As you may know, our home away from home is Vino Italian
Tapas and Wine Bar. Great wine, good food and staff and regulars that always
know our names (like Cheers). However, since they moved across the breezeway at
Waterfront Plaza a little over 4 years ago, business has been brisk - which is
a good thing for any restaurant – but it also means we can’t simply walk-in for
a table like we previously did on many occasions. And though Vino is open 6
days a week, they usually start service at 5:30pm so those rare occasions that
both the Mrs. and I end the workday at 4:00pm, even with the horrendous drive
from Central Oahu, we’re usually in Honolulu by 5:00pm which means another 30
minute wait. So that often means looking for alternate dining options.
The Chinatown
Option
Though Chinatown has re-vamped and cleaned up quite a bit
in the past 10 years, we still don’t usually consider it as the first dining
option for dinner. When we do decide to sample a meal in Chinatown, it’s
usually on a weekday during a holiday or staycation as parking is lighter and
daylight makes it seems a safer venue. We’ve had our fair share of lunches at
Livestock Tavern with their great cocktails and new American cuisine or Fete also
for their great cocktails, excellent wine list and new American cuisine. That
is, until we started visiting Fete right after work on Friday evenings.
Especially since Vino doesn’t open until 5:30pm and Livestock Taverns closes
after lunch and doesn’t re-open until 5:00pm and Fete remains open after lunch
service for their Happy Hour with a limited Happy Hour menu.
Fete
I previously described a meal sampled at Fete back in 2016
but Fete simply provided the backdrop as Chef/Butcher Ricardo Ricci created the
evening’s meal. But since then, the meals have been all Chef Robynne Mai’i who
runs the kitchen and spouse Chuck Bussler who runs the front of the house. They
moved from New York back to Hawaii in 2015 then found the space at the corner
of N Hotel St and Nuuanu Ave and have been open for the past 4 years. During
meal service, you normally just see Chuck Bussler managing the dining area
though Chef Mai’i does occasionally peer out of the kitchen (I think that she
does bear a physical resemblance to Joanna Gaines of Fixer Upper) though the
hit is the food that leaves that kitchen.
Starters
Though the menu is only a little more than a page long,
what they do serve is always great. I’ve always felt that a restaurant should
never be judged on how extensive their menu selections are nor how expensive
the ingredients for the meals cost. As long as you prepare food properly by not
over or undercooking them, properly seasoning them and letting natural flavors
shine, we’ll be back every time. And we’ve never had a bad dish served to us
and as an added bonus, Fete tries to source as many local products as possible.
Not just delicious for the belly but great for the 50th’s economy to
boot!
For starters (pun intended), if oysters on the half shell
are on the special menu, I get a dozen to start my meal (along with the Fete 75
cocktail) since oysters are available year-round. The rationale used to be that
oysters weren’t very palatable during the summer months as they spawn during
this time, so the flesh tends to be tasteless and mushy. However, oysters from
the Southern hemisphere are usually at peak during our summers so they are
great on the half shell year-round.
We also always order their trio of spreads which include
a walnut tapenade, Ricotta with local honey and Ajvar or a roasted eggplant and
red pepper spread with the Fete toast which is Breadshop crostini topped with
anchovy butter. The anchovy adds salt and umami which heightens the flavor of
each of the spreads. And because of my 261 Neanderthal variants (per 23andMe) I
usually order the chopped raw meat also known as Kaua’i Ranch Tartare served
with cornichons, fried shallots a quail egg and that same Fete toast though the
Mrs.’ favorite is the Gougeres which are puffy, baked pastries like small
popovers served with a smoked marlin spread. We both agree that the Foie Gras
Gyoza with rich duck liver and a mushroom and water chestnut duxelle on a soy
and balsamic reduction with a glass of Riesling is as good as it gets.
Pasta and More
We’ve also sampled several pasta dishes including the
Meyer Lemon Gnocchi served on an arugula pesto with the peppery bitterness of
the arugula cutting through the creaminess of perfectly, light potato dumplings
while the savory and rich Ni’ihau Lamb Sausage Cavatelli is balanced by the
salty, herbal and acidic accoutrements of a fennel saffron sofrito, mint and
preserved lemons.
I’ve already tried emulating their Smoked Beets with
gorgonzola crème, orange supremes, fennel, arugula and candied pistachio salad
in my own kitchen experimenting with other smoked root vegetables and a variety
of candied nuts and their Grilled Pulpo (octopus) shows that tako is
much more than poke and grilling adds extra flavor components.
The Two Lady Farmers Pork Schnitzel (think German pork
katsu) complete with German potato salad and sweet and sour red cabbage is
filling and you don’t even have to wait until Oktoberfest to indulge while the
Bistro Steak Frites with gorgonzola crema, crispy fries and greens is perfect
with a glass of Syrah.
Adult Beverages
Along with personally sampling almost all of their house
cocktails, Fete also has a complete wine list featuring reasonably priced
bottles from all parts of the wine growing world including many small
production wines and they probably are the only local restaurant featuring 4 to
6 orange wines including one selection by the glass. Orange wines? Normally
white wines are created just with the juice of pressed white grapes – red wines
leave the skins with the juice to pick up the red pigmentation otherwise you’d
simply be left with either a white wine or rose (juice from red grapes are also
clear like juice from white grapes). Orange wines are created from white grapes
but the skins are left with the juice which produces a white wine with
noticeable tannins and because some are fermented uncovered for extended
periods, they oxidize creating an orange hue instead of the usual straw color
of traditional white wines. I enjoy orange wines as the tannins allows it to
pair with richer, heartier foods and I think that they balance salty foods
better than any other red, white or sparkling wines the same way beer and sake
balance saltier cuisine. And Fete usually offers one selection by the half or
whole glass!
Make it Part of
Your Dining Rotation
Needless to say, Fete is now part of our regular dining
rotation either as a lunchtime option during holidays or if we’re simply on
staycation. And because they remain open during that lull between lunch and
dinner, we can also enjoy and early dinner with cocktails and leave before the
denizens of Chinatown start to appear…
Fete
2 N Hotel St
Honolulu, HI
369-1390
Lunch: Mon - Fri 11:00am – 2:00pm
Snacks: 2:00pm – 5:00pm (Sat 4:00pm – 5:00pm)
Dinner: Mon - Thu 5:00pm – 10:00pm
Fri
– Sat 5:00pm – 11:00pm
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