New Poipu restaurants.

The opening of the long-awaited Kukui’ula Village shopping center and the Koa Kea Resort have brought some exciting new dining choices in Poipu.

The new Poipu restaurants cater to all budgets with two fine-dining restaurants helmed by James Beard Award nominated chefs, a lovely pool-side resort bistro with ocean views, and a casual café. Vacationers staying in Poipu will enjoy the added variety. And all of them are convenient to Poipu-area hotels and resorts.

Josselin’s Tapas Bar & Grill.

One of the founding fathers of Hawaiian regional cuisine, Jean Marie Josselin, won plenty of accolades for his previous restaurant, A Pacific Café. Now, he’s opened a new place in Kukui’ula Village called Josselin’s Tapas Bar & Grill. As the name suggests, the menu features small plates that are meant to be shared.

Yummy choices like coffee-smoked pork tonkatsu, scallop ravioli in coconut milk, wood-oven roasted steak, and firecracker salmon roll make choosing a challenge. For those who want something more substantial, entrée-size dishes like sesame-crusted mahi mahi are also available. Many of them were on the menu at A Pacific Café.

Don’t miss the fabulously refreshing sangrias, which are made at your table on a cart. Three versions are available, including a white lychee.

Red Salt Restaurant

Located in the Koa Kea Resort, which is on the grounds of the old Poipu Beach Hotel, the Red Salt Restaurant serves chef Ronnie Sanchez’s innovative takes on traditional island favorites. The beach-front location provides wonderful views and the dining room is stylish and attractive.

Inventive cocktails like the Poipu Surf with Champagne, peach vodka, and passion fruit juice are a lovely way to begin your evening. And if you’re not hungry enough for dinner, you can order appetizers like crispy pork gyoza or crab cakes in the lounge.

Sanchez breathes new life into standards like poke and kalau pork, which is served with taro gnocchi and a pineapple demi glace. Seared ahi comes with an avocado-ginger salsa and mango vinaigrette. Grilled ono has Maui onion and king crab home fries. The New York steak served here is one of the best on Kauai.

Lilikoi Crème Brulee is the perfect way to end your meal.

Merriman’s Poipu

A three-time finalist for the James Beard Awards for the Pacific Northwest/Hawaii region, Peter Merriman has opened not one, but two restaurants in Kauai. Located in Kukui’ula Village, the fine dining restaurant — Merriman’s Poipu — is located upstairs. Merriman’s regional Hawaiian cuisine makes the most of local ingredients. In fact, 90% of the food he serves is locally sourced. So you can expect to find oyster mushrooms, sweet onions, and line-caught fish in season.

Start with the Pupu Taster, which includes ahi and watermelon poki, kalua pig and sweet onion quesadillas, roasted beets and feta, marlin sashimi, and calamari salad. The Mix Plate serves almost as a tasting menu, letting diners sample fish, beef, and vegetable dishes. There are also excellent choices for vegetarians, including truffle-Parmesan fries. The wine list is terrific and the desserts are worth saving room for.

Downstairs, Merriman’s Café is more casual and less expensive, with soups, salads, sandwiches, and pasta dishes. Fish tacos, grilled fish sandwiches, and pulled kalua pork on a Portuguese sweet roll keep things local. Kalbi-style ribs and teriyaki are other good choice. Most items are less than $12.

One of our favorite places to eat in Poipu, Savage Shrimp, is moving out of the truck and into the Kukui’ula Village this summer. Watch for an update once she’s settled in.

Find more Poipu restaurants here.

Savage Shrimp serves up one of the best lunches on Kauai.

Just past the rotary on the way to Spouting Horn, there’s a lunch wagon on Lawai Road in front of Prince Kuhio Park.  It’s usually there from around 11AM until around 3PM.   On a calm day, you’ll probably smell it before you see it.  And the smell will be intoxicating.

It’s Savage Shrimp, a hidden gem that’s a favorite lunch spot for locals and savvy visitors alike.  The owner, Susan, has her shrimp flown in from the Gulf of Mexico, and she cooks them to order three ways:  Garlic, Spicy (known as Grasshoppa), and Bahia, made with coconut milk, cilantro, and local tomatoes.

For $12.50 (cash only), you’ll get ten big peel-and-eat shrimp, a couple of scoops of rice, and some tangy cole slaw made with passion fruit dressing.  And if you’re a light eater, one plate is plenty for two.

With its creamy, complex sauce, the Bahia Shrimp is our favorite.

Susan’s planning to move Savage Shrimp into a strip mall in the spring.  Let’s hope in the new space it will still be one of the best Kauai restaurants.