By now, seasoned restaurateurs are well familiar with the ebb and flow of influencer culture, that phenomenon that draws a wave of eager first-to-review delusionals to new restaurants.
Very rarely do these turn out to be real customers. Generally, when the hype subsides, the restaurateur is left with a trickle of loyal customers, the ones there to eat, not take food pics. Most people keep a very short list of restaurants they frequent, for reasons ranging from price to convenience, parking or aesthetic.
But every once in a while I come across a restaurant that makes sense on every level, so multiple return trips are a no-brainer.
KapiSpa is one such restaurant. The odd spa-sounding name is a shortcut for Kapiolani Spaghetti House, with the same owners as Bread & Butter, which had a four-year run in the same spot.
The concept change to Japanese-style pastas brings the site full circle, as it was also once home to Angelo Pietro, one of the first to bring Japanese pastas to Hawaii about 30 years ago.
In the early days of that first wave, I had little appreciation for shoyu-based spaghetti sauce or canned corn or natto on pasta, but these have become widely accepted and many of us can appreciate a full range of Japanese pastas, from the savory to the sometimes gooey and fishy. In fact, whenever I tell people about KapiSpa, the first question is an excited, “Do they have uni pasta?”
At the moment, no, because of the prohibitive cost of uni, but if enough diners are willing to pay the price, who knows?
Prices are now at a fairly comfortable $15 to $17 per entree, with a $3 add-on all-you-can-eat soup and salad bar option.
Another foodie and trend spotter asked me if I’ve noticed salad bars making a comeback. Outside of a handful of Japanese restaurants, no, but they should. For one thing, diners are getting spoiled by the ample salad bars at grocery stores. Anyone with minimal observation skills would note that no two people will build a salad the same way. In this age of customization we want what we want and maintaining a salad bar removes the time-killing nature of serving guests with varied diets, aversions and intolerances asking a hundred questions about what’s in a salad.
Here, salads start with a base of mixed greens, followed by about a dozen topping choices from cherry tomatoes and purple sweet potatoes to sliced hard-boiled eggs and ham.
IF YOU’RE not careful, a trip to the salad bar and an appetizer order of torikara (fried chicken; five pieces $9, nine pieces $15) might fill you up before you get to the pastas. The pieces are not bite-size karaage, but generous cuts of chicken breast, which you’ll be tempted to treat like a slim chicken finger. But don’t. Doing so could leave you with burned fingers — the large pieces tend to retain heat longer.
The chicken can be enjoyed plain with a squeeze of lemon or with a sauce: honey mustard, spicy chili, Worcestershire-style BBQ or wasabi ranch. The latter is my favorite, although the balance of the two ingredients can fluctuate. I prefer more wasabi than ranch dressing.
Maybe because of these indulgences, I have never finished a bowl of pasta here, but those with large appetites have the double reassurance of KapiSpa’s “large for free” spaghetti policy. Just as you’re welcome to request extra noodles at ramen and nabe houses, you can ask for extra pasta beforehand here.
You might also want consider KapiSpa’s other specialty, dorias. These creamy, cheesy rice casseroles range from chicken ($13) with or without ankake (a potato starch-thickened soy sauce), tofu ($13), chicken katsu ($14) and garlic shrimp ($15) to sweet unatama (unagi plus egg, $22). The sweetness of the eel in the unatama can be tempered with the addition of a touch of wasabi and nori served on the side.
But I find the spaghetti dishes to be the stars of the menu, although you may have trouble picking just one of the 18 choices.
My first instinct was to go with what I like, the combination of bacon and mushrooms ($16) over a fairly dry, garlic-butter pasta. But the consensus at my table was to go for some form of tarako (salted cod roe). We opted for a combination tarako, shimeji mushrooms and squid ($17). The tarako was blended into a creamy white sauce, which eliminated some of the fishiness that could be associated with such a dish. It turned out to be a unanimous favorite, even when compared with an equally savory, rich carbonara ($18) laced with takana, or Japanese pickles, that balanced some of the weight.
Because I loved the tarako so much, I returned for some Tarako on Tarako ($16) action, this time a blend of creamy tarako sauce, crowned with three pieces of the egg sacs. In all cases, the pasta toppings are arranged to look picture perfect, and it’s up to you to stir all the ingredients together.
You can’t go wrong with seafood (squid and shrimp) in garlic butter ($17) or garlic shrimp ($16). Kalua pork and cabbage ($15) is a local- style pasta option, while the most Japanese of toppings is the Nebaneba All Stars ($17), a sticky, slimy combination of natto, sliced okra and egg.
Customize your pastas with small side orders of ingredients from avocado ($4) and potato salad ($3) to slices of Spam ($4), Portuguese sausage ($2) or arabiki sausages ($3), and beef or chicken katsu ($4).
THE RESTAURANT’S grand opening is Jan. 11 — 1/11, a date chosen because the numbers resemble strands of spaghetti.
Until then, expect some fine tuning of the menu and service. I am going out on a limb here with my star ratings because of the management team’s past successes. What I’ve noticed already is the food is perfect when the executive chef, Keigo Yoshimoto,is around. Trouble is, he has other kitchens to oversee, and when he’s not around, the food is still delicious but almost intolerably saltier — geared toward those whose taste buds have been dulled by alcohol, smoking and/or a diet of overly salted, sugared foods.
Hopefully, that inconsistency will be fixed. Or, just start with the“large for free” upgrade and hope the extra pasta will distribute and dilute the salty bits across a greater volume of spaghetti.
KAPISPA
Ala Moana Pacific Center, 1585 Kapiolani Blvd. (parking in back)
Food: ***1/2
Service: ***
Ambiance: ***
Value: ****
>> Call: 949-3430
>> Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 10:30 p.m. daily
>> Prices: About $40 to 50 for two without alcohol
Ratings compare similar restaurants:
**** – excellent
*** – very good
** – average
* – below average
Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.
