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Cafe falls short
of star status

In strolling down Nuuanu Avenue en route to thirtyninehotel a month ago, I was happy to see the space at 1131 Nuuanu, vacant since Havana Cabana moved out, had a new tenant.

It was a prime space that could be put to good use by another restaurant or gallery to serve Hawaii Theatre-goers and complement the neighborhood's monthly First Friday ambience.

StarPoint Café opened with the best intentions: to help students interested in the food industry, to give musicians a place to play and keep crowds entertained with its theatrical decor and menu themes. Those good intentions have not gone away, but they don't have much to do with serving diners.

The restaurant isn't ready for the spotlight, and while that might be OK for a small neighborhood mom-and-pop that needs a little time to grow and acclimate, StarPoint's high-profile proximity to Hawaii Theatre means word will, if it has not already, spread quickly.

The tinted windows from Havana Cabana days (beyond cosmetic touches, little has changed since then) gives the restaurant a dark, vacant look. Although a friend assured me it was open on a certain night, on approach it looked closed. It was open.

Tables get the white-cloth treatment, but you can feel them wobbling beneath the plates' weight, and the basic metal-and-vinyl chair backs jut back at an uncomfortable 45-degree angle. Call it fine dining on a shoestring. Anyone who follows this column knows I'm not one to be frightened by bad or zero decor as a result of practicality and focus on food only, but this was different. It was planned.

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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM StarPoint Café owner and chef Kate Wagner, left, and Yoshiko Kim, dining room manager, at the new restaurant on Nuuanu Avenue.

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YOU MIGHT DO better to start with lunch, when prices are low and salads and sandwiches are a reasonable $6 to $9. It would be difficult to go wrong with a half-pound organic burger ($9), roasted organic chicken plate ($9) or "That's a Wrap" salad ($8) of smoked salmon, cream cheese and sprouts in a flour tortilla.

Prices rise with evening curtain, when the menu is divided into First Act, Second Act, Main Character, Pastas and Final Act categories.

If you're looking for a light nibble before or after a theater visit, you'd do fine trying the Beggar's Purse ($7), flaky phyllo baked with its package of shiitake mushrooms and Boursin cheese. A trio of crab cakes ($13) is salty but also likely to win fans. Handmade ravioli ($11) are filled with roasted Molokai sweet potato and Gruyere and served with a butter sauce. On top of the ravioli were diced walnuts and apricots that competed with the sweet potato for sweetness, and strong-flavored sage that overpowered the ravioli's delicacy. Most people still prefer to burn the herb in cleansing rituals rather than eat it.

The same was true of a "Mushroom Garden" ($24) in which seared scallops, shiitake and white mushrooms were stacked with toothpicks to form a forest of mushroom trees. Whimsical? Yes. Palatable? Yes. But it gave the impression of too much time spent playing with my food. There is such a thing as going too far in trying to be original.

When it came to the Midori margarita lobster ($29/half portions available), I imagined this was a dish that could go very, very wrong. I thought the same of the li hing shrimp and mango ($22) and the roast duck with whiskey plum sauce ($21), but I had to pick one, and my table mates were intent on shrimp. Cooking in dark beer must have washed off any traces of li hing powder. The inch-long specimens were as bland as their pale appearance and served with nothing but rice.

You can get a sirloin steak grilled to order for $23. We opted for braised beef brisket ($19) that was the best of the entrees, though it required a knife to dig into.

Return after theater for dessert, especially the macadamia nut cheesecake ($7) which had us ordering seconds. You might try the warm Beyond Chocolate cake ($7), but again, overkill came in the form of blueberries strewn on top and covered by chocolate syrup that in the restaurant's low light looked like a pool of tar.

It's just as well that the restaurant is near a theater. That way, you can take in the first act, sneak out during the main act and return for the finale.

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Starpoint Café 1131 Nuuanu Ave. (behind Hawaii Theatre) / 599-5554 Food Service Ambience Value Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. to 12 a.m. daily except Friday and Saturday, when it is open until 2 a.m. Cost: About $10 per person for lunch; about $50 to $70 for two without drinks