After the 2023 fire destroyed Sale Pepe, the beloved Italian bistro where local chefs ate on their days off, the restaurant’s owners, Qiana and Michele di Bari, pledged to rebuild. Through sheer will and aloha, they succeeded.

Their motto is “One Part Milan, One Part Brooklyn, All Maui,” so you know a pizza from Sal e Pepe is going to be special. This is a love story for sure, but it’s also a story of resilience and courage, in the wake of the deadly Lahaina wildfires from 2023.

After losing their Front Street restaurant in the Maui wildfires in August 2023, the owners of Sale Pepe Pizzeria e Cucina are set to reopen the Italian restaurant at a new location in Lahaina by early spring and have another location in the works at Kapalua Resort.

Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. announced that Sale Pepe Pizzeria e Cucina will soon open their second location at Kapalua Resort after the 2023 wildfires claimed its original Front Street location.

A decade ago, Qiana and Michele Di Bari moved from New York to Lahaina, where, they say, they finally found a place that felt like home. But in August, after the couple and their 12-year-old daughter, Jada, fled the wildfires that tore through the town, and after chaos and confusion forced multiple evacuations a few days later, Jada broke down and said, “This doesn’t feel like home anymore.”

A year after wildfires tore through Lahaina, Hawaii, restauranteur Qiana Di Bari is still packing up trash bags, each filled with smoke-damaged belongings, and carrying them out of her home one at a time in a painstaking effort to rebuild.

A decade ago, Qiana and Michele Di Bari moved from New York to Lahaina, where, they say, they finally found a place that felt like home. But in August, after the couple and their 12-year-old daughter, Jada, fled the wildfires that tore through the town, and after chaos and confusion forced multiple evacuations a few days later, Jada broke down and said, “This doesn’t feel like home anymore.”

On August 8, the day that Maui was overcome with flames, Qiana Di Bari saw a puff of smoke near her home and knew she and her family had to escape. Earlier that day, a fire had been spotted and put out in her vibrant Lahaina neighborhood. But by late afternoon, Di Bari was hearing of more fires elsewhere on the island.

We asked our favorite food-loving travelers—chefs, cookbook authors, and travel show hosts—about the best meals they've had, anywhere in the world.

Diane Woodburn of Maui No Ka Oi Magazine speaks with Qiana DiBari of Sale Pepe & Pacific’o. In this podcast Qiana talks about building loyal customers with Sale Pepe since opening in 2014…her background growing up in Brooklyn, her time managing with A Tribe Called Quest, the recent loss of her mother-in-law who was an inspiration for Sale Pepe…

The first thing I notice walking into Sale Pepe are the sacks of imported Italian flour stacked in front of the pizza oven, with red tiles as bright and shiny as Dorothy’s ruby slippers. The oven, like its owners, Michele and Qiana Di Bari, is a long way from its original home (the oven from Naples, the birthplace of pizza; Michele from Milan and Qiana from New York). The first time the Di Baris ever visited Maui, Qiana says, “We had this emotional feeling. I know it sounds trite and you’ve heard it a million times, but we felt like we found our place in the world.”