The Hali'imaile General Store Cookbook

December 20, 2000
Gannon's Hali'imaile General Store is actually a restaurant housed in the old general store/grocery of a pineapple plantation on the Hawaiian island of Maui. She opened "the store" 12 years ago as the center of a catering business, but her customers demanded that it be a restaurant, too, and that's what it very shortly became. While it started as a simple place, it is now a sophisticated restaurant. Although there are a few holdovers from the early days, most of the recipes in her cookbook are chef's recipes, "Hawai'i Regional Style" (the name for a special collaboration between top chefs and local growers): Sesame-Crusted Mahimahi with Coconut-Curry Cabbage, Macadamia Nut-Crusted Soft-Shell Crab, Seafood Martini with Wasabi-Ginger Cocktail Sauce. There are also lots of delicious desserts from Gannon's daughter, the pastry chef. For area libraries and others where restaurant books are popular.

Copyright 2000 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2001
Tourists returning from the Hawaiian Island of Maui bring back tales of a wonderful restaurant that's called a "general store." Owner Beverly Gannon has recorded her cuisine in "The Hali'imaile General Store Cookbook. "Gannon's cuisine makes use of the islands' tropical bounty and prepares them with a very contemporary sensibility. Thus uku (gray snapper) receives an ancho chile marinade and a bed of corn salsa with ginger cream. Gannon helpfully offers substitutions for ingredients not likely to appear in mainland supermarkets. Her chocolate macadamia nut pie should prove a winning dessert for the chocoholic. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)