The Weekly Eater
Cafe knows everyone comes back
to soup, eventuallyLife begins with soup. Maybe you believe in the primordial brew formed by extraterrestrial rains that showered our planet eons ago, bringing with it all the organic material that led to the first single-cell creatures.
Maybe you believe in the curing powers of Mom's chicken soup, cooked just for you when you got the sniffles as a kid. Depending on your upbringing, that comfort soup might have been made of oxtails and peanuts, Portuguese sausage and beans, miso and seaweed or onion and gruyere, beef and cabbage, saffron and shellfish, or matzo balls.
In the days before "Sesame Street," you may even have learned to spell basic words from a can of Campbell's alphabet soup.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Cafe manager Dave Yoshimura and server Maria Woods show off some of Covenant Book's offerings: smoked chicken pesto sandwich and Jamaican bean soup.
Long before Jerry Seinfeld introduced the "Soup Nazi," I wondered why Honolulu didn't have a restaurant devoted to soup and simple sandwiches.
The truth is, soup, unless it's cioppino or bouillabaisse, is rarely the sexiest dish on the table. Although American kids grow up with chicken noodle soup and mushroom soup, all that is mere mush once they graduate to adolescent fare like burgers and pizza. That is, until they find themselves out on their own as young adults and discover pizza is a lot more expensive than cases of saimin or ramen. Soup saves the day when two weeks is too long to wait for a paycheck.
But soup has reasserted itself at a time when everyone is searching for a little warmth and comfort in a world where terror inches closer every day.
IN KAIMUKI, Covenant Books and Coffee Cafe has been offering soup and sandwiches for nearly a year. It started as a bookstore run out of the Honolulu Bible Church, but God alone -- sorry -- wasn't going to make a niche market for Christian books financially viable. Food sales might help. In came David Yoshimura, who's since been dubbed "The Godfather of Soup."
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Robbie Nye cuts fresh mushrooms for the cafe's popular fare.
His philosophy is to serve simple soups to soothe body and soul.
At first he started with one 20-quart pot offering about 50 servings a day. Business has increased to the point he upped it to a 40 quarts, then 80 quarts for about 200 servings. He's now considering a 160-quart pot.
Only one soup is made every day, so he's come up with a monthly calendar that allows customers to circle their favorites. Potato and roasted garlic is a favorite, as is the carrot and ginger, which appeals to a health crowd. You might also try the cheddar cheese and potato this coming Thursday. On Tuesday it's Uncle Bernie's Portuguese Bean Soup, and I've been dying to try the shrimp bisque, which comes up Wednesday.
Closer to the holidays, you might find a repeat of the pumpkin and sweet potato bisque.
Many of the soups are quite basic, like the farmer's market minestrone, or a Kahuku corn and roasted garlic soup as thin as Chinese egg flower soup, but they do hit the spot.
And if they don't, there's always the desserts from just about every restaurant's secret, Kaka'ako Bakers, such as chocolate bread pudding and a delectable chocolate truffle cake that only looks like an innocuous little muffin.
Salads could be upgraded, but then the soup's really the star.
1142 12th Ave. / 732-4600 COVENANT BOOKS AND COFFEE
Hours: 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays to Thursdays, to 9 p.m. Fridays and to 6 p.m. Saturdays
Food 1/2
Service Ambience Value Cost: Less than $10 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.
