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Paina Cafe, a closer look
Other great views on Paina Cafe Honolulu!
 Check out Paina Cafe official site! |
Russel Yamanoha and Lyle Galdeira in their popular series! |
 Yelper's on Paina Cafe Honolulu! |
 Mari Taketa's awesome view on Paina Cafe Ward! |
Aloha!
7/11/10 - Pa'ina Cafe - "The Taste of Fresh" ...Aaaai like it! That's the single coolest and most effective logo I've heard in years! Beyond that, it's also one of the coolest-little eateries around, as well, calling home a tiny nook of a corner on the ground floor at Ward Warehouse in Kakaako. There are two food courts there, one near the Ewa-side escalators and entertainment stage and the other on the opposite end that houses a Dairy Queen and a couple of other small eateries, but Pa'ina Cafe is actually not found in either. Instead, it has chosen to stand alone in a take-out-only spot between the two concentrations of food establishments, where a few simple tables and chairs are provided by the shopping center.
Part-owner Derek Uyehara is a classmate of mine from elementary school all the way up through high school. He's a very humble, mild-mannered, super-cool guy, and we chatted just a bit about old friends and, of course, his booming-new eatery! The operation really had its beginning's, along with Dereks' brother Craig and also another friend, Blaine, as a small spot called the Poke Bowl, once housed across the street in the old Ward Farmer's Market, which is now completely overtaken by Marukai Wholesale Outlet.
Unlike the beat-up, run-down, Chinatown-like atmosphere at the old Farmer's Market, Pa'ina Cafe is nestled amongst the boutique-like stores indemic to Ward Warehouse, which is definitely more fitting for the type of fresh, modern foods served here. To be sure, it's still a casual hang-out and all, but one where you can step-up right from the office as well as the beach without the smell of raw seafoods and over-ripe fruit permeating your pores.
Large, easy-to-read, professionally-done pics and menu boards line what little wall space there is, and a staff of several behind the counter (six total on our second visit!) work feverishly to keep up with an almost perpetual line in a kitchen area about half the size of a typical bedroom! You order, pay, and pick-up at the counter, and just remember that there are only a handful or two of small tables that fill-up quickly, so be ready for plan B after getting your orders.
I consider Pa'ina Cafe a bit of a trailblazer. I mean, it was one of the first to introduce poke bowls, which are now commonplace these days. But even more so, I think they've branded a certain type of eatery, one I'd call, oh, I dunno... a local-style, or perhaps Hawaiian-style deli? Just as a genuine deli features fresh soups, sandwiches, and other light, relatively inexpensive fare, all wrapped in a modern, healthier approach, Paina Cafe also blooms in very much the same fashion, except it also comes with lots of local-style dishes and touches in general. Before getting into the most famous and popular of these local specialties, most notably poke bowls, let's check out a few other dishes on their relatively compact, but deceptively well-optioned menu.
You can check out the entire list of choices at their offical page link above, but for now, suffice to say that it's split into salads, fruit bowls and smoothies, sandwiches, soups 'n sides, full plates, and poke bowls. Mari Taketa's review on Metromix (link above) reveals, among other things, a few of their great-looking sandwiches, including an ahi nicoise, kalua pig, and a tomatoMoz, which is your typical caprese, only this time between two buns. Haven't tasted it yet, but it looks killer!
Several salads also await, with set specials like a Greek, Asian slaw, or classic Ceasar, along with a number of build-yourself add-on's using things like chicken breast, ahi, salmon, tofu patty, and more. One of the great thing's about Pa'ina Cafe is that you can mix 'n match all kinds of little items, from salads to poke bowls to plates. Check out this absolutely loaded Pa'ina Nicoise salad with seared ahi ($11.95) and a side steak stick ($1.50 extra):
Side steak stick, 5X fast? No way!
Might not be able to see all of them, but some of the critters hanging out on the plate above include sliced boiled egg, artichoke hearts, asparagus, tomato, roasted bell pepper, olives, and red roasted potatoes, all over a bed of mixed greens. The great and wonderful thing about it is that you won't find anything canned here, no sir-ee - it's all about the taste of fresh, and they're absolutely serious when using the term! When was the last time you bit into a fresh artichoke, without the sour taste of a double-vinegar shot? Actually, one thing possibly from a can were the olives, as I don't know anyone getting olives fresh here in the islands. There is a guy on Maui, though, one Stephen Fischetto Jr. of his very own Oliwa Farms, who is trying to produce olive oil locally, but not olives themselves, at least for now.
