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The Weekly Eater Nadine Kam |
Wine and dinner at
Little Vino’s is
‘pure heaven’I have a tendency to beat restaurateurs up over ignoring cuisine outside the tried-and-true Chinese-Japanese-Thai-Vietnamese-Pacific Rim formula. The reality is that it's just safer to follow -- though not too far behind -- rather than lead. Innovators often meet up with failure because they introduce concepts that people just aren't ready for.
Just think, it's taken more than 20 years for the wine bar phenomenon to catch on on Oahu, and now that wine fever has taken hold, my friends and I are just slapping our heads, going "Duh, how come it's taken so long for this to happen when it's so much fun?"
Well, one company did try. The Grape Escape in the Waikiki Trade Center was Oahu's original wine bar back in the early '80s. I never got to go, being too young at the time to be much of a wine fan, but I'd read about it and it did sound like great fun, offering samplings of a handful of wines by the glass in the non-stuffy setting of an unglamorous ground-floor kiosk, sort of the way hotdogs are mass-marketed today. The business didn't take up a lot of space because food was not part of the equation. The idea of wine-and-food pairings -- beyond the red-is-for-steak, and white-is-for-fish formula -- would not arrive for another 15 years.
The Star-Bulletin introduced a wine column in 1999 due to the interest in restaurant-hosted wine pairings. Our competition finally followed suit this month. Then last year, wine aficionado and purveyor Lyle Fujioka, one of our By the Glass columnists, took a giant leap forward and opened Formaggio, offering wines by the glass and light dinners. And after opening Vino on Maui, Sansei restaurateur D.K. Kodama and master sommelier Chuck Furuya, another of our By the Glass columnists, teamed up to bring Little Vino to Restaurant Row.
All I can say is, it's a welcome addition and a new hangout, whether to cure writer's block, for stress release, girl's night out -- you name the informal occasion and Little Vino is just right. Pure heaven.
Little Vino guests Irving Ochoa and Shannon Huey enjoy dessert and coffee after a light meal.
INSIDE, LITTLE VINO is cozy and cleverly painted throughout with trompe l'oeil effects of exposed brick and windows of an Italian villa, looking out on a pastoral scene with a cloud-filled blue sky that will have some thinking Tuscany, others thinking of the Venetian in Las Vegas.
Italian wines are the stars here, with 2-ounce tastes ranging from $2 to $5.25, and 5-ounce servings running from about $5.50 to $15. Find one you like and get the whole bottle.
The list will change as new introductions are made, but recent selections included a rustic 1999 Dolcetto, Clerico "Visadi," part of a 6-ounce trio also comprising 2 ounces each of 1999 Chaos (the "ao" pronounced "ow," and not like the word that means something like "amok"), La Terrazze, and elegant 1999 Cavaliere, Michele Satta.
You might want to start with a crisp, bubbly twosome ($8.50), 3 ounces each of Maui's Tedeschi Vineyards Rose Ranch sparkler and Prosecco, Ruggeri "Gold Label."
No matter what you choose, the tapas menu is intended to complement the wines, and believe it or not, simple does the trick. Asparagus Milanese ($7.95), doesn't appear to be particularly exciting, but tasting is believing. Grilled asparagus is served on toast, drizzled with truffle oil and topped with a poached quail egg, itself topped with garlic bread crumbs and a dash of salt -- a combination that will leave you wanting to order more, if not for the other items on the menu vying for your attention.
There's enough so the non-drinker or moderate drinker won't starve in the company of guzzlers. A lot of people start with garlic bread ($3.95) or garlic cheese bread ($4.95), and crispy calamari ($8.95) with a light sprinkling of pepperoncini balsamic vinaigrette is bound to win instant popularity.
We all need to eat more vegetables, and Little Vino obliges with a rustic red-and-yellow beet salad ($9.95) and eggplant Napoleon ($8.95), a chilled roasted vegetable terrine with layers of eggplant, marinated artichokes, oven-dried tomatoes and a delicious smoky and spicy red pepper vinaigrette. With most of the dishes -- including the seared foie gras ($16.95) with its port and fig reduction -- we had to fend off the waiters who tried to take the plates away before we finished every last bit of sauce.
Four kinds of ravioli are also offered. I liked the duo ($6.50) of butternut squash and mushroom better than a sausage version in a heavy, sugary marinara sauce. It seemed to go against the simple-is-better mantra, but I guess every menu needs variety to suit different palates.
There's no dessert on the menu, but fear not, with Little Vino's kinship to Sansei, the staff can walk through the door separating the two to crib off Sansei's menu. See if you can resist the apple tart a la mode with vanilla bean ice cream and caramel sauce. The Little Vino experience was a treat from beginning to end.
Take note: Before you rush over to Little Vino, please note it will be closed for private parties from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 7 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday. It's closed Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays so basically, Wednesday's your day to join the crowd. Oh well, lines can only add to its cachet.
Restaurant Row, 500 Ala Moana, adjoining Sansei, with valet parking / 536-6286 Little Vino
Hours: 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, to 2 a.m. Fridays, and 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturdays
Food 
Service Ambience Value Cost: About $35 to $45 for two for four drinks and two appetizers
See some past restaurant reviews in the Columnists section.
Nadine Kam's restaurant 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.
