The Weekly Eater
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Mr. Goodburger’s delivers
fast food for vegetariansGot into a beef with a vegetarian a few weeks ago for not covering a talk by cattle rancher-turned-vegetarian Howard Lyman.
"Your newspaper lost an opportunity to influence humanity toward some self-improvement," she said.
I believe everyone knows red meat is probably bad for their health. They likely know about the environmental damage caused by cattle ranching. They also know about the hazards associated with diseased animals abroad, and I am definitely afraid that because of mad cow disease we will have to drop beef from our diets within this lifetime.
Yes, we are too weak to stop killing ourselves by ingesting fat, meat and sugar, but we don't like to be nagged in that holier-than-thou sort of way. But, in one of those serendipitous moments, Mr. Goodburger's opened, allowing me to give equal time to the vegetarian minority.
The fast-food joint in Queen's Plaza is the work of Hawaii's sausage king, Anthony Spadaro, steakhouse alumnus and angioplasty survivor Wes Zane and other restaurateurs formerly associated with meat-loving establishments. Spadaro was spooked into accelerating his search for a hamburger replacement when he became ill in 1998 due to abnormal cell growth in his liver. Concerned that it was precancerous, he went on a vegetarian diet.
Today, 52 pounds lighter, with no need for regular biopses, he says he allows himself a steak about once a month, but he'll only eat grass-fed, free-range beef, "not anything that comes through cattle feed lots. I know more about the meat business than I care to."
Given the potential hazards of the meat diet, veggie burgers just may be the wave of future. Just this month, Burger King also unveiled its B.K. Veggie (nice work, but hold the mayo).
Spadaro has so much faith in the veggie burger that it's just about the only thing on the menu. That and baked tater tots ($1.50) on the side that can be served with vegetarian chili ($2.75, $3.75 with brown rice), the usual hamburger or steak replaced by chewy vegetable protein.
Last time I walked in, some guy had driven in from the boonies two days in a row saying he had to come back because it was "so delicious!" He must have been a vegetarian for a long time. Meat eaters have been less enthused.
It's difficult to separate the Spadaro name from his three-generation sausage-making family. As a carnivore, I wish he could make his soy-based burger taste more like a sausage. Mr. Goodburger's comes closest with the Ragin' Cajun New Orleans burger ($3.75). Yet such a fiery-tasting burger would cause vegetarians to implode. Given what I've tasted of their prepared foods, they're accustomed to bland, bland, bland.
Mr. Goodburger's will appeal most to a vegetarian crowd. It's also a crossover hangout for those who want to cut down on meat but don't know where to start. They'll likely find the familiar patty form more friendly than an eggplant sandwich or a plateful of baba ghanouj and hummus.
It's just as well Spadaro and crew started on this project now. At one time, watching "The Jetsons," I eagerly awaited the day we'd take all our meals in pill form. Now I know it's the full sensory aesthetic that makes eating so pleasurable, and if we must plan for a world with no meat, there's time to perfect the substitute.
On the other end of the spectrum, Spadaro sausages are the centerpiece of sandwiches at Spadaro's Italian Market & Bronx Deli on Sand Island Access Road.
Applying his philosophy of better health to his sausages, he uses organic meats with vegetables, as in a "Greek" sausage of chicken, sun-dried tomato and artichoke or "Hawaiian" sausage of pork, beef, onions and chili peppers.
My favorite is the "Sicilian," an herb, fennel, garlic and red wine-filled pork sausage. I didn't care for the dry Spanish chorizo.
Sandwiches are healthily portioned at about 4 inches, and the $3.76 price includes potato and pasta salads. If one small sandwich is not enough -- as I imagine it wouldn't be in this industrial area -- a second sandwich can be added to the plate for $2 more.
If you want to buy sausages only, you can do that, too. New flavors are constantly in the works.
For dessert, there's tiramisu, cheesecake and bread pudding.
Let's hope another Bronx Deli moves closer to town.
Queen's Plaza, Queen and Alakea streets / 531-5310 Mr. Goodburger's
Hours: 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays
Food 
Service Ambience Value
Cost: Less than $5 per person
111 Sand Island Shopping Center (across Kilgo's) / 841-5465 Spadaro's Italian Market & Bronx Deli
Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays
Food Service Ambience Value
Cost: About $5 per person
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Nadine Kam's restaurant reviews run on Thursdays. Reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Bulletin. Star ratings are based on comparisons of similar restaurants:
To recommend a restaurant, write: The Weekly Eater, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or send e-mail to nkam@starbulletin.com
excellent; very good, exceeds expectations; average; below average.
