Fashion Statement

Couture cuisine hits the runway at Stage restaurant

I’m not sure how the Stage restaurant got its name. It must have been something metaphysical.

When I first walked into the dark, stylish, monochromatic space, I thought about electricity, not about the performing arts. The restaurant, located at the Diamond Head end of the new Honolulu Design Center, is filled with an impressive collection of lighting fixtures, including a floor lamp that is literally the size of a horse and a planetlike lantern, which would be right at home in one of the Smithsonian’s museums.

BEET IT: The Stage restaurant’s Keahole Lobster appetizer features the shellfish on a bed of colorful diced beets. photo: Jimmy Forrest

All the fixtures are beautiful, but they gave me the uneasy feeling of having stepped onto the set of Honey, I Shrunk the Customers. The lighting takes up so much of the air and space that it seemed the diners were the accessories, not the lamps. Maybe I’m being too metaphysical.

The Stage serves something called “couture cuisine.” I’m not exactly sure what that means either, but if the lunchtime menu is any indicator, it is something closely akin to Hawaii Regional Cuisine. The easy-to-navigate menu, which features seven appetizers and eight entrees, fuses Island with Mainland, using a wide selection of local produce and other foodstuffs.

We started our meal with a Hamakua Mushroom Cappuccino ($8), a smooth mushroom soup featuring chunks of Chinese roast duck and served in a coffee cup. The dark, moist duck meat, with skin, fat and bone still attached, worked surprisingly well with the not-too-creamy broth.

STAGE 1250 Kapiolani Blvd., 2nd Floor Lunch: 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dinner: 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. 237-5429

Our other appetizer or “Overture,” according to the menu, was less successful. The White Asparagus and Waipio Valley Fiddleheads ($14) seemed like a can’t-miss dish. It featured one of my favorite vegetables (asparagus) wrapped in one of my favorite meats (prosciutto), served with one of my favorite groundcovers (ferns). The dish was accompanied by two sauces and topped with a wafer of baked Parmesan cheese (my favorite crouton). All the wrapping and stacking was impressive, even artful, but the pairing of ham and cooked cheese made everything too salty, overwhelming the two vegetables.

For my Denouement, or entrée, I went with a high-fashion comfort food –Hamburger Steak and Foie Gras ($25). The beef patty was made of Snake River Valley Wagyu ground beef, which was covered with red wine and shiitake mushroom gravy topped with grilled Maui onions, a piece of fatty liver and a slice of bacon. A generous serving of white rice was delivered in a separate bowl.

Almost black, the dish seemed to smolder with flavor, which, for me, was part of the problem. The intensely reduced gravy went great with rice, but it dominated the dish, overpowering the sweet onions and the presumably buttery liver, smoky bacon and even the beef, which was overcooked.

The epilogue of our meal turned out to be its climax. We ordered a pair of desserts: Hawaiian Vanilla-Poached Fuji Apple Pop Tart ($12) and Ice and Pearls ($10). The pop tart was accompanied by a small wafer bowl full of apple oat crunch and a scoop of balsamic-cinnamon black currant ice cream. It looked like a breakfast from Candyland. More important, it was delicious. I especially liked the oats and ice cream, a beautiful balance of crunch and creaminess with just the right amount of sweetness.

As good as the pop tart was, I preferred the ice and pearls, which featured a rich but clean-tasting haupia sorbet atop shave ice and a creamy coconut tapioca pudding. The pristine little snowdrift was decorated with bits of frozen fruit. It looked like a simple construction, but the textures were complex and the flavors so refreshing. Nothing fancy, just good.

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