You can solicit all the advice you want, but in the end, to know oneself is often the best guide for decision-making.
Few people were telling Maria Barnette what she wanted to hear when she was considering buying Bogart’s Cafe in 2000. She had just lost a job, she said, and “I had no marketable skills, but I didn’t want to work for someone else anymore. By doing this, I would create a job for myself.
“People told me, ‘Don’t do it. You’re gonna work so hard. It’s gonna be one of the hardest things you’ll ever do, so you might as well go find another job.’
“And they were right. The first six months, I cried every night.”
Factor in her then- inability to cook.
“My husband is part Italian and loves to eat so I tried to cook for him. The first time I tried cooking I nearly burned down the house. I left a towel on the stove.”
But she was determined, the overriding factor being her desire to serve no master but herself.
The naysaying continued when she took over the cafe.
Most of Bogart’s regulars were rooting for me but some, she said, “Told me straight to my face, ‘You’re going to fail.’ “
20 YEARS later, she’s still here, and adding to Bogart’s legacy as one of the best breakfast spots in Honolulu, Barnette recently added dinner service, currently running Wednesdays through Sundays.
The introduction was the result of patrons’ requests, but those expecting simple cafe fare are in for a much bigger treat.
The menu is a result of Barnette’s quest to learn to cook, fueled by watching Food Network cooking shows and taking educational trips to Europe, where she enrolled in short-term classes at Le Cordon Bleu and even volunteered to work in the kitchen of one of her favorite Italian restaurants to learn to make some of her favorite dishes.
“It started in 2008 during a trip to France. Then I went back pretty much every year. I started by learning to make sauces, real simple stuff.”
Her new dinner menu distills all she learned into a tight roster of favorite dishes from her European travels, including osso bucco ($37) with veal cheeks, from a recipe she picked up in France, and a delectable cacio e pepe spaghetti (cheese and black pepper, $17), that incorporates lemon juice and an exclusive, unnamed milk cheese she purchases from a small farm in Italy’s Dolomites. The flavor is similar to the Parmesan or Pecorino Romano typically used, but considerably deeper and richer. As wonderful as other dishes on the menu may be, it’s hard not to return to this dish over and over because of its crave-inducing power.
Starters include a burrata salad ($14) with tri-color tomatoes and marinated eggplant, or bagna cauda salad ($12) of mixed greens and bitter greens like endive and radicchio, accompanied by a garlic cream-anchovy dressing that’s as intense as it’s meant to be, instead of being watered down for timid palates.
Another favorite starter is a trio of brown butter-seared scallops ($18) crowned with black tobiko and served over a sweet potato puree. Seafood lovers will also be drawn to prawns in a Calabrian chili sauce ($26), served over a creamy pool of polenta. The fruity, smoky quality of the Calabrian chili brings balance to the heat factor, which falls on the same level as Tabasco on the Scoville scale, a measure of the capsaicin content of peppers.
UNI TAGLIATELLE ($24) will tempt sea urchin lovers, but I prefer to get this dish at Japanese restaurants that bring in sweeter urchins. This one is only for those who can stomach the most briny ocean flavors. Others will find more satisfaction in a white pasta of Manila clams ($22) with tarragon and white wine, or rich carbonara ($18) of egg and guanciale (cured pork).
Those who require something more substantial than pasta will find roast Jidori chicken ($26) or seared pork chop with slow-braised fennel and kalamata olive tapenade.
Prime rib-eye ($35) sounded tempting, but was cooked to the point of chewiness, rather than the suppleness expected from prime rib. Which was too bad, as other elements of the plate — a polenta cake, sauteed spinach, baby ’bellas and cabernet shallot sauce were all enjoyable.
Not to be missed is a Basque fish stew ($30) of Atlantic salmon, Kauai shrimp, clams and potatoes in a tomato broth accented with smoked paprika. It’s accompanied by a rich, creamy black garlic aioli that’s meant to be added to the broth just before eating so it can be adjusted to be more or less creamy to individual preference.
For dessert there are standard profiteroles ($10) and affogato ($9), but a favorite is the Dulce De Leche Lava Cake ($10) that oozes with molten caramel.
Barnette is rightfully proud of what she has achieved.
“Bogart’s is the hardest thing I have ever done, but it is also the best thing I have done. I wouldn’t change anything. I kind of got spoiled working for myself.”
BOGART’S CAFE
3045 Monsarrat Ave.
Food: *** 1/2
Service: ****
Ambience: ***
Value: *** 1/2
>> Call: 739-0999
>> Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily; dinner 5:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays to Sundays
>> Prices: Dinner about $75 to $85 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.
