“Fine dining without the bullshit”

Since it was my birthday, I got to choose the “Friday night dinner with the family” restaurant.  My choice was Pasta & Basta by Donato at Restaurant Row.

If the name Donato sounds familiar, Donato Loperfido used to have a restaurant in Manoa Marketplace a while back.  Then he had an idea.  A concept where diners can get excellent, healthy, fine dining meals without all the fluff - and without the high prices.  Something that Midlifers can appreciate. 

The concept of Pasta & Basta is so simple, yet so mind boggling.  I’m surprised nobody else ever thought of it.  You walk up to the counter, place and pay for your order.  When your number is called, you pick up your dish and take it to your table yourself.  If you want to tip the waiter - you tip yourself.  It’s casual and it’s comfortable.  No fancy linen tablecloths.  No candlelight.  No bullshit - just damn good food.

 

After placing your order, sit and talk with your party because it will take a little while before your order is ready.  That’s because every dish is cooked to order.  Your meals come out hot.  And fresh.  And it’s worth the wait.  If you want fast, go to McDonalds.  If you want fine dining without the bullshit, go to Pasta & Basta.
There is also a bar where you can purchase beer and wine, including wines that Donato imports from Italy.  If you prefer to bring in your own wine, there is a small corkage fee.  Or if you’re eating alone, there are chairs at the bar were you can sit and enjoy your meal in peace.

 

Pasta & Basta also prides themselves as a “kid friendly” restaurant.  It’s a family style atmosphere where, as Donato himself put it “the children are patrons too”.  The dining room is colorful, but to too bright - just subtle enough to feel relaxed. There are tables outside too if you feel like taking in the night air or doing some people watching.

 

Pasta & Basta is the only restaurant in Hawaii to use a wood burning pizza oven.  California Pizza Kitchen used to have wood burning ovens, but to cook the pizza correctly in a wood burning oven takes a special talent.  A talent that Pasta & Basta has down to a science.  As for CPK - they replaced their wood burning ovens with gas.
If you look closely, you can see the wood burning pizza oven just behind the chef.

 

Managing Pasta & Basta is Chad.  Donato talked Chad into coming over to Pasta & Basta to manage it and because he has so much confidence in Chad, he let’s Chad call all the shots.  Although he manages the restaurant, he’s right in the thick of things, from taking orders to busing the tables.  I had the pleasure of talking to Chad.  He’s very personable and has a vast knowledge when it comes to running a restaurant.  He took the time to explain to me how only fresh ingredients are used, how the processed foods can wreck havoc to your body, and how even the broths used in their cooking are made from scratch.  Donato prides himself in buying from local organic growers, not only to support our local farmers, but to get the freshest ingredients possible.

 

Pasta & Basta also has a private dining room for up to 20 or so people.  For private parties, you don’t order off the menu.  Special menus are put together and dining is family style.  Donato mentioned that if you’d like to set up a private party, Chad will work with you to come up with a menu to fit your budget.

 

 

 

 

Okay, you’re all waiting to see the dishes, right?  btw, the pictures are “clickable”.

 

Margherita
Fresh tomato sauce, mozzarella, & fresh basil
 

 

 

 

 

Penne Puttanesca
Spicy tomato sauce, onions, black olives, capers, & anchovies

My favorite.

 

 

 

 

Capellini Funghi
Angel hair pasta with sauteed mushrooms, tomato, & garlic

 

 

 

 

Fettuccine al Pollo
With chicken, mushrooms, capers in a white wine cream sauce

My brother-in-law started to dig in before I could snap this picture.

 

 

Spaghetti Pomodoro e Basilico
Tomato sauce, garlic, & fresh basil

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lasagna Bolognese
Meat sauce lasagna baked with bechamel & mozzarella

 

 

 

 

Please excuse the following 2 photos.  These were from a previous visit and the pictures were taken from my camera phone and they don’t do the dishes justice.  Apologies to Donato and crew.

Tagliatelle Boscaiola
Fresh spinach fettuccine with prosciutto ham, chicken, mushrooms, pinenuts, olive oil, white wine, & pamigiano

 

 

 

 

Pannacotta con frutta al Vincotto
Lemongrass & Tahitian Vanilla Pannacotta with fresh fruit marinated in vincotto

This was a Chef’s special dessert on the day that we went.  It was awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are Chef’s specials that change daily.  Besides the pizza and the pasta, there are salads and during lunch only, panini sandwiches.  There are House Specialty’s available during dinner only that range from Pollo Castelli Romani to Braised Shortribs.

