After months of serving as a food hub for Maui wildfire relief efforts, the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College’s Pāʻina Market is welcoming the community back to gather and have lunch.
“Our incredible culinary arts program faculty, staff, students and alumni together with hundreds of volunteers prepared, cooked, packed up and delivered an extraordinary 200,000 home-cooked, comforting meals for our fire-displaced neighbors,” said Chancellor Lui Hokoana. “As we all move forward on our island’s journey to recovery, it’s truly a blessing to get our students back into their regular curriculum, which includes cooking delicious lunches for folks both on campus and off.”
World Plate and Paniolo Grill in the Pāʻina Market are now open for lunch. Both eateries are guided by highly experienced chef instructors and run by students in the college’s award-winning culinary arts program. They utilize as much local product as they are able to obtain, some of it grown right on campus.
“For me, personally, as cathartic and rewarding as it was to be able to contribute to our community in need in the wake of the wildfire disaster, I think it has been good for everyone to begin classes again,” said World Plate Chef Instructor Gary Johnson. “Most of the students I have in class were part of our relief effort so, in a way, I have some of the most experienced students I have ever had for what would typically be a first-year course. And we’re all happy to have people buzzing around our Pāʻina building again.”
Currently, his class is working through some European-inspired menus. The students have also begun working on their student planned menu, which will be Korean-inspired and served the first week of December.
Paniolo Grill Chef Instructor Noel Cleary is also happy to be teaching again. He guides his students through ever-changing menus of food he describes as “meant to be delivered fast but definitely not fast food.”
The focus at Paniolo Grill is on made-to-order gourmet deli sandwiches—hot and cold, classic and creative, served with crispy fries—a salad of the week and a plate lunch of the week.
Paniolo Grill and World Plate are open Monday–Thursday, 11 a.m.–1 p.m. Most lunches are priced below $15. Also being served: hot and cold grab-and-go items, special of the day, salad bar and assorted pastries prepared by UH Maui College baking students. Cash and credit cards are accepted. Menus and times are subject to change. Pāʻina Market is closed on UH holidays.
