‘Aiea Bowl / Yes, it is surprising that one might find foie gras in a bowling alley. Even more surprising is that a five-course menu like the one found at ‘Aiea Bowl would be anything more than adequate. But welcome to Tasty Tuesdays–a once-a-week culinary shocker designed for foodies who may also enjoy the occasional round of bowling.

Or not. After five courses, most feel too stuffed to bowl, making ‘Aiea Bowl almost certainly the only bowling alley on the island that’s actually a destination restaurant.

‘Aiea Bowl is nestled on top of a parking garage in what feels like an industrial park. At first sight, one wonders whether or not Dirty Lickins’ (a nearby hot-wing cafe) is a warning about what awaits inside. Inside, the sights, sounds and smells are as surreal as a Salvador Dali painting.

A well-designed dining room, complete with tables draped in black cloths and freshly cut Agapanthus feels perfectly appropriate for a five-course gourmet food encounter. But then the sound of balls being flipped and spun into a pyramid of pins is a reminder of exactly where one is about to spend nearly $40 for an individual prix fixe dinner.

Sitting in a comfortable booth and looking around at disco balls, Budweiser flags and a refrigerated case of what looks like tiny little presents wrapped in fondant, one wonders, “What the hell were these guys thinking?

What they were thinking

But the Uyeda brothers knew exactly what they were doing. Bowling brats by nature, Glenn and Gregg Uyeda renovated the 50-year-old, 30,000-squar e foot space for a really pretty penny. Paying the bills (like the $48,000 rental fee and a $20,000 monthly electric bill) must have seemed daunting considering the $3.50 per person per lane fee. This is where smart meets eccentric, and where eccentric meets genius.

The Uyeda brothers must’ve wondered, “Why not give people the most balls-to-the-wall bolwing alley ever invented, and why not serve them oxtail soup while we’re at it?”.

Chef Glenn Uyeda, who studied at Le Cordon Bleu and worked in famed New York kitchens like Le Bernadin restaurant, teamed up with Shane Masutani of KCC. Together they conceptualized a dining experience unlike any other in ‘Oahu, featuring a monthly menu of artisan foods, gourmet desserts (some of the best lemon crunch and tiramisu on the island) and even the ole’ bowling grinds like pizza, beer and burgers.

June’s upscale menu is a collection of hand-picked favorites from a year’s worth of Tasty Tuesdays. The atmosphere is buzzing with bowlers, the dining room filled to capacity, and everything from the friendly staff to the flower-ornamented bathrooms seems bizarrely clean and, well, fabulous.

The courses of the game

Buttermilk biscuits arrive warm, cheesy, perfectly moist and crunchy and the all-you-can-eat option is tempting. A duo of ahi and hamachi with Japanese cucumber and jalapeno ponzu arrive next, and the $10 red wine sampler clears the palate for the chinois chicken salad. This delightfully colorful and well-presented salad, which is served with Oriental vegetables and an Asian mustard dressing, is a little dry, but it’s the martini glass it comes served in that feels the most awkward (not to mention the birthday party going on in lane number five). It nearly tips over more than twice, and, finally, one is forced to covertly relocate the cabbage to a butter saucer.

What happens next can only be described as a testimony to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The server enthusiastically steers the gigantic cheese wheel over to the table and effortlessly pours the pre-cooked linguini into a pot of boiling water. A few ladles of broth are poured into the edible wheel, warming it up for the sacred marriage of Parmesan and pasta. Round and round it goes, awing patrons with its unusual noodling performance, and then, it’s served.

No salt. No pepper. Not even a measly tablespoon of olive oil. Just a few pinches of fresh basil and three or four pieces of perfectly smoked prociutto finish off the uncomplicated and tasty dish. And although the pasta was cooked far beyond al dente, (and could’ve been a little warmer), its sins had already been absolved by Bobby, the Patron Saint of the Cheese Machine (also known as our server).

Where the bowling alley’s restaurant really shines is in the Beef Wellington. Sitting on the plate like a beautiful bag of gold, wading in a puddle of light gravy, a generous beef tenderloin is topped with foie gras and duxelles and then wrapped in what feels like a mille-feuille (thousand layers) of puff pastry. A rosemary sprig delicately flavors the filet, making the smooth, rich steak memorable.

Shock and awe

The absence of a steak knife may have been overlooked by Bobby, or perhaps it is all part of the chefs’ master plan to shock and awe (or should we say, strike and sweep). It only takes a butter-knife to cut through this dynamite dish, named after Napoleon’s victor and rightfully designed for a Duke.

The strawberry panna cotta is as beautiful as it tastes–lemon cake, honey tuile cookie, tropical (haupia) sorbet and wild berry coulis finish off the five-course, quasi-experimental culinary quest. Maybe it’s lucky that a single Tuesday dinner at a bowling alley could be so much more than just good. The servers are unmatched, the hostess as friendly as the food and the chefs are wonderfully risky. As off the wall as it is, ‘Aiea Bowl works.

Tasty Tuesdays at ‘Aiea Bowl

99-115 Aiea Heights Dr., 6–9:30pm, $39/person for the prix fixe menu, reservations required (Call Bobby at 342-6232),Lane Reservations are $16/hr daytime, $25/hour at night, [www.aieabowl.com]. For bowling questions call 488-6854

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