When Vino Italian Tapas and Wine Bar first opened in the
Waterfront Plaza in 2004, Chef Keith Endo had already been working with the DK
Restaurant group as a sushi chef at Sansei Kapalua for about 5 years. And
though he had no previous experience with Italian cuisine, he learned the art
of pasta making from the famed Alioto family in San Francisco. Several
subsequent trips to Italy refined his technique and gave him inspiration for
current menu items on the ever-changing menu at Vino. However, during those
early days at Vino, diners rarely got a glimpse of Chef Endo as he’d simply
peek into the dining area then quickly retreat back into the kitchen. Now days,
seeing Chef Endo strolling through the dining area is a regular occurrence
which also coincides with Vino’s latest food event, the Underground dinners
highlighting Chef Endo’s creativity.
Chef Endo was inspired by the story of a husband/wife
team in Chicago who created “underground” pop-up dinners in their basement
generating enough revenue to eventually open their own “legal” restaurant that
eventually garnered two Michelin stars. Though their story ended abruptly with
the shuttering of their restaurant, Chef Endo’s is just starting with his
newfound creativity with these Vino pop-up dinners.
What’s a Pop-Up
Dinner?
Pop-Up dinners originally started with chefs creating
meals outside of the customary restaurant setting. They usually involve young
chefs who still don’t have the capital to start their own restaurant and hosted
these dinners on their days off either “borrowing” space from another restaurant
or illegally (most states like Hawaii require Department of Health approved
food prepping facilities and most personal homes don’t qualify) hosting dinners
at private residences. Sometimes established chefs host pop-up dinners simply
to explore an alternate dining theme apart from their usual restaurant themed
meals.
For instance, the immensely popular Pig and the Lady (and
Piggy Smalls) started as a pop-up 8 years ago cooking out of the original
Hank’s Haute Dogs kitchen before expanding into (soon to be) three brick and
mortar locations. And Chef Mark “Gooch” Noguchi hosted multiple pop-ups at the
former TASTE in Kaka’ako. Even yours truly hosted a pop-up dinner with my
cooking buddy, Monsieur Kellett for 35 diners at the original EAT Honolulu
restaurant in the Gentry Design Center now known as Na Lama Kukui.
The Underground
Dinners
Chef Endo’s inaugural dinner was held at the end of June
in the Vino space regulars affectionately call “The Cave” and he’s trying to
limit seating to 10 to 12 diners. You can read a review from Nadine Kam in the
StarAdvertiser about that inaugural dinner. When I first read about the
Underground dinners back in May, the inaugural dinner was already sold out but
we were fortunate to secure seats to the 2nd dinner held in mid July.
Because these dinners will only be held on Sunday evenings every 3 to 4 weeks
and the Chef is taking a break during the holidays, his next earliest table is
sometime in March. He does plan to change the menu at every dinner and future
themes include the food of Spain along with a menu that’s 100% locally grown,
raised or harvested.
And since these dinners are a pure expression of Chef
Endo’s cooking, resident Master Sommelier Chuck Furuya isn’t recommending any
wine pairing with the meals as a perfect wine pairing would require the chef to
change certain ingredients and Chuck wanted the food to simply reflect Chef
Endo’s talent.
Our Dinner
Chef Endo simply wanted to create a meal based on his
local favorites, of course kicked up several notches in both preparation and
ingredients. The dining table faces the plating table so you watch the final
plating by Chef Endo, Sous Chef Jennifer Cho and Pastry Chef Cherie Pascua with
Chef Endo explaining the inspiration and preparation of each dish.
amuse bouche
steamed Kona Maine
lobster “shumai”
with lobster
consommé, leeks & truffle oil
“Poke”
fennel crusted big
eye tuna, pickled Maui onions,
charred grape
tomato & ogo
“Soup &
Sandwich”
“sandwich” ~ Kurobuta
pork slider stuffed with braised short rib
& topped with
truffled brie
“soup” ~ pork
belly tonkotsu ramen, menma, pickled red daikon,
ginger scallion
pesto & Hakata noodles
“Oodles of
Noodles”
braised oxtail
tortelloni, bone marrow brodo,
house made lemon
ricotta cheese & gremolata
“Down Like China
Town”
slow roasted
5-spice crusted Hudson Valley duck,
Okinawan sweet
potato gnocchi, grilled baby bok choi.
cinnamon scented kabocha
puree & duck cracklings
intermezzo
yuzu
granite, raw Kona abalone & caviar
“Holy Cow” aka
hamburger Steak
Tajima Wagyu menchi
katsu, Cipollini onions, Ali’i mushrooms,
artichoke stuffed
conchiglie & kabayaki demi-glace
“Last but Not
Least”
strawberry guava (waiwi)
short cake,
roasted local
guava & lilikoi mousse
The “shumai” was a delicious blend of ground pork
and bamboo shoots in a rich broth of lobster consommé and lobster meat. His poke
looked like the average local poke but was accented with a hit of fennel
which gave that slightly sweet, licorice flavor that perked up the fresh tuna.
The pork slider was anything but, it was the size of a small burger with
multiple hits of truffle and the pork belly was so tender, it totally melted
like butter on the palate. And though I’m a big fan of oxtail, the bone marrow
broth was the hit of the noodle dish. I also am a big fan of roasted duck but I
agreed with Chef Endo that the highlight of the dish was the cinnamon scented kabocha
puree and the duck cracklings. His final savory course was his take on a
hamburger steak plate lunch though I’m pretty sure no drive-inn uses A5 wagyu
beef and the artichoke stuffed pasta shells were a far cry from the usual
macaroni salad. And because we were totally stuffed by dessert, several diners
simply asked for one dessert to immediately be boxed and simply shared the huge
serving of strawberry guava shortcake. All for just $70.
So how can you secure a seating? Simply follow
Chef Endo’s Instagram page @vinocheftable and request a seating – at the worst,
you may get a seat in March or if there’s a cancellation between now and then,
you may move up the list. But don’t call Vino for a table as Chef Endo is
handling all of the reservation personally for his
Underground dinners.
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