling, and with support that offers you just the appropriate sum of time to linger amongst little plates, it is the variety of position that encourages unfettered laughter and uncomplicated discussion. I simply cannot wait to pay a visit to again. —Antara Sinha, associate cooking editor