The pizza and pasta dishes prices range from around $8 to $15, but a majority of the prices are around the $10 range.  Dinner specials cost a bit more.

For many of us Midlifers, we’ve - been there, done that, and paid the high prices to impress our dates.  Now we’re just looking for healthy, quality dishes at reasonable prices.  Pasta & Basta is just that.  It’s casual atmosphere puts you at ease where you can relax and savor all the flavors without worrying about whether you’re using the right fork or not.  Simply put - It’s fine dining without the bullshit.

Pasta & Basta
Waterfront Plaza Restaurant Row
Monday - Friday 11:00 am - 2:30 pm (lunch)
Tuesday - Saturday 5:00 pm - 9:30 pm (dinner)
Sunday - Closed
www.pastabastabydonato.com
Private Parties available
Validated parking
Catering available

If you want a quick meal, call your order in ahead of time:
Phone: 523-9999
Fax: 523-9997

Or visit the In & Out Window open Monday - Friday 11:00 am - 2:00 pm located outside at the back of the restaurant.

 

 

 

 

 

And for that very special occasion, Donato Loperfido has teamed up with Phillipe Padovani and opened up Elua in the former L’Uraku site.  You can only image the possibilities with these 2 top Hawaii chefs coming together.  But that’s for another entry.

I’m going to share with you a little known secret right in the heart of Kakaako.  It’s at Ward Farmer’s Market.  First of all, if you haven’t been to the Farmer’s Market recently, it’s changed quite a bit.  Tropics Fish and Vegetable has recently closed up.  Besides Marukai which is like the anchor tenant, Haili’s Hawaiian Food is still going strong and Lin’s Market is now only a crack seed store.  But located just inside the diamond head side door is Stanley’s Chicken Market.  At Stanley’s Chicken Market, you can buy chicken, eggs, gizzards, and even boiled peanuts (dry boiled).  Oh, and one more thing - Shave Ice.  Cool, refreshing, melt in da mout, ono syrup, shave ice.

We’ve been hitting Stanley’s Chicken Market for shave ice almost weekly for the past year or two.  Jaymi already knows that my wife is having a Rainbow and mine will be Pineapple/something.  Sometimes it’s Pineapple/Lime, sometimes it’s Pineapple/Root beer, sometimes its Pineapple/Orange, sometimes Pineapple/Grape, and sometimes it’s Pineapple/Pineapple.  After we get our shave ice, we sit outside on the green benches and cool off.  In fact, sometimes we cool off too much and end up standing in the sun just so we can warm up and finish off our shave ice.

Stanley’s Chicken almost like the In-n-Out of shave ice.  The menu is straight up: $1.25 for the small (keiki size) and $1.75 for the regular size.  Optional is Azuki beans, ice cream, and snow cap, for an additional 25¢ each.  And that’s it.  But their selection of flavors will keep you thinking of which combination to choose.  Oh, and get this, their syrups are chilled so your shave ice does’t shrink when the syrups are poured on.  I took a photo of the flavor board, but lost it.  I’ll snap another picture of it then next time we go there and post it in a future entry.

And on Saturdays, Stanley’s Chicken sets up a tent in the corner of the upper parking lot where they sell huli-huli chicken plates for around $6.

     

So the next time you’re heading home from the beach or shopping, or seeing a movie at the Ward theaters, or just need to hit Marukai for some groceries, stop by this little oasis in the middle of Kakaako and enjoy a bit of small kid time ono shave ice.

Stanley’s Chicken Market
Located at Ward Farmer’s Market
Mon-Sat  7AM-5PM
Sun  7AM-1PM

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Anyone headed to Ala Moana for the Fourth of July fireworks show?  Or maybe during the weekend for some Independence Day bargains? Or do you have a damn good photographic memory?  I have a little game for you. 

