Cafe & Deli

Kalapawai Cafe & Deli

Sitting right off of Kailua’s main drag, between KFC and Arby’s, Kalapawai Cafe & Deli is a cute, charming and quaint surprise. Part country cafe, part saloon-style eatery, it’s this island’s equivalent to Maui’s Hali’imaile General Store. The mostly southern-European-inspired flavors can be mixed and matched at whim, and always with rewarding results. The portions are kept in check–you won’t get mountains of food or family-sized platters. Who says you can’t have your steak…and fish and pizza and pasta…and eat it, too?

–Kawehi Haug (5/30/07)

Mix Cafe

The bustle and din at Mix Cafe belies its smallness. Six tables for two and one table for six turn the long narrow space into a cafe that seats fewer diners than most people here have family members. The full staff–warm, friendly and charming–is always at your beck and call. Order the sandwiches with a side of country salad, potatoes and roasted veggies tossed with oil, vinegar and salt and pepper and you won’t miss the fried starch that we normally pair with our sandwiches. These aren’t your typical New York-style sammies. These are simpler and purer. Bread, meat, cheese and maybe a few veggies. Choose from three homemade sauces: spicy crab, creamy Portobello or sausage. Its breakfast menu is also certainly worth waking up for. The amazing waffles are in good company with Bruno’s signature omelette, a fritatta-like dish that’s chock-full of fresh veggies and the most surprising breakfast sandwiches that threaten to make an addict out of anyone who discovers them.

–K.H. (10/17/07)

Chinese

Aloha Bistro

Along with the chopsticks and handle-less tea mugs, the restaurant offers few entrees over $20 and excellent service. The bus boy will zip over and exchange a half-full teapot for a fresh one, just to ensure piping hot tea throughout your meal. Presentation figures big into the bistro’s specialty dishes, the Seafood Taro Bowl: a medley of fish, squid and vegetables which comes in a delicate bowl of violet taro that soaks up the garlic sauce as you eat. Chinese tourists and islanders alike can find something familiar and comforting at Aloha Bistro: Good food, good prices and a staff that shouts in Cantonese.

–Rachel Brown (5/7/08)

Filipino

Marilou’s Restaurant & Catering

The allure of traditional Filipino cooking lies in the braising of meats slow-cooked for several hours to release the flavors. Each lunch/dinner combo comes with 4 items of your choice–pinapaitan, pinakbet (a soup with long green beans, few pieces of lechon-crispy fried pork, bitter melon, eggplant and tomatoes), dinguanan, pork guisantes, pork adobo, mungo beans or pork menudo. All items on the combo plates are savory. Banana lumpia and halo halo for dessert. Marilou’s is the place to go for a real comforting home-cooked Filipino meal.

–Walter Rhee (3/5/08)

French

JJ Bistro & French Pastry

The food is so eclectic and the flavors so harmonious, that JJ Bistro & French Pastry transcends such labels as “French-Laotian” or “Eurasian.” There are two fixed menus offering soup, appetizer, entree and dessert. One such entree is the Fisherman Pot Pie with a dense, flaky crust that cradles a rich concoction of shrimp, scallops, salmon, zucchini and bamboo shoots, all drenched in a buttery cream sauce. The pastry display boasts a variety of desserts, including the famous Chocolate Pyramid, Lemon Honey Cake, Plum Tart and Frou Frou Au Chocolate. JJ Bistro & French Pastry provides world class cuisine in a chic setting at very reasonable prices.

–R.B. (6/18/08)

Italian

Baci Bistro

Don’t leave without trying the tiramisu. Where most places take on the traditional dolci as an Italian version of the Midwestern trifle, Baci treats it right: Each layer separate, but all coming together perfectly on the fork. The ladyfingers are moist, not wet; the mascarpone layer is light, not cheesecake-like; the amaretto is complimentary, not overpowering. The answer is simple: When in Kailua, eat at Baci Bistro.

–K.H. (5/9/07)