Honolulu Weekly

Classic bistro cuisine brings with it reverence for tradition. It’s not about looking forward. It’s about respecting the past. It’s when an ordinary ingredient like chicken meets great technique and becomes the most perfect roast chicken you’ve ever tasted. Whether you are eating in Paris or Chicago or New York, a classic bistro will remind you of your love for good, honest food.

From Wednesday through Saturday evenings, Matters of Taste in the Pacific Design Center attempts to do just that. During ‘Bistro Nights,’ the eight-year-old successful lunch counter transforms into a casual supper house. Wood-surfaced tables are dressed with white linens. Flatware graces the tables. A high-end menu changes daily. And chef David Passanisi, while not a strict traditionalist, turns out some very agreeable dishes.

Passanisi, worked at Padovani’s before it closed and in Boston before that, shows due respect for the bistro. The menu, which is posted on the website ([www.motaste.com]) daily after 11am, offers classics like duck confit and roasted tomato soup with grilled chevre.

We started with both. The duck confit comes as a salad ($10) with baby spinach and gorgonzola. The meat from the duck leg fell off the bone with the slightest amount of encouragement. The greens–a bit overdressed–were surrounded by roasted baby apricots. Warm and sweet, the apricots balanced the flavor of the pungent cheese. A solid dish.

Passanisi also shows great skill in roasting. It was evident throughout many of the dishes in our meal. The roasted tomato soup ($8) didn’t show the depth that roasting often contributes, but had appropriate sweetness. With the toast points and chevre, however, it satisfied.

The most interesting and flavorful dish of the evening was the entrÈe, Chocolate Filet of Beef ($28). Cacao has been used for centuries to create sauces like mole. Cutting-edge chefs like Wylie Dufresne of New York’s wd-50 have dazzled with their savory interpretations of chocolate. Passanisi says his dish was inspired by a glass of Shiraz.

‘I tasted all these flavors in the wine and I thought, what if I could make a sauce like thisÖ People often think the dish will be sweet because it’s chocolate, but they forget that chocolate isn’t naturally sweet,’ Passanisi says.

He dusts the two-inch thick filet with unsweetened cocoa, sets it to roast and uses the roasting juices for the base of the sauce. Cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and port round out the flavors. My dining companion exclaimed, ‘It smells like Christmas.’

Served with roasted vegetables, like well-carmelized young carrots, the dish possessed an aroma and taste that unwrapped in layers–much like a good wine. With the first bite, sweet ripe plums. Then pine, then cinnamon. The chocolate added a richness that brought the whole dish together.

The profiterole with vanilla ice cream ($7) was also very successful. The pastry shell was prudently covered with chocolate sauce and topped with a crunchy smoked salt. The smokiness and texture of the salt brought out the vanilla flavor of the ice cream, deepened the taste of the chocolate and emphasized the crispness of the pastry. Well balanced and delicious.

There were a few misses, but overall, Passanisi shows great skill in the kitchen. The problem with eating at Matters of Taste is its environment.

I was not expecting an oak-and-zinc bar laden with charcuterie and quiche. But Matters of Taste is in, essentially, a mall. It’s a one-station food court during the day. And that’s fine when people are milling about. But at night, darkened storefronts and Indonesian stone sculptures lay witness to your dining experience. You are aware of the width and breadth of the larger space, the blue carpet leading into empty corridors of closed kitchen design stores. The night we dined, only three tables were occupied.

Matters of Taste does not have its liquor license but is BYOB-friendly. Our bill without tip was $94. It’s not cheap. But the food was good, and Passanisi clearly has talent.

The whole experience makes me too aware of the overall dilemma in Hawai’i. Small, independent restaurants have a ridiculously tough time here. Often the prices they have to charge to stay afloat will keep most people away. There are times when clunky and funky are OK. Good, even. But when the bill is nearly $100 for two, most will question their options, and those empty corridors will weigh into the equation. It’s too bad, because we as a dining public are the ones who are suffering. We are missing great dishes by promising young chefs.

Bistro Nights at Matters of Taste

(538-0597) ï 560 N. Nimitz Hwy
Hours: Wed-Sat 5-9pm
Price Range: Entrees $15-$30
Recommended dishes: Duck confit salad, Chocolate Filet of Beef,
Profiteroles
Payment: AmEx, Diner’s, Disc, MC, V