When you go to Kalapaki Beach, you can’t miss seeing Kalapaki Beach Hut, and when you see the Beach Hut, it’s hard not to stop in and get a bite to eat.
Owners Steve and Sharon Gerald opened it more than 20 years ago when they saw the previous tenant shutting down its operation.
“It’s a great location, and we’ve been real fortunate with the workers,” Steve said. “It’s kind of evolved. We built a little bit here, a little there. We prayed about it — we’re Christians — and we just trusted the Lord and went with it.”
“It” is great burgers, a solid breakfast menu and a variety of sandwiches, salads and mix plates. Steve said they use as many local products as possible on the Beach Hut’s menu. Local grass-fed beef, a few taro items — fries, buns and even a burger — Hawai‘i-grown tomatoes and onions, and fresh fish whenever possible keep locals and visitors alike coming back.
“We have a great customer base,” Steve said. “A lot of it is local-based, and we get a lot of return tourists.”
On their last visit, one Titan had the Bacon-Cheddar, and his guest Titan had the Aloha Classic. All Beach Hut burgers come with lettuce, tomato and Maui onion. The Bacon-Cheddar is almost self-explanatory, other than to say the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Add that smokey, salty pork and some high-test cheddar to the slight tang of a juicy, local grass-fed patty, and even a Titan will wish for a bigger mouth to get more into each bite.
The Aloha Classic, while a little less self-explanatory, is nonetheless mandatory at some point in every burgermeister’s career. That same local beef patty is again joined by the standard fixings, along with the sweet tang of pineapple and a generous hit of honest-to-goodness teriyaki sauce. Savvy eaters can add mushrooms to make the taste truly worthy of the phrase “Titanic” — it goes down fast.
The Beach Hut also has a shave ice stand with its own window. It features a huge rainbow of flavors, and overheated Titans in the know can get both ice cream on bottom and sweet cream on top. One intriguing flavor option is called tiger blood, a mix of cherry and coconut. As always, to unlock the refreshment superpower of shave ice, one should order at least three flavors.
The Beach Hut also offers a breakfast menu featuring classic items with a local twist such as Sweet Bread French Toast and straight-up local favorites such as Loco Moco. Ono!
