New brunch options abound for Oahu residents

As little as 12 years ago, breakfast options in Honolulu were few. I complained about it a lot after moving back into the city from Kailua, a breakfast capital.

Today there are plenty of options for early birds. The morning market is still nowhere near as saturated as the evening market for dinner, but the fuller scene calls for more creativity to lure diners that crucial first time.

Here are a few new options for those seeking more than eggs and bacon.

APPETITO

150 Kaiulani Avenue (in the Ohana Waikiki East by Outrigger); breakfast from 7 to 11 a.m.; 922-1150

The Italian and craft pizza specialist has focused on its strong point and re-invented pizza as a first-meal-of-the-day option, introducing a thicker crust to hold up to such ingredients as scrambled eggs with ham and diced avocado. If you already love these ingredients individually, you’ll love them just as much on a pizza crust.

Just as good are a bacon carbonara pizza bearing ricotta cream, with Waimanalo egg yolk, sliced bacon and onions; and another with kale, bacon, tomato sauce and Grand Padano. The pizzas ($12) are made for one and come with a side of country-fried skillet potatoes and coffee or soft drink.

Continuing the handheld theme, the restaurant is also offering piadina, Italian flatbread sandwiches with components of a caprese salad or chicken Caesar salad. As good as the Caesar was, this meat eater leans more toward the Italian salami sandwich with ricotta, pesto, arugula and balsamic reduction. Each sandwich is $12 and, like the pizzas, comes with potatoes and coffee or soft drink.

Elsewhere on the menu, smoked salmon scrambled eggs ($14) brings a luxe touch to morning. Smoked salmon and cream cheese are stirred into soft scrambled eggs that top a taro English muffin; it is finished with more salmon.

For those with a sweet tooth, slices of Hawaiian sweet bread French toast ($14) are crusted with cornflakes and sandwiched with a layer of Nutella, banana slices and sprinkling of berries.

BASALT

2255 Kuhio Avenue (inside Duke’s Lane Market and Eatery); open 7 to 10:30 a.m. for breakfast, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for lunch, and 5 to 10:30 p.m. for dinner; validated parking in the Hyatt Centric Waikiki Hotel; 923-5689

After a rocky culinary start last summer, the signature restaurant at Duke’s Lane Market and Eatery may be finding its groove with chef Keith Kong — formerly with Duke’s Waikiki — at the helm, if breakfast is any indication.

He’s introduced some eye-opening dishes that prove to be palatable beyond their initial shock, novelty or trend-chasing value.

One of those dishes is a stack of charcoal buttermilk pancakes ($12) as black as coal. The logic is that activated charcoal — the latest health trend — is said to be a great detoxifier. Whether the food-grade charcoal really works to absorb toxins and heavy metals doesn’t matter when the resulting pancakes actually taste good, and with strawberry guava sauce, whipped cream and berries, it will look great on your Instagram feed.

Whether you prefer to start your morning with the sweet or savory, the chef’s got you covered with such options as vanilla-orange brioche French toast ($11) or a loco moco ($14) of bacon fried rice and local beef patty smothered in mushroom gravy with grilled onions and egg.

If you can hold out during the half-hour lull between breakfast and lunch, you might also want to try the lunch menu’s vegetable piele ($16), the result of Kong’s research into foods eaten by early Polynesian voyagers en route to Hawaii. Among the foods were taro, bananas, breadfruit and coconuts. They wrapped and steamed these mashed, shredded ingredients in ti leaves, then sliced and sun-dried the cakes to transport them, he said.

I imagined the piele, minus the sun-drying, would be a mushy, bland mass, but this contemporary version nails the winning combination of being nutritious and delicious, incorporating Okinawan sweet potato, the crunch of island corn, hearts of palm and yellow beets served over kale. I’d definitely order it again.

EATING HOUSE 1849 KAPOLEI

Kapolei Commons, 4450 Kapolei Parkway; Sunday brunch runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; dinner is available from 5 to 9 p.m. Sundays to Thursdays, and 5 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; call 447-1849

The restaurant by Roy Yamaguchi recently added a shortlist of Sunday brunch items to its regular lunch menu to bring more pleasure to an unrushed day of leisure.

Dishes like chocolate- and peanut butter-stuffed French toast ($14) and corned beef hash ($15) over roasted fingerling potatoes and topped with a sunny egg, are meant to be shared, as well as a dessert version of a deep-fried ham and cheese Monte Cristo ($14) made with Ohia Bakery sweetbread and topped with a honey-berry compote. Don’t even try to eat all of this by yourself.

Also on the new menu is chicken katsu ($18) with buttermilk biscuits, Portuguese sausage and gravy.

Round out the meal with shared pupu from the regular menu such as a brown-butter saute of Brussels sprouts and cauliflower with toasted pine nuts ($15), hamachi crudo ($19) or Roy’s original Szechuan ribs ($18).

LEAHI CONCEPT KITCHEN

Ka ‘Ikena Restaurant, 4303 Diamond Head Road (on the Kapiolani Community College campus); Sunday brunch runs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; dinners are 5:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays to Sundays; call 734-9499

Kapiolani Community College’s Leahi Concept Kitchen has ended its run at the Waikiki Parc Hotel and moved onto campus, into the Ka ‘Ikena Restaurant. In addition to dinner, the experimental student-driven restaurant is now serving up Sunday brunch as part of the school’s goal to create multiple dining concepts. If successful, some of the concepts may serve as the model for the restaurant at the Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Diamond Head.

The cost of the brunch seems steep, at $48, but the restaurant has a no-tip policy, so the price is really equivalent to a price of $38 to $40 at a commercial restaurant menu and adding a tip. And of course your dollars support culinary education that ensures our dining scene will be vibrant for years to come.

The brunch puts students at the heart of action stations comparable to those at any Waikiki hotel, with their offerings of omelets made to order and a prime rib carving station. There’s also a shrimp and vegetable tempura station with matcha and curry salt among condiments available to guests.

There’s more than enough for anyone to eat in a single sitting, starting with poke, fruit and salad bars. And hot dishes include standard breakfast bacon and sausages, plus ribs, grilled guava chicken, breakfast potatoes, fried rice and Guamanian red rice.

They’ve been open to suggestions, such as adding waffles to a pancake and French toast station, and bread pudding as one of the dessert options.

Guests have been choosing this spot for special occasions, and all are welcome to BYOB, with a corkage fee of $10 per bottle of wine and $1 per bottle of beer.

Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.