Island Pantry
Heart of academy's Pavilion Cafe is in its kitchen

By Kaui Philpotts

Pavilion Cafe chef Mike Nevin holds a piadina, a baked flatbread filled with arugula, chopped tomatoes, basil, mozzarella and prosciutto. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

Nevin's face is flushed on this warm afternoon, and his shock of white hair is a little askew. Opening a restaurant has a way of consuming all your time and energy. But as we sit down at one of the simply designed teak tables, he relaxes and asks for cold drinks.

Nevin is a product of the California food revolution of the 1980s — that heady time when Berkeley's Alice Waters turned the restaurant business on its ear by serving up exquisitely fresh, locally produced ingredients in a way previously known only in Europe. Her Chez Panisse was the temple.

"It's still one of my favorite restaurants," says Nevin, a believer in small menus done well. "When I see a menu that's too fancy, I wonder how many people have touched the food." He also gets nervous when he sees too many squeeze bottles (used to flow sauces onto the dishes), or seven or eight things going on in one dish.

Nevin arrived in Honolulu 15 years ago, after a stint as development director for Victoria Station restaurants, and opened the Napa Valley Grocery in Ward Centre (It has since closed). After that, he was the chef at Il Fresco next door, and later at Angelica's Cafe in Gentry Center (also closed.) His move to the Academy of Arts' cafe five years ago was prompted by a desire for a more normal work schedule, and he's loved it ever since.

Where many restaurateurs get caught up in the physical aspects and allure of a restaurant, Nevin feels that a restaurant's "heart" must be the kitchen. The cafe is open only for lunch Tuesdays through Saturdays, but the kitchen is responsible for the many opening receptions and special dinners the academy gives throughout the year.

Every day, the cafe offers a freshly made soup, a pasta, and an assortment of salads, sandwiches and desserts. "The soup is determined by what's available and fresh and what we feel like making," he says. One of the runaway hits has been the piadina, a simple, freshly baked flatbread filled with arugula, chopped tomatoes, basil, mozzarella and prosciutto, something Nevin discovered on a trip to Tuscany two years ago. He and his wife were driving in the countryside and having a difficult time finding a place to have lunch. Finally, they pulled over along the roadside at a kind of lunch wagon — just a couple of tables on the gravel with an unattractive view of refineries in the distance. Nothing special.

The Italian woman running the lunch stop threw a flat piece of dough on the grill until it was warm, filled it with fresh cheese, tomatoes and ham, and handed it to them. "There was nothing to it," says Nevin, "Every Italian woman does it, but it was the best thing we'd had on the trip. Everything was good: the tomatoes, the cheese."

While many of the academy's clientele are local business people and art lovers, they get a fair amount of tourists on vacation, which has inspired Nevin to offer an extensive wine list of interesting and reasonably priced wines — a collaboration with wine expert and friend Chuck Furuya.

"Not everyone is here on business," he says. "You can come to the academy and sit here looking at the Kaneko sculptures and the Chihuly glass in the open air and enjoy a bottle."

The wines Furuya selected are meant to be consumed with food. This means wines that aren't too "big" and are suited to Honolulu's warm climate. Both men believe in a varied wine menu; the interest is in the differences. Hence, the selection includes a beaujolais from Domaine Dupueble, made of grapes from 50-year-old vines and left unfiltered; a cabernet sauvignon made by a husband and wife team from the Sierra foothills of California; and organic country wine in the style of Provence.

Nevin says the new cafe is about as good as it gets for a chef. He has the opportunity to prepare simple, fresh food amid world-class art, all to be enjoyed with distinctive wines.

Try one of his dishes at home.

Arugula, Radicchio and White Bean Salad

• 3 handfuls (3 cups) arugula
• 1/2 head of radicchio
• 1 cup cooked white beans
• 3 fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced and sauteed
• 1/4 cup Reggiano (Parmesan) cheese, grated
• 2 tablespoons vinaigrette of extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar
• Olive oil and balsamic vinegar for drizzling and deglazing
• Salt and pepper to taste

In a bowl, toss the arugula with two tablespoons of vinaigrette and place on salad plates. In a skillet, heat 1 teaspoon olive oil and saute the radicchio for about 15 seconds. Season with salt and pepper and deglaze with balsamic vinegar. Place on top of the arugula.

Spoon the cooked white beans on top of the radicchio and drizzle with a little olive oil and more salt and pepper. Garnish with the sauteed shiitake mushrooms and Reggiano cheese.

Serves four.

Pavilion Cafe's Ahi Pasta

• 1 pound sashimi-grade ahi, cubed 1/2-inch
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 stalks green onions, cut in 1-inch pieces
• 1 cup kalamata olives, pitted
• 1 large tomato, large dice
• 1 cup fish or chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons capers
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• Olive oil or butter for cooking

Cook enough of your pasta of choice for four; drain, toss with just a little olive oil and set aside. In a saute pan, saute the ahi, onions and garlic with a little olive oil or butter. Add the green onions, olives, tomatoes and cook for about 2 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the fish or chicken stock. Toss with the cooked pasta. Garnish with the capers and basil.

Serves four.