Here's a look back at several eateries recently reviewed by Advertiser food editor Wanda A. Adams and food writer Lesa Griffith.

PHUKET THAI KAMAKE'E

Rating: Three and a half forks out of five (Good to very good)

401 Kamake'e St., Suite 102; 591-8421

Lunch