Restaurant Week Hawaii 2015

Nadine Kam photos
A beautiful antipasto misto platter of nine assorted bites is the start of Arancino Beachwalk’s Restaurant Week 2015 menu. Pictured from front are caprese salad, salmon, bagna cauda and vegetable sticks, duck, frittata, marinated octopus, grilled zucchini and roasted bell peppers, and prosciutto.

BY NADINE KAM

Billed as the “most delicious week of the year,” Restaurant Week Hawaii is back, a weeklong celebration of the cuisine scene in Hawaii, from fine dining to fast-food,

Participating restaurants are featuring special menu items and promotions through Sunday, often offering the opportunity for diners to revisit familiar haunts at a discount and try some of the newbies in search of new favorites.

A portion of the proceeds from Restaurant Week Hawaii will support the Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Diamond Head. When completed, Hawaii’s first four-year culinary program will serve students working toward careers in Hawaii’s restaurant and hospitality industry.

Visit www.restaurantweekhawaii.com to see what’s on the menu of your favorite eateries.

Here’s is a look at what’s on the menu at Arancino Beachwalk for $40 per person, with a two-person minimum; and below, at Bread + Butter Honolulu, where chef Masa Gushiken’s tasting menu is $45, with optional $25 wine pairings.

ARANCINO BEACHWALK
At 255 Beach Walk Ave. Call (808) 923-5557.

Diners have a choice of two dishes for the primi course, spaghetti with about two dozen clams, tomato concasse, garlic olive oil and white wine, or below, deconstructed creamy spaghetti alla carbonara, with egg on top stirred in at the table with Parmesan and pancetta in the dish.

Housemade tiramisu for dessert.

Arancino’s sister restaurants are also offering special menus as follows:

Arancino di Mare: Start with a salad of scallop carpaccio with sea asparagus, tobiko, onion and champagne vinaigrette; followed by antipasto of Sicilian arancini. The primi course offers diners a choice of deconstructed spaghetti alla carbonara or spaghetti vongole, followed by dessert of a light chocolate mousse with lilikoi sauce and fig. Costs $42 per person. The restaurant is on the ground level of the Waikiki Beach Marriott, 2552 Kalakaua Ave. Call (808) 931-6273.

Arancino at The Kahala: The menu starts with carpaccio di capesante, featurig Hokkaido scallops, cucumber, local Ululoa Farm micro greens and a housemade yuzu vinaigrette; followed by antipasto of three-mushroom and Parmigiano Reggiano arancini ai funghi with petite shortrib squares. The primi course is a choice of kabocha gnocci or braised oxtail with housemade maltagliati pasta with daikon, carrots and Okinawan sweet potato. Dessert is a roasted almond panna cotta with coconut gelato and coconut granita. The cost is $57 per person, with optional $18 per person wine pairings. At the Kahala Hotel. Call (808) 380-4400.

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BREAD + BUTTER
At 1585 Kapiolani Boulevard, next door to sister restaurant Shokudo. Call (808) 949-3430.

 Bread + Butter's Restaurant Week 2015 menu starts with a black truffle egg custard with dashi. This is paired with Scharfenburger Brut for those who choose the pairing option.

Next up is a Tapas Trio of a beet, peach and blue cheese salad; delicious blue crab and mango tartare; and Kobe beef empanada. Pairing: 2012 Schlumburger Pinot Blanc.

Poached blue prawn on a honey risotto with saffron aioli. Pairing: 2013 Jermann Pinot Grigio.

Diners have a choice of two entrées, uni pasta incorporating Santa Barbara uni in a cream sauce, or below, a double duck combo of seared duck breast and foie gras with dark coffee reduction and charred Kahuku corn with a dash of truffle oil. Pairing: 2013 Domaine Dupeuble Beaujolais and 2013 Maison L’envoye Two Messengers Pinot Noir, respectively.

 

 

Dessert of chocolate molten lava cake with chocolate and caramel center, vanilla ice cream and berries.

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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.