On The Corner of Lahaina Luna & Wainee

Last night we had parked our car and were headed to dinner at this pasta restaurant we had spotted several times on our walks around town, Penne Pasta, when Geri spied a mobile wood fired pizza oven in a small shopping area on the west side of Lahaina Luna St. and the corner of Wainee St. in downtown Lahaina.

I've seen restaurants that have advertised pizza around town, but frankly I'm of leery of Hawaians selling pizza.  I know that sounds prejudice, but I'm gun shy after my last two encounters. If you read this stupid blog I'm limiting my pizza intake to once a month, and the last two months I've been  horribly burned by bad pizza. The last time being the review I did of Little Star pizza in Albany, CA.

But this time I couldn't help myself. Yes, I'm past my monthly quota of pizza, but I am on vacation after all, and yes I'm making excuses.

The young man running the mobile pizza unit, pictured below, name is Matt Paul. He works for the owner of the business who's name is Eric Mitchell. The name of the business is the Outrigger Pizza Company, www.OutriggerPizza.com. Matt was very nice and we talked about pizza, which is just about my favorite subject in the world of food. We talked about dough, oven construction, fuel, the rig he used to haul the oven. We talked toppings, sauces, flours, cheeses, basically covering the whole process of pizza making. He patiently let me watch him hand toss the pizza I ordered, and I watched him put the pie in the oven with his peel, and two minutes later pull it out with his paddle.

I explained my obsession with pizza, my background, my blog on pizza and so forth.

Then I got to sit down, shut up and eat my pizza I ordered, pesto, garlic, and three cheeses, which was what I had been longing for, for two months now. A good wood fired pizza, simple and plain. And Matt delivered the goods, a New York style Neapolitan thin crust pizza.

Matt is only at this particular location on Thursday evenings, from around 5:00 PM till 8:30 PM. We did have pasta at Penne Pasta, which was also very good, but the pizza was my dessert. If you are in Lahaina on a Thursday night and you've got a Jones for a real New York pie this is the only place in town I can recommend. Sit down under the stars, let the cool trade winds ease your mind, and enjoy some of the best pie you'll find on this side of the Pacific Ocean.

Thanks Matt and Eric, you made my day. I loved this little oven, which was apparently was made in Australia. It held the heat in wonderfully. He let me stick my hand in there and I could tell it was around 700 degrees, and he was able to cook two 10 inch pies at the same time. If I lived here I would have one in my backyard.

If you guys are ever in the Bay Area please contact us, and we can do wood fired pizza at our house in Oakland, our treat.

Your guys get my 3 joint rating for pizza, and you can't get any higher than that.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War