Prima

I'd been anxious to try Prima after reading this review in Biting Commentary. It's the newest project from Alejandro Briceño (Nobu) and Lindsey Ozawa (Melt). Found in Kailua right in between Foodland and Baskin & Robbins, it's a casual Italian spot specializing in wood fired pizzas and pasta dishes.

Cute menu: small plates (about a dozen), pasta (3) and pizza (6 choices). Pizzas run about $15.

The pizza oven

Ambience

Gotta love a place that serves Sierra Nevada as the American beer selection (other options from Italy, Czech Republich, a Maui Brewing, and a few others)

First starter: fennel panna cotta (read Martha Cheng's review here). Loved the coffee salt

Sauteed greens

Spicy meatball stuffed with cheese

Brussel sprouts

Papperdelle with Big Island lamb ragu

Pizza

The desserts are much fancier and more creative than you would expect for a casual place like this. I unfortunately can't find the menu online so dont' remember exactly what went into each of these, but this was the "spiced apple" with a crispy toast, cinnamon (?) gelato, a foam of something, and a crumble topping.

This was called "froyo" and had to do with white chocolate, black sesame, yogurt and a bunch of other flavors I can't quite remember but all went really well together.

Prima, 108 Hekili St; 888-8933; primahawaii.com

Auntie Pasto's on Pensacola

Hadn't been to Auntie Pasto's since high school (ummm, fifteen years ago), but was craving some American-style Italian food. As in, more Italian than the Spaghetti Factory or Buca, but not as fancy / authentic as Assagio's. I still remembered the warm, soft goodness of the bread basket at Auntie Pasto's back in the day (which used to be somewhere other than Pi'ikoi, if I remember correctly? But I can't remember exactly where...)

 Mmm, the bread basket (with pesto now!)

Bread basket

 Mixed greens with walnuts, strawberries and cheese - this was a fantastic salad.

Fancier salad than I'd expect

Eggplant parm

And finally onto the mains: spaghetti with eggplant parm, and a spaghetti with meatballs (my go-to dish, back in the day). The most pleasant surprise of the evening...each was about $8.95! I don't remember exactly, but was shocked at how affordable the place still is. And delicious to boot.

And the classic spaghetti w/ meatballs

Auntie Pasto's
Pi'ikoi near South Beretania
Yelp

Cheesy goodness: Melt and Bella Mia Pizzeria

Mmmmm, there is always room in my stomach for lots of gooey, melted cheese. Checked out the relatively new Bella Mia pizza & pasta place on Beretania with some friends. It's a super cute red and white house with lots of patio seating.This is why I wanted to go: PIZZA FRIES! I can't believe every other Italian restaurant hasn't capitalized on this. French fries smothered in marinara sauce, pepperoni and mozzarella cheese.

We also had a calzone (yum).

And a meatball sub...even more yum.

Everyone's been buzzing about Melt, the gourmet grilled cheese food truck. They are hard to pin down, since they are in a different spot almost every day, but so worth following their twitter feed to find them.

My melt sandwich peeking out of its bag:

Rye bread, bacon and cheese, perfectly grilled:

More rye bread, cheese (can't remember what type) and swiss chard (although why pretend to make a grilled cheese sandwich healthy?). Sandwiches are about $6:

Bella Mia Pizzeria

2222 S Beretania St Honolulu, HI 96826

(808) 941-4400

Yelp

Aiea/Pearl City fieldtrip: Bravo & Ice Garden

Took a little trip for work last week out to Pearl City, so we wanted to go somewhere new for lunch. One of my co-workers is from Pearl City, so was giving us a list of options to try for lunch. After her description of the garlic bread at Bravo, I knew that would be my vote of where to eat!

Here are the famous garlic bread rolls: dripping with butter and garlic
I had the lunch special: small garden salad and small portion of any pasta (I chose the rigatoni with meatballs); it was about $7

For dessert, we went over to Ice Garden (which is by Aiea Bowl). It's run by two sweet little old ladies who look like they have been making shave ice forever. If you are a fan of super smooth (no icy bits) shave ice, you need to try this!

The menu: 30 types of bowls!