As you recall, Ala Moana was built and owned by the Dillingham Corporation.  Then in the early 80’s, it was bought out by a partnership with Daiei and an insurance company.  Then in the mid 90’s, Daiei became the sole owner of Ala Moana until 1999 when General Growth Partners became the new owner of Ala Moana Shopping Center.  However, throughout all those turnovers, memories of Dillingham Corporation still exist today at the shopping center:

As a matter of fact, I’ve located 3 of these disclosure notices in various places at Ala Moana Shopping Center.  Whoever can find the three (3) notices and is the first to post their locations here on this blog, I will give 2 free Blockbuster movie rental coupons.  Hint: If you find one, it shouldn’t be too hard finding the other 2.  If you can find more than 3, not only will I give you the 2 Blockbuster coupons, but I’ll include some popcorn money.  And if you need access to a computer from Ala Moana Shopping Center to be the first to post your answer, I know a computer store there where they allow internet access.

Enjoy the 3 day weekend and be safe out there.

First of all, I’d like to give credit to avid reader and poster Shoyu Burner for suggesting this topic.  Thanks, Shoyu!

What kind of candies do you remember?  Mention has been made in previous posts of Horlick’s Malties.  Horlick’s Malties are available once again, but not in the aspirin like bottle with the red screw on cap like they used to come in but rather in cardboard boxes.  It’s just not the same.  People who have tried the new Horlick’s also say that it doesn’t taste the same either.

Does anyone remember Fizzies?  Alka Seltzer with flavor.  We’d buy the cola flavor thinking we’d get a coke, but it didn’t quite cut it.  Although the Root Beer flavor came pretty close.  Or how about Chiclet’s gum?   I used to get the “tiny size” Chiclet’s.

            

Also mentioned in a previous post was those little wax bottles that contained the juice inside.  I also recall little wax tubes with juice inside.  After we drank the juice, we’d chew on the wax to get every last drop of juice out of it.

A good example of “packaging sells” was Choward’s Violets.  The shiny purple wrapper always caught my eye and I’d choose it.  My mom would remind me that I didn’t like it, but I’d choose it anyway.  And of course when I ate it, instead of tasting like grape candy, it tasted like soap.  But as I grew older, I started liking Violets.  Maybe because they reminded me of “small kid time”.

How about the candy cigarettes and cigar gums.  Talk about a bad influence.  But smoking wasn’t considered a health risk back then.  I remember buying the candied cigarettes and holding them between my fingers pretending I’m some famous movie star, smoking my candy cigarette.  And the gum cigarettes used to have powder between the gum and paper so the gum wouldn’t stick to the paper.  I’d put a gum cigarette in my mouth and blow hard watching the powder come out, pretending it was smoke.  I don’t remember too much of the chocolate cigarettes.  And I didn’t know much about smoking cigars so I just bit off pieces of the cigar gum and then put the paper ring on my finger.  But I thought the cigarette “packs” looked so cool.  Can you imagine the uproar if these candies were to appear today?

     

Do you remember what candies you used to buy?  Tomoe Ame just so you could get the toy?  Jujubees?  Grape Whip?  Lik-m-aid?

The Got Char Siu? blog entry seems to have spurred an interest in noodles. With all the various ethnicities in Hawaii, we must be the noodle capital of the world! Let’s see, there’s saimin, soba, somen, ramen, chow mein, chow funn, look funn, spaghetti, kook soo, pho, pad Thai, pansit, tossed noodle, dry noodle, fried noodle, cake noodle, chop chae, and on and on and on!

So dish it out - where do you go for your noodle fix?

Recommendations?

Last weekend marked the end of another Chinese food eatery. Lin’s Canton Food at Liliha Square called it quits after 34 years of providing one of the best char siu in town. When I used to go to Lin’s, I’d ask for the burnt pieces of char siu. The ends would have that sweet sugary candy-like crisp to it. And an order of char siu would not be complete without an order of roast pork too. Add a side order of chow mein and I had a whole meal.

Whenever I’d have a bad cold and had to see my doctor at Kuakini, right after my appointment, I’d head over to Lin’s and order up a bowl of Chinese saimin. Maybe it was just mental, but I always felt better after eating a hot steaming bowl of saimin from Lin’s.

Sometimes when my wife would be doing the marketing at Times, I’d sneak over to Lin’s and get myself a coconut jin dui or manapua for a small snack.

But nothing could beat the char siu.

What Chinese food eateries do you miss? Was there some special item you used to always buy? Any tips on where I can get some ono char siu?