On another side note, I know I always say canned is a bad thing, but that's not always the case - I remember a friends' house in Esta Cada, Oregon with the biggest, brightest, bestest fruits and vegetables in her garden, and her father canning them fresh right there at the house. I've also had the best olives in my entire life from canned Spanish olives that tasted like they were picked fresh and simply marinated in brine. I guess it depends on the canner - small, perhaps gourmet-type canning can still be great, but I purposefully haven't had anything grocery store'ish, like Del Monte, Dole, and all these other giant companies, for years! Who needs sugar-water peaches void of any nutritional content and asparagus spears full of sodium and soft as a wet biscuit?
Anyhow'z, getting back to my seared ahi salad w/side of steak stick, here's a closer shot of ahi to refresh your memory:
As you can see, this seared ahi was as close to flawless as you can get, and looks more like something you'd find in a fancy Hawaii Regional Cuisine restaurant. I don't even have to tell you about the freshness of this particular product, which, when drizzled over by the house vinaigrette and all those crunchy vegetables, was not only a great option for a healthy meal, but a refreshing and welcoming departure from your typical wasabi/shoyu sauces. The steak skewer was nothing to write home about, though, so I recommend their grilled veggie skewer ($2), instead, which I ordered on our return visit:
It comes with chunks of Portobello mushroom, red bell pepper, asparagus, red onion, and artichoke hearts, and is seasoned and quickly seared in a panini-type griller. Once again, everything was obviously fresh and absolutely delicious. With each morsel not necessarily consisting of the biggest pieces around, they were nevertheless well-balanced in both taste and variety, each fiber-piercing stick very much worth the two-buck cost of these relatively higher-end veggies.
The skewer had arrived on my choice of a salmon plate, which came with a side salad w/balsamic vinaigrette (also a choice of Ranch or Italian), red potato salad, brown rice (white also offered), and since they had run out of walnut pesto, a garlic aioli (sundried tomato or spicy mayo sauces also offered). The sauce wasn't exactly bursting with garlic, but was a very sophisticated mix - very light, very refreshing, and with only the slightest hints of garlic and herb to spice-up the aioli.
A top-knotch plate, for sure. The salmon was cooked perfectly, the red potatoes were firm and only lightly tossed in a mayo-like covering, and the balsamic dressing was strong and pronounced; a zesty, healthy touch on a simple salad.
There's not a whole lotta other plates here, and you won't find typical local grindz like chicken katsu, kalbi, or teriyaki chicken. Main items here include poke, shrimp, salmon, grilled or seared ahi, the two skewers already shown, and one item I would have ordered had it not totally escaped my eye on both visits, an ahi/tofu patty. That's about it, but you can also order any of them individually, making any combination possible.
There are also a few specials available, and Kumi decided upon one of them, a Hawaiian combo plate, at a respectable $9.75:
Kumi still had fond rememberance's of her laulau plate from Young's Fishmarket a week or so ago, where, unlike here at Pa'ina Cafe, her luau-wrapped ball of meats arrived with its ti leaf wrapper already removed. I forgot to ask if they were made in-house or not, but these were definitely the real deal, with generous portions of mostly pork but also butterfish, and a luau leaf that was perfectly firm and with a certain integrity to it, not soft and mushy as it can oftentimes be.
Gotta say, the lomi salmon wasn't quite as great as I expected after such a fabulous laulau, as it carried a lit-tle too much of a fishy taste. No worries, though, as the final player on our plate, spicy ahi, was delicious. I found it great that there wasn't too much mayo or too much Sriracha applied, and most of all, that the fish was totally fresh and beautiful! I was also pleasantly shocked at the amount of fish given, as a side of poke on a normal plate will normally get you three-quarter's up a wide sauce container:
Another very local-local item is actually not local at all, but an import. Goteborg is the name. Sausage, that is, and waddaya know, Kumi and I are actually planning on staying one night in Goteborg, Sweden itself after leaving in a couple of months! It's supposed to be a great city, its residents, according to what I've read, supposedly being a fun-loving people who swear that they are the principal city and capital of Sweden, not Stockholm (we'll be there, as well!). Not sure if what we get there is the same as we get down here, but we'll soon find out.
