My daughter had a school dance and my son had a performance, so I looked at my wife and read her mind (or did she read mine?). It’s time to sample a new restaurant! Since we had limited time, we wanted somewhere close to our kid’s school, and 12th avenue grill fit the bill. I’ve been there once before and really enjoyed it. I thought it would be good to try again. It gets crowded quickly, so we went at 5:30pm, when they opened.
Original Sign
The sign is picturesque in a special kind a way. Don’t worry, the condition of the sign does not reflect on the condition of the kitchen.
Outside
From the outside, the restaurant looks festive and clean.
Inside
The inside is modern. The seating can get a little cramped. As long as you don’t sit next to “nielle” people, it is comfortable. There was a group of loud drunk women across the aisle, but that was entertaining. It added to the festive atmosphere.
View toward the kitchen.
View from our seats to the kitchen. For those that notice details, this picture is at the beginning of the meal, the previous picture was at the end of the meal. You can see the tables filled up.
Bread
I was not going to take this picture. I didn’t want to spam my own blog with “normal” food. But my wife loved this bread and demanded I take the picture. So here it is. Crispy crust with rock salt (not too much), but tender and warm inside.
Menu
My wife chose Spinach Fettuccine w/ Gulf Shrimp.
Specials
I went with one of the specials: Pan Roasted Big Island Wild Boar Loin. We also split the Havarti Fondue and Truffled Pate appetizer.
Appetizer
This Havarti (Danish Cheese) and Truffled Pate was an interesting dish. I think each dip by itself would have been too much, but if you alternate, they complimented each other and cleaned your palate. This paired well with a Pinof Grigio. But I would not order this again.
Wine
Now the main courses:
Spinach fettucine
Nice light cream sauce. My wife loves Feta Cheese. I thought it was good, but nothing exceptional. Macaroni Grill serves a comparable dish. Don’t get me wrong, I love Macaroni Grill.
Wild Boar
For me, this was the star of the show. It’s the loin of the pork (or wild boar), so it was very tender. The Marsala sauce was light, and herb crusted outside was had the right strength to give it flavor without over powering it. I keep imagining big island hunters coming out of the rain forest with this boar on the hood of their car.
Wine Tasting
I was undecided on which wine to get: Merlot or Pinot. The waiter let me sample both. What service. I went with the Pinot Noir. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the special wine menu.
On to dessert!
Dessert Menu
I went with the Fruit Crisp, which happened to be Pear. My wife chose the Mango Upside Down Cake.
Mango upside-down Cake
It looks like this dish will have a stong impact of sweet and maybe sour. But actually its quite light. It was also warm. The combination of Mango and Coconut Gelato was balanced and yummy.
Pear Crisp
When I first saw this dish arrive, I was disappointed. I imagined the typical apple strudel. Was I wrong. This ended up to be the best dessert I’ve had this year. Imagine a very light syrup with fresh crunchy but cooked pears. It reminded me of fresh out of the oven pear muffins I used to get in Manoa. Notice how the ice cream is still hard and not melted. This dish travelled quickly from chef to table.
Pear Crisp Closeup
Here is a closeup view of the pears. The coffee was good, but did not deserve a picture.
Bill
Heres the bill. Not too bad.
Kitchen
I love this place. The food was excellent, and decor had charm. I would definitely recommend it.
If you do go, I would suggest two things:
1) Go early. It gets crowded quickly with people waiting outside. Also there are only a certain number of specials (you can see the count down on the bottom left), so come early before the specials run out. My wife and her friend used to “reserve” the desert specials at the beginning of their meals.
2) Go with a special. The specials seem to have creativity and provide adventure.
Thank you for visiting my blog, and I hope to see you soon when I blog about Hiroshi’s Taiseki Dinner!
