 |
 |
Eat Cafe, a closer look
   |
 |
Check out these other great views of Eat Cafe!
|
See the official site of Eat Cafe |
Yelpers on Eat Cafe at Gentry |
 Great shots by Gregory Yamamoto! |
Aloha!
4/10/10 - Don't bother looking for Matters of Taste anymore. The cool, casual, deli-style stop has been replaced by another cool, casual, deli-style stop, and guess what? Looks pretty much the same to me! I mean, I'm sure Chef/Owner David Passanisi has re-vamped his menu, but basically, there's still a similiarly-looking array of great salads, sandwiches, panini's, burgers, gyros, tacos, and several plated dish specials like pasta, meatloaf, and whatever else Chef decides upon on any given day. In fact, I kinda thought Matters of Taste sounded catchier and more sophisticated, and it (the name) more correctly matched the Gentry Pacific Design Center where it was housed, where exotic furniture and home design stores attract high-end customers and big-time contractors. But in the end, I'm sure Chef had his reasons, and the important thing is - the same capable hands that created Matters of Taste are the same hands still at Eat Cafe, so no worries at all!
Gentry Pacific Design Center is located directly across the street from Sam Choy's Breakfast, Lunch, and Crab on Nimitz Highway. Eat Cafe sits prominently inside the modern-decored building, and is conspicuously visible immediately upon entering.
I wanted to take more pics of the inside, but was stopped by a security guard. She said I could take shots of the restaurants and stores with permission (thank goodness!), but the building itself was off-limits without a permit. Understandable. She's just doing her job. It's when the restaurants themselves stop me - that's what boggles my mind. No worries - I did get in a couple of shots when she wasn't looking!
And a few shots of the eatery itself:
There's no wait-service here, so you'll have to order and pick-up at the counter, where there's a bunch of little goodies waiting - cookies, scones, fruits, biscotti, house-made preserves, fresh-squeezed lemonade, and iced tea:
Outside of breakfast, sandwiches and burgers make-up the bulk of the menu, as evidenced by the line-up being prepared behind the counter:
Panini's are the coolest things! If you're gonna order a sandwich, may as well go with a panini, which is to say, a sandwich pressed and toasted on a double-sided grill. Unlike making toast, the whole sandwich is thrown into the griller at once, not only toasting the outsides but also heating anything inside as well, including cheeses, which melt-down into a gooey, delicious mess! The only drawback to a panini is that they are not especially suited for lettuce, sprouts, and other, more fragile veggies, which taste best cold or at least at room temperature, lest wilting occur.
Our first panini was a turkey pesto with smoked mozzarella, for $7.25. Not so generous on fillings, but the breads they use do carry a bit more surface area than your average slice, so it could possibly even things out for ya. There was also a deep smokiness I particularly loved, although I would have preferred a little more influence from the pesto. Over-all, it was a simple sandwich that won't bowl you over, but will satisfy you enough to keep you interested in returning again.
One dish I highly recommend here is a taco. Today, it was filled with ahi, and this thing was a winner! Once again, it was very simple, as a good taco should be, with fresh, crisp herbs and veggies, as well as a side of fresh salsa:
I also loved the warm tortillas, which were slightly charred over a grill and came in two separate sheets, just as a good street taco'd be presented. Though $2.95 for steak, chicken, or pork, my fish taco pushed-out to $3.75. Two of these, of any type, are perfect and filling enough for a tasty, hot, nourishing meal, at fast-food prices to boot!
Even if I had tried the other three taco varieties, I believe my favorite'd still be fish, as it was tender, tasty, and cooked to perfection, with a slightly off-red center adeptly proving the skills in this particular kitchen:
Salads are also a major part of the menu, and we settled upon a spinach salad, $8.25, mixed with dried cranberries, walnuts, and a locally-made goat cheese, which was light as a cloud and super-smooth and mellow in taste. It was served with a thick, vinegary, sweet/salty balsamic vinegar dressing on the side:
Our other panini choice, and last dish of the day, comes from a long-time favorite sandwich, pastrami ($7.75):
Only, it's not really a pastrami here, but a Reuben. Only, a Reuben usually carries corned beef, not pastrami. No worries, as there's lots of variations. Everything else was a Reuben, including the Russian dressing, Swiss cheese, and sauerkraut. Once again, fillings were on the shy side, but it was still a tasty and reasonably-filling meal, nonetheless. A little more pastrami would have gone a long way, though, especially with the inclusion of tangy sauerkraut.
All in all, Eat Cafe is a great-little deli stop, with lots of parking and lots of elbow room to eat. Other really interesting dishes I didn't get around to trying are found on the great sites listed at top, especially a lamb gyro and pappardelle pasta w/mushrooms. Check 'em out if you haven't!
Hey, you all have a great and wonderful week! I'll be at the Hawaii Book and Music Festival this coming Sunday as a guest at the Barnes & Nobles tent. Come check it out!
Take care, and Aloha till next time!
Aku
Post a Comment or just say hello! Don't worry about leaving REAL names if you don't want to! No e-mails will be posted without consent, last names will be abbreviated, and if you don't want me to post all or any part of your correspondence, please state so! Hope to hear from you all!
