I know that any dining facility situated in Needless-Markup is expected to set you back mucho dinero. In reality, the Mariposa restaurant is very reasonable with prices at or below the quality of food that you receive in comparable restaurants in downtown Honolulu. For starters they serve their complimentary Chicken Consomme in a demi-tasse - my only letdown was discovering that the recipe also included some bouillon cubes (along with fresh chicken) but hey, it's still a very nice way to start a meal. Then you're served their Popovers with Guava Butter - they also seemed to have toned down the butter coating which I appreciate (can't take food photos with greasy fingers). Since family was visiting from the Bay Area, we had lunch this past weekend and were treated to some good grinds... um, I mean delicious food.
The Mrs and I ordered starters (that's cause Bro was treating himself to too much Rainbow Drive-Inn). The Mrs ordered the Porcini Fries with Truffled Aioli - always a good start with earthy hints from the porcini powder, a nice crisp texture then a secondary earthiness from the truffled mayo.
I selected the Waialua Asparagus Salad - on the insistence of the Mrs but also because I never pass up a runny egg yolk. This salad was basically a variation of Asparagus Milanese with perfectly grilled asparagus on a toasted olive ciabatta slice and arugula topped with a sunny side egg and slivered Parmigiano drizzled with a Caesar dressing. Mmm, mmm, good! I scarfed through this in nothing flat - partly because it was that good, partly because I didn't want to delay everyone else's meals.
Sis-n-law simply had the Greek Salad without the feta (she's been having too much coconut desserts)
Bro had the Ribeye Roast Beef Sandwich which he chose to consume with knife and fork. It seemed a little too unwieldy to eat as a regular sandwich and it was accompanied with sweet potato fries and an au jus dipping sauce.
The Mrs selected the Sauteed Halibut Filet which was served on a spinach orzo.
I had the House Smoked Pork Tenderloin served on Yukon mash, sauteed kale and a brown butter/apple sauce. It was done to well done (our server stated that it was done to medium, the way I like pork) but it was still very tender none the less and the apple complemented the pork (fruit is always pork's dancing partner) while the brown butter added a caramel like richness to tie the dish together.
Going back? You betcha, plus reservations can be done through opentable.com and I already have a $20 dining credit with opentable (working my way up to a $50 credit).
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