The setting is pleasant for Ola
I can say that Fred DeAngelo, chef/owner of Ola, has accomplished what he set out to do when he opened the restaurant last year. A press release dated November stated his aims, chiefly, to offer "a cuisine of familiar Hawaiian fare for the local palate as well as flavors from around the world" and "to make use of the excellent local products grown within miles of the restaurant."
Ola
Turtle Bay Resort / 293-6000
Food: 1/2
Service: 1/2
Ambience:
Value: 1/2
Hours: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sundays to Thursdays and to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Cost: $70 to $80 for two without drinks
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That is, the same thing every other major local chef is doing.
Living up to one's goals doesn't automatically lead to pleasing others. While searching for the restaurant's menus online, I chanced upon recommendations from TripAdvisor ranging from one star from a local individual to five stars from several out-of-towners, for whom everything was new, novel and, therefore, "Grrreat!"
The truth, you can probably infer, is in between.
The timing for a visit to Ola is pretty good. At the end of summer, traffic to the North Shore is pretty mellow, and the sun is out long enough to make a good day trip for paranoid townies who want to be out of the two-lane danger zone before dark.
If you're planning to be there for lunch, you'll find simple fare of salads, sandwiches and burgers averaging $8.95.
By day, Ola looks like an ordinary beach bar, right on the sand with a Turtle Bay outrigger parked in front. At night it starts to look like an open-air restaurant, lighted by torches, while the season's long twilight allows for a picture show of cloud color and movement.
The evening menu is far more elaborate, offering a slew of diner-friendly choices with a nod toward the out-of-towners, strangers to local cuisine, most likely to be dropping in.
Even after six months, the restaurant seems in need of some conviction, although I imagine it must be a challenge to lock into a single philosophy when removed from any sort of regular crowd that would understand and appreciate what one is doing.
NADINE KAM / NKAM@STARBULLETIN.COM
A colorful dish of ahi and lobster poke in a wonton spoon at Ola, on the beach at Turtle Bay Resort.
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Half the time, I get the feeling DeAngelo wants to put out a healthy menu, hence the Hamakua mushroom "risotto" ($16.95) made with porcini mushroom vegetable stock and slippery orzo pasta instead of fatty cream and carb-laden Arborio rice. On the other hand, one of the best items on the menu is a crowd-pleasing nondiet kalua pork and goat cheese "nachos" ($7.95) served in deep-fried wonton-style caps loaded with cheese and Maui onion sour cream with guacamole on the side.
That's naughty, when healthy food and tasty food need not be mutually exclusive. I've had vegetarian tasting menus at Gary Danko's San Francisco restaurant and Michael Mina's Las Vegas restaurant, and both have been excellent.
OTHER starters include a bruschetta salad ($10.95) of local vine-ripened tomatoes, eggplant, grilled peppers, asparagus, basil and pine nuts served on foccacia; crab cakes ($10.95) served with Asian slaw and a lemongrass-soy beurre blanc; and ahi poke served with a few shredded pieces of cooked lobster over a won ton spoon ($11.95). No one ate the spoon.
Servers make no assumptions as to where guests are from, so they were very good at explaining the various dishes and ingredients.
Entrees that I've heard others rave about were such nonfail dishes as miso butterfish ($25.95) and shrimp "sakanoi" ($28.95) served with roasted garlic alae aioli and mushroom garlic cappelini.
Kiawe-smoked beef tenderloin was ordinary at $31.95 and not helped by the unimaginative cafeteria-style accompaniment of baby carrots and asparagus, when the description called for "grilled vegetables."
Lawai'a Stew ($30.95), shellfish and seafood in a mild tomato broth, paled in comparison with a typical bouillabaisse. Maybe I should not compare the two, but I think anyone would.
I'd have a hard time recommending the drive to anyone who wasn't going to the North Shore anyway.