Goteborg sausages are a favorite of one of our friends, who always brings them over so we can slice 'em up thin and throw 'em on the hibachi. Two or three years ago, there were very few peep's on Oahu who even knew what this particular sausage was, as for some reason, it's more a household name on Kauai than anywhere else in the Hawaiian chain. My dad, however, is from the sleepy-little town of Eleele, in Waimea, so I'm well-familiar with it. Coming as a giant log like a fat stick of salami, these things go a long way on the flavor scale, as there's enough salt and fat in one of these thin slices to accomodate a hefty serving of white rice to mellow it down. The taste is actually a bit like salami crossed with some type of leaner, meatier variety, a real man's type of sausage, with little sweetness at all.
Me, I'm not particularly crazy about Goteborg sausages, but I know lots and lots of folks out there who can't get enough of it! Paina Cafe's version is presented like an upside-down Spam musubi:
Cute-little things, ey? I don't know how they cook 'em, but it's much cleaner than the ones I've had in the past, which were either pan-fried or hibachi'd. These were done more in the typical Japanes'ee way, with no blackened searing, no greasy drippings, no curling whatsoever, and no general imperfections anywhere. How boring. Just kidding. While I can't stand when they do this type of thing with Spam, this cleaner, slightly mellower variety actually made the sausage even better for me, don't know why.
But finally, we arrive at the most popular set of dishes here - poke bowls! There are several versions offered, including a shoyu ahi, hot shoyu ahi, limu ahi, kim chee, and our spicy ahi shown earlier. After that, your choices continue yet, with four steps total in the process:
1) brown or white rice
2) hot or mild sauce
3) poke type
4) toppings, at 50 cents each - natto, taegu, kim chee, takuan, shredded nori, fukujinzuke, pickled onions, furikake, green onion, and/or seafood salad.
That's ten choices there for five bucks total, which is a nickel over the small-sized poke bowl alone (large $6.35 and XL $7.95)! Another great option is to order a Hawaiian poke bowl for $7.25, which comes with poke, rice, kalua pig, and lomi salmon.
Lots of people out there aren't used to eating poke over rice, including one of my friends who swears against it, but the Japanese have been eating raw fish over rice for forever, and not just in nigiri form, but in rice bowls just like you see above. As long as the rice isn't too hot, otherwise it'll cook the fish, and isn't too cold, otherwise the rice'll just plain taste bad, it does work. And they seem to have found the happy medium of juuust right here.
On top of that, the list of mostly Japanese garnish or tsukemono items are a great way of kicking these bowls up to the next level; I, myself, choosing a simple combination of nori and green onion.
As is fitting, this feature dish promotes their theme of the taste of fresh more than anything else, with giant chunks of fresh, quality, sashimi-grade ahi in very generous portions. Although I prefer smaller cuts to allow more saucy infusions, I can definitely see the advantages of such large cubes, all of which really highlight the virtues of the fish itself. Here's a closer shot:
Derek wasn't here on our second visit, so I'm assuming things are going great by now and he's somewhere in the Bahamas sipping on a coconut mai tai. I'm told he and the other owners pop-in once in a while, but I'm glad to hear their operation is strong enough to maintain its own inertia without them having to be there. It's a much-deserved absence, though, as Pa'ina Cafe is still as great as it was when they were working long and crazy hours to establish its presence, and it just proves that the American Dream is still alive and well! The gang has indeed worked hard to create a place where the prices are great, service is relatively quick, and the food is fresh, well-coordinated, and absolutely delicious enough to keep you coming back.
I'm not just saying this because Derek is a personal friend, believe me. Stop by just once and you'll see that this place is squeaky-clean and tight, a well-oiled machine that doesn't do a whole lot of things, but what it does, it does 'em right.
Hey, sorry I haven't been posting as often. We're in the process of re-doing our roof, opening-up some rooms, and doing all kinds of home renovations, on-top of everything else. I think this is the longest I've gone unnanounced without a post, about a week-and-a-half! No promises, though. Unfortunately, I can't say if I'll step it up or step it down in the near future. Never know what'll happen tomorrow, yes? As always, though, seeing as I luuuv writing, luuuv taking pictures, and luuuv foods of every kind, there'll always be something to post, even if the raging torrents turn to a mere trickle (not saying it will!).
Hope you've all had a wonderful Independence Day, spending time with friends, family, good eats, and good times! Best to you all!
Take care, and Aloha till next time!
Aku
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