A taste of the Sistine Chapel on S. King Street
Friday - February 23, 2007
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Sergio Mittroti: the chef as artist
If a trip to Italy is on your dream vacation list, but the immediate prospects of actually getting to see the Sistine Chapel paintings by Michelangelo are dim,may we suggest a pleasant alternative.And one that does not involve airport security, passports or jet lag.
It’s Café Sistina on South King Street, located in the First Interstate Building just ewa of Keeaumoku.
“Really, I’m an ambassador, representing Italian food and culture,” says Sergio Mittroti,the owner-chef who is a native of the northern Italian city of Turin,site of last year’s Winter Olympics.“And I do this out of love, for my country and for the people of Hawaii.Many of the dishes on the menu are from the kitchens of my grandmother and mother.
This is authentic.
When I go out for ethnic food, whether it’s Thai or whatever, I want food that is a statement of that culture, that’s authentic.
That’s what I do here. So when you come here, it’s not just to fill your stomach.”
Indeed, Café Sistina is as much a feast for the eyes as for the stomach.
Although when my son Kai and I walked through the door last week, it was the noses that were first impressed.
“Wow, smells good in here,” he said.
Inside,the eyes have their fill with re-creations of Michelangelo’s frescoes on the ceiling of Rome’s Sistine Chapel, painstakingly and lovingly painted here on walls and ceiling by Sergio himself over the past 15 years, and with remarkable skill and detail.
Trained in Italy as a graphic artist, he certainly has an eye for visual dramatics.In fact,it was Sergio who in a previous incarnation, while working at his brother’s haberdashery in Beverly Hills,created the fashions for TV’s Miami Vice, which gave the hit show its distinctive look.
At Café Sistina, that carries over to the visual presentation of dishes. Such as the Lobster Ravioli in a pink butter vermouth sauce with chopped shrimp - as delightful to see on your table as to taste.
But there’s more to art than the visual. It must come from the soul.
“When I cook for you, it comes from here,“Sergio says, tapping his chest.“For Italians, cooking is spiritual.” He adds with a laugh, “Maybe that’s why I created a chapel in here.”
He also offers big portions - several other diners left with doggie bags - and the value is excellent. Most expensive dishes on the menu cost $21.50, all veal - Bolognese, Barolo, Milanese.“I should charge more,” he says, “but I can’t.”
Sergio’s cooking is very personal, in a way seldom seen in other Italian restaurants,or any other kind for that matter.
“I don’t just cook,I create this for you,” he says. It’s the Italian way.
And what creations we were able to enjoy over a two-hour lunch.
It began with warm bread, lightly crusted,soft and chewy inside,that my son called “the best bread ever,” served with pesto butter and/or olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Lunch seriously began with the aforementioned Lobster Ravioli ($17.50). After one bite, Kai and I just looked at each other: How can anything taste this good, or this different? It comes from the third of the menu’s three sections,“Cutting Edge: My own original signature dishes.”
Lobster Ravioli has the author’s highest
recommendation
From that we also sampled Opakapaka Mediterranea ($17.50), oh-so-tender filets sauteed in tomato sauce with Kalamata olives, capers,basil and fresh tomatoes over fettucine.For the college student just learning to appreciate fine food and for the veteran food writer alike,the first taste was a moment to remember.
The menu’s other sections are “Classics: From my Grandma’s kitchen"and “Contemporary: From my Mother’s kitchen,contemporary home creations.”
Grandma’s include a variety of spaghetti (Pomodoro, Aglio Olio, both $12), Linguine with Pesto ($13.25),Meat Lasagne ($14.75) and Eggplant Parmigiana ($14.50).
From Mama’s menu there’s the aforementioned veal dishes, four chicken dishes (Limone, Checa, Porcini and Melanzane, $14.75 to $16.25), and scampi (Limone, Checca, Alla Vodka, $15.50).
From Sergio’s fusion creations we also tasted Gnocchi Lamb Sausage ($16.75), homemade sausage sautéed with porcini mushrooms in a Barolo wine sauce. It was Kai’s fave.
Sergio also has a specials menu, albeit an unusual one.
“My specials last for months,“he says.“What happens is, if I add one of the specials to the regular menu (of about 45 dishes), then I have to take something off, because I don’t want to end up like the Chinese restaurants with 150 things on the menu.And every time I try to take something off the menu, people complain. I even get people coming in asking for dishes I cooked 20 years ago at Café Cambrio.”
From the specials we sampled Margues, Funghi E Polenta, spicy Moroccan lamb sausage with imported forest mushrooms and spinach in a saffron sauce over polenta ($16.25). Polenta, Sergio says, is a staple of northern Italy, but seldom used in the south. That’s what I’m ordering the next time I go back,although the Risotto Nero Alla Veneziana ($15.75),black squid ink-flavored risotto with calamari and chopped clams,is also tempting.
All of this was washed down with a couple of glasses of fine Chianti.
For dessert, we traded bites of Italian ices, lilikoi and Giandui, a hazelnut and chocolate combination that is a Turin specialty.
Excellent - sweet and refreshing.
Leaving, marveling again at the fantastic wall paintings, wonderful tastes and the relaxed ambiance - each of them Sergio’s creations - and at how content we felt, we had to agree with something Sergio had said earlier:
“You won’t find anything like this anywhere else in America.”
You’d have to go to Italy.
-Don Chapman
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