The Weekly Eater Nadine Kam

OnJin’s Cafe brings
out more affordable
dinner fare

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Like oil and water, art and commerce don't always mix. Art has a tendency to be overpriced and misunderstood, sending the public fleeing. The restaurant business is tough on culinary artists because it can force them to face their fears, like opening up that Pandora's box known as a ledger. The horror!

There's a reason big companies have divisions for creatives and money men. Obviously, without the money men, you'd have fun for a while, but there'd be one big mess to clean up when the party's over and those accounts receivable fail to materialize. Without the creatives, well, you're just dead. No innovation, no business.

But unless you're born rich or are lucky enough to tap the vein direct to the Zeitgeist, you're eventually going to have to look at the bottom line.

I've always been a fan of OnJin Kim, whose feisty entrepreneurial spirit has kept her going through Hawaii's leanest years. She could have taken the easy route and worked for someone else, but she's always had a vision of the perfect restaurant, and while she bid aloha to luxury years ago, what remains is still the essence of hospitality -- a place as cozy as home, where she can entertain, feed people and leave them satiated and happy.

For four years she's been able to balance a fairly pricey dinner menu with affordable lunch fare, but now that everyone's tapped into their home equity and mortgaged to the hilt, they're mighty cheap when it comes to choosing a place for dinner. And let's face it, for most people, a $6 steak's as good as a $20 one.

One of the hallmarks of an entrepreneur is the ability to read people's minds and know what they want before they do, and the result is that OnJin's new dinner menu looks a lot like lunch time's $6 to $7 plates. (You'll pay $1 more in the evening.)

Old-timers will miss the old luxe menu, but they've been outnumbered by newbies who don't feel an ounce of sorrow, having made this discovery and not knowing what they missed.

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DENNIS ODA / DODA@STAR-BULLETIN Tess Nakamura from OnJin's Cafe at 401 Kamakee St. serves up Korean Style Fresh Ahi Don (left, over greens with a sweet and spicy sauce) and Ahi Karaage in a sweet and sour chili sauce.

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I MISS THE old menu, but that's really academic because I'm among those who can't afford $50 dinners often. When I think of the old OnJin's, the notion of decadence comes to mind. Those who dined here in the past must banish that thought and force themselves to go in with a spotless mind.

The revamped menu, I think, is a compromise. It combines humility with a touch of the culinary artist's aesthetic, so it's less like oil and water than like oil and vinegar, which on the surface don't quite mix, either, until you whisk them together. Then, as anyone who makes salad dressing knows, the results can be delicious.

French onion soup ($4.50) is always a popular starter. Ahi karaage ($7.50) is a swankier version of fried poke with a light crisp coating and tossed with a sweet-and-sour chili sauce over a bed of seaweed dotted with sesame seeds.

I took a chance on the Korean-style potato-and-shrimp pancake ($7.50) but found the mochiko that binds it together a little too spongy and homespun for my taste.

Lunch regulars will find their favorite dishes here in the evening, too, such as the crispy breaded snapper ($6.95) painted a pale yellow with lemon caper beurre blanc. Shrimp arabiatta ($8.50) was about as pale, neither as spicy nor garlicky or tomatoey as you'd expect based on Italian restaurant experiences. OnJin's Cafe does tend to cater to a mild-mannered crowd, but if they can handle Korean sauces, they can probably handle a little more red pepper and garlic.

A couple of classics, beef bourguignonne ($8.25) and a roast leg of lamb ($8.25) are steals, if just to taste the exquisite wine sauces accompanying them. Just don't expect giant-size portions. The decadence has been replaced by a sort of sedate, motherly approach to a meal, as if to say if we're not going to eat right, OnJin's can at least start us on the right path. So those thin slices of roast lamb are accompanied by healthy side dishes such as a salad, broccoli and herbed white beans. You also get a choice of white or brown rice, or garlic mashed potatoes.

And in case you're ever feeling flush, OnJin has kept two of her signature dishes from the old menu: Bouillabaisse de Chef OnJin ($20.95) and Dijon- and rosemary-crusted rack of lamb ($21).

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OnJin's Cafe 401 Kamakee St. / 589-1666 Food Service Ambience Value Hours: Lunch, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays Cost: $25 to $35 for dinner without drinks

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See some past restaurant reviews in the Columnists section.

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Nadine Kam's restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Bulletin. Star ratings are based on comparisons of similar restaurants:

	excellent;
	very good, exceeds expectations;
	average;
	below average.

To recommend a restaurant, write: The Weekly Eater, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or send e-mail to nkam@starbulletin.com

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