Some people work and save all their lives waiting for the day they can retire and start to enjoy life.

Others are so well-suited to their professions that to work is the biggest joy.

Cyrus Goo fits into the latter group. After closing Cafe Laufer in 2018 after 22 years in business, Goo settled into retirement, only to find the peace and quiet disconcerting. He was used to the rush of diners filling his cafe with life, laughter and praise for his food and pastries.

Soon, he was back in the kitchen at the Princess Kaiulani Hotel, only to find himself at home again shortly after COVID-19 hit, which exacerbated the feeling of at-home tedium.

“There’s only so many times you can paint the patio,” he said.

So when the owners of Dada Salon approached him with the idea of opening a cafe on-site — even in the midst of the pandemic — he quickly agreed. He said friends questioned his sanity, exclaiming, “We’re ready to retire and you’re starting a business?!”

The salon is operating on a model of shared space, reducing and limiting cost risks for vendors while bringing hair stylists, a nail salon, medical clinic and cafe together under one roof to offer one-stop convenience for clients.

Goo calculated that salon patrons sitting in the styling chair a few hours for a cut and color would probably start to feel hungry or thirsty, and in need of an espresso, latte or a quick bite to eat.

A grab-and-go concept would have been good enough for now, while the hotel is at low capacity, but the menu here is more ambitious. Goo bills his cafe as a European brasserie, currently leaning toward pastas, and imagines business will pick up when tourism returns. As a warmup act, people in search of more serious lunch and dinner fare will find pastas and Euro classics such as chicken Parmesan and veal schnitzel.

THERE ARE also some throwback dishes, such as duck a l’orange and a Waldorf salad, which had me dating myself in front of a baby waiter. I remarked to friends that my introduction to the world of ladies who lunch (and only eat salads) was at Canlis, where I tried duck a l’orange for the first time in the mid-1980s.

“Canlis? I think that’s where my parents went on their first date,” the waiter said. “Was it in Chinatown?”

Nooooooo.

Goo’s rationale for serving up these classics is that no one else is offering them. In a landscape increasingly dominated by a generation that favors the trendiest eats, he’s betting that people are still out there who miss retro dining.

Nostalgia aside, the food scene progressed rapidly beginning in the late 1980s.Successive generations of diners simply don’t know how good they have it today, blessed by the presence of Italian chefs, Japanese chefs who trained in Italy and brought a lighter approach to Italian cuisine, and a younger generation of artisanal, farm-to-table purveyors who manage every detail, down to making their noodles from scratch.

Dada Cafe’s main dishes make it seem as if the past 35 years never happened, and maybe that’s great for those who want to go back to a simpler time, when COVID-19 never existed either. Personally, it’s hard to go back toward dense noodles and heavy cream sauce, one option for the linguine frutti di mare ($29) — though the mix of clams, mussels, shrimp and scallops was pleasant. Next time I’d opt for the tomato-based Napolitana sauce version.

I think past and present could co-exist if lightened up to contemporary standards, such as the duck a l’orange ($27), blanketed with a demi-glace orange sauce. It has little appeal to me, but might please the sizable audience of those who love saucy dishes like Cantonese orange chicken and sweet-sour pork.

More agreeable to me was Frankie’s Pasta ($18), simply dressed with olive oil and garlic, with fresh basil and tomatoes, plus chopped salami for a touch of salt, the way Frank Sinatra was said to have liked his pasta when dining in Las Vegas.

Each main dish comes with a small salad and small, delicious cup of soup of the day that might be a tomato bisque with pesto, or Thai green curry with rice.

THE CAFE fares better with its gourmet sandwiches, such as a hot pastrami ($17) on German rye with pastrami with a touch of sweetness that overrides the salt. And there’s nothing better than Goo’s fresh- baked croissants, which seem to evaporate on the tongue. They’re used to make sandwiches such as a croissant club BLT ($17) with ham, applewood-smoked bacon and provolone; or a croissant ham and cheese ($17) with Swiss and dijonnaise.

Rounding out the menu are a couple of pizzas, salads and appetizers, such as charcuterie ($16); brie with a baguette, apple slices and nuts ($12); and crave-worthy homestyle fried chicken wings and drumettes ($18) with tomato-ranch dipping sauce. Another plus is an all-day breakfast ($14) of three eggs your way with applewood- smoked bacon, Portuguese sausage and hash browns.

For many of Goo’s biggest fans, all this is just the warmup act for the main attractions of pastries and cakes that were central to Cafe Laufer’s reputation. They’re all back, from the decadent chocolatey and fruity Sacher torte, to moist strawberry shortcake, giant cream puffs and glassy white wine gelee stirred with fresh fruit (about $4.50 to $5.95 per piece/slice). It’s enough to bring Goo’s Kaimuki fans out in droves.

DADA CAFE

Dada Salon, Ala Moana Hotel, 410 Atkinson Drive, third floor

Casual fare: ***1/2

Hot entrees: **1/2

Service: ***

Ambiance: **1/2

Value: ***

>> Call: 888-3456

>> Hours: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily

>> Prices: About $40 to $60 for two

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.