Smith's Tropical Paradise
Wailua Marina State Park
808/821-6895
http://www.smithskauai.com/paradise.html

The Smith family of Kauai has been around since the 1940s. Smith Senior came from England, settled and married in Hawaii. They are very proud of their mixed heritage and their history – the entire family is in one way or another involved in the family's businesses. They started as a boat excursion tour along the Wailua River and have since opened a fern grotto where wedding parties are held. Their luau is probably their most famous service offered almost every day (call ahead to make an appointment).

Luau is Hawaiian for "feast" and it is what comes to mind whenever you mention Hawaii. At Smith's Tropical Paradise, gates open at 5pm to let the visitors walk around the garden and tour the grounds. Starting at 6pm when the sun begins to set, an imu ceremony is performed where the pig that has been cooking underground for several hours is unearthed. Two of the younger Smith boys ("digging their way to college," said the host) blow their conches to give thanks to the spirits before digging the dirt to expose the oven pit.

After the imu ceremony, everyone is seated inside the clubhouse and the open bar begins. There is a never-ending flow of mai tais, the official cocktail of Hawaii made up of fruit punch and rum. There is also a separate open bar for other kinds of cocktails. It was our last night in Kauai: we made several trips to the mai tai bar.

Everything at Smith's was organized. Their experience in throwing luaus showed as soon as they called the guests to visit the food buffet row by row and family by family. There was so much food: several kinds of salad with interesting tropical-inspired dressings, Filipino adobo chicken, teriyaki beef, mahimahi and of course, the pig itself, which was the tastiest of them all. There was also an abundant fruit table for dessert.