Making the shave ice

The most popular order in our group: custard on top of shave ice, drizzled with condensed milk

My order (it was amazing!): red beans, green beans, mochi balls, taro, and oatmeal, drizzled with condensed milk. Around $4.

Addresses

Bravo

Pearl Ridge Center

98-115 Kaonohi St

487-5544 (no reservations)

Yelp

Ice Garden

99-080 Kauhale St

Aiea Shopping Center

488-5154

Yelp

Dinner @ Mediterraneo

Mediterraneo
1279 S King St
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 593-1466
http://www.yelp.com/biz/mediterraneo-italian-restaurant-honolulu

Usually when I go out to eat a casual dinner with friends in town, we end up at Bac Nam, a friendly little neighborhood Vietnamese joint. Back when People wine store was still in operation, it was the perfect combination – taste some wines, pick up a bottle for dinner, and walk across the street to Bac Nam for bun hue (spicy beef soup) and wrap-your-own summer rolls.

Luckily though I have friends who like to try new restaurants, so I was forced to expand beyond Bac Nam. They introduced me to Bac Nam’s neighbor, a yummy little Italian restaurant, Mediterraneo which is literally steps from Bac Nam.No one was super hungry so we skipped appetizers and went straight for the main courses. They offer a full range of pastas and main courses. Our table tried the roasted lamb, black squid ravioli, lobster pasta, and I had the most amazing seafood cioppino (unfortunately didn't get a good photo; I was trying to avoid using flash in the restaurant, but it obviously didn’t work out).

Italian kisses in Kailua

Baci Bistro

30 Aulike St
Kailua, HI 96734

(808) 262-7555

Yelp reviews

So I have to say that this evening’s dinner started out in a very disappointing manner. We wanted to try out Formaggio Grill – a new outpost of Formaggio wine bar in Kailua – but they don’t take reservations. We showed up around 7 pm on a Saturday, hoping that it wouldn’t be too crowded, with the rain and the Saturday night movie showings, but that didn’t work out. The sweet hostess told us it would be a 45 minute wait. We weren’t in the mood to wait so long. She recommended Saeng’s Thai (in the same strip) but we decided to go look around Kailua for something else.

Our 2^nd choice was Casablanca, for some Moroccan fare. Unfortunately, they were full as well, and told us it would be a 20-30 minute wait. Finally, we found a table at Baci Bistro. I had very low expectations, plus I wasn’t even really in the mood for Italian. If there’s any Western food that’s easy to find in Shanghai, it’s Italian. But since it was a crowded Saturday night in Kailua, we went for it.

It turned out to be a lovely evening. From the outdoor seating (despite the rain), to the friendly service, to the amazing cheesecake, Baci comes highly recommended.

We started with the garlic toast (roasted garlic with toasted Italian bread) so-so, and the eggplant tower (roasted eggplant served with an eggplant spread and fresh tomatoes) which was much better.

The yummy eggplant

Pass on the roasted garlic...there's not even very much garlic!

Our entrees included both pastas and meat dishes. The pastas tasted primarily freshly made (with the exception of my spaghetti) Everyone’s favorite by far was the gnocchi, in a delish cheese sauce.

The gnocchi are to die for:

Lobster with spaghetti: excellent buttery lobster, just average spaghetti in a plain tomato sauce

Black fettuccine with scallops

Meat lovers papperdalle: chicken, beef and sausage

Veal (I am blanking on the name) with your choice of veggies or pasta

Even though we were stuffed after all of the pasta, I felt the need to splurge on dessert. The manager recommended the marscapone cheesecake, and we also threw in some vanilla-chocolate profiteroles and the crème brulee. The cheesecake was absolutely to die for: high, white and creamier than a new york style cheesecake, served with raspberry sauce made from fresh berries. The crème brulee was just so-so (a little too soft and runny under the burnt sugar crust), and I can’t report on the profiteroles, since I don’t eat anything with chocolate in it.

On top of the lovely meal, I also learned that baci means ‘kiss’ in Italian…as evidenced by the big set of lips on the restaurant’s sign outside, as well as the copy of ‘il bacio’ in the restrooms