“There is no sincerer love than the love of food.” -George Bernard Shaw
Happy Valentine's Day!!! Paul & I are celebrating our very first Valentine's Day together!!! He keeps it a surprise for a whole week on where he's decided to take me out to dinner!!! And I must say, he hasn't disappointed me at all today!!! And it's actually the first time that I've gotten ready on time for our dinner reservations as he was balls deep in a nap and rushing to wake up and get dressed!!!
The restaurant-Vino Italian Tapa & Wine Bar located at Restaurant Row!!! We've never eaten there before and were excited because it was something different and liked the idea of going somewhere with wine pairings that came with our courses, since Paul & I are a bunch of newbies when it comes to wine!
We were greeted by a server and he was very friendly and seated us promptly. We loved the ambience with the low lighting and decor. Walls were painted with old bricks and vines and made it feel like you were in "Old Italy".
We were seated and handed menus...although Vino was serving only a special Valentine's Day menu, no ala carte menu was served. So it was a set menu of five courses. A basket of warm fresh bread was served along with glasses of water to cleanse our palates. As soon as we were seated and had the menu explained to us, Paul & I were served four empty wine glasses each for our courses to come.
For our first course we were served Ahi Chu Toro Crudo. It was made of red jalapenos, Maui onion, roasted garlic aioli, thai basil, osetra caviar. After first trying caviar on Christmas day when I took Paul to DK Steakhouse for brunch, I've acquired a taste for caviar not by itself, but paired with food such as smoked salmon like when we had dinner at Sarento's. After telling Paul that I love caviar and want to eat it everyday, he got a bit nervous! When the Ahi Chu Toro Crudo was served to me, I looked at it and to me it reminded me of cat food straight out of the can because of the shape of it. As soon as I took my first bite, to me it was a glorious bite!!! The taste and the texture, along with the wine pairing of Elvio Tintero Grangia [white wine] was delectable!!!!
Our server cleared our empty plates from our first course and our server came out with a bottle of DeMedici Lambrusco "Concerto" and I was quite impressed with how knowledgeable she was with all the different wines being served to us. Then our second course of Roasted Heirloom Beet Salad was served. It was made of Big Island hearts of palm, Nalo Farms red ruby mix, pancetta bacon , raspberry Champagne vinaigrette. I wasn't too impressed with the salad because of my preference to iceberg lettuce than to spinach salad and leaves. Paul enjoyed the salad while I just picked and ate the beets in the salad while eating bread and drinking the red wine served with this course...I was ready to move on to the third course.
As we sat and enjoyed the company and conversations together at our table, another couple sits at a nearby table. The woman had her back facing me but I was quite irritated by her throughout the night because she kept turning to look at me like she knew me when I don't think I've even met her before. The more she kept turning to look at me and the more I got lit from the different types of wine we were drinking, the more I wanted to throw bread at the back of her head and tell her to take a picture because it'll last longer!!! Paul managed to calm me down and didn't want something like that to ruin our night. If all of you know me well, it would've been a different story. Thank God for Paul to calm me down! Sorry, I just had to vent about that event of the night!!!
Once again, plates were cleared and server comes to pour us white wine for our third course, 2006 Feudi di San Gregorio Fiano di Avellino. 2006 was a good year for me! Poached Kona Maine Lobster was the third course. The risotto was real creamy and suberb!!! Whenever the risotto tasted too creamy, the wine paired with this entree actually evened it out!!!
Empty plates cleared out from in front of us and our wine glasses filled with 2007 Querciabella Mongrana. I loved this red wine best out of all the wine we've had that evening!!! For our fourth course we were served Chianti Braised Maui Cattle Co. Short Ribs. It was made up of ricotta cheese gnocchi, rapini, horseradish gremolata. This entree was also my favorite that I actually took my sweet-ass time savoring every bite because I felt like I wanted seconds of this one particular dish!!!
By this point of our dinner, that woman at the other table had already turned backwards to stare at me for the seventh time [and yes, I was keeping track on how many times this broad had to look at me], and as soon as she turned back to face her date, she whispers something to him and by now I want to throw the whole bread basket at the back of her grape!!! paul told me to woo-sah and rub my ears!!! LOL!
Finally, dessert is served! For dessert we were served “Frozen Kula Strawberry cheesecake”. It was made of graham cracker ice cream, chocolate almond biscotti, raspberry gastrique. It was scrumptious and Paul & I loved how they had deconstructed the cheesecake dessert to fill the whole plate and make it look pretty and colorful!!!
Paul & I would highly recommend going to this restaurant if you haven't yet!!! Price for dinner I would say is reasonable, especially with the wine pairings for each course!!! Loved the service and hospitality!!! Food was awesome and the ambience of the place!!! It was an amazing wine experience for us!!!
Italian-inspired 'small plates' by Keith Endo, Chef de Cuisine and wine selections by Master Sommelier, Chuck Furuya
Vino Italian Tapas & Wine Bar
500 Ala Moana Blvd.
Suite #6D-1
Restaurant Row
Honolulu, HI 96813
(808) 524.8466
www.vinohawaii.com
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