Culinary Concepts by Jean-Georges, the global restaurant company by the renowned chef and his business partner Phil Suarez, has announced their first restaurant in Hawaii. The Kaua'i Grill will open at The St. Regis Resort Princeville at the start of November. The grill is the resort's signature restaurant and has stunning views of Hanalei Bay through panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows. Chef Vongerichten and his team have created a menu that will utilize the freshest fish and ingredients indigenous to the islands while adapting recipes and culinary techniques to showcase the chef's unique approach.

The interior will be done in shades of cocoa, ruby, and bronze with zebra wood. The spiraling lit fabric ceiling evokes the shape of a nautilus shell. Cascading from the center of the ceiling is a hand-crafted fiber optic and ruby glass hibiscus chandelier. The restaurant will be open for dinner nightly from 6 to 10 p.m. for resort guests as well as the public.

The great thing about visiting an island like Kauai is that so much of it isn't easily accessible -- if you really want to get to the most stunning parts of the island, you're going to need to engage a guide. And for most people, engaging a guide means heading out with a group of strangers. This doesn't work out so well in the new movie A Perfect Getaway set on Kauai -- but of course, that horror flick is fiction. Although it's not fiction to say that one definition of luxury travel is being able to avoid what most people have to do on a holiday -- and that a luxury traveler's definition of horror could just be a lack of privacy.

Luckily, there's a way around such difficulties. Outfitters Kauai, on Poipu Beach, offers a host of adventures taking you to the parts of Kauai that make you feel like you've entered into a computer simulation of the most beautiful place on Earth. (Like, for instance, a sea kayak of the Na Pali coast.) These are group trips, but, when country music star/actress Reba visited Kauai last Fall, and decided she wanted to zipline through the island's tropical forest and waterfalls, she did the only sensible thing: she bought out the whole tour that day. Rick Haviland, owner of Outfitters Kauai, says that most of his excursions accommodate 13 people at a maximum, so if you purchase every single slot, no stranger can join you and your hand-selected group. A Na Pali sea kayak, for instance, will cost around $3,000, before taxes and guide gratuity.

Other than the footprint, the resort has been completely rethought. It has three separate buildings that create something of a U-shape, facing the ocean. Before renovation, the former hotel had some rooms over the lobby that faced away from the water -- basically no view at all save for the parking lot. No longer, those rooms without a view have been (very wisely) transformed into a spa, and a departure lounge for late or early arriving guests.

Koa Kea has a retro vibe going on -- in this sense, it reminded me of the Valley Ho in Scottsdale, one of my favorites. In the lobby and in the guest rooms, the dominant impression is of white textiles and dark brown wood, with accent colors of fuschia, teal and coral -- very bright, but designer Anita Brooks used an appropriately light hand. It's all quite a nice foil for Poipuand Kauai's exuberant greenery and bright blue ocean. There are six ocean-front suites and three ocean-view suites, the ocean front suites make more use of traditional sand, pale green and blue beach tones that you often see in ocean view rooms -- because really you're not going to be admiring the bed spread if you're right on the ocean.

All rooms are well equipped with Anichini linens, flat screen TVs, Nespresso Espresso coffee makers (read the instructions!) and iPod docking stations

Koa Kea has 121 rooms, six ocean-front suites, and three ocean-view suites. Opening promotional rates from $299 (for a garden view) to $2575 for an ocean front two-bedroom suite.

This home is a chance to experience a more private side of Hawaii. This home on Kauai is on over five acres of beautiful land and has a private gated path to Secret Beach. The home has ocean vistas with views of the Historic Lighthouse and Bali Hai. The four-bedroom home also has a pool and spa. The home is charming enough but the vista and the natural environment is the selling point. It is listed at $6.15 million. After the jump, ocean views from nearly every angle.

We are back to Hawaii today for a look at a new resort condo project on Kauai. Koloa Landing at Poipu Beach will be the first major oceanfront real estate development in Kauai since 1990. Koloa Landing will be home to 323 upscale resort condominiums from 1,000 to 2,800 square feet. The units will have private lanais, natural wood finishes, stone and wood flooring and glass patio doors. They will also have complete kitchens with top-of-the-line appliances, baths with two-person soaker tubs and owner's storage and in-suite laundry areas. On the grounds there will be four lagoon-type pools with rock islands, waterfalls, swim through grotto/cave and a waterslide. To add to the resort feel a full service spa and fitness center, as well as rental management and housekeeping services are planned. Construction is scheduled to begin September 2007 with anticipated completion of the first phase in 2009. Pre-sale reservations begin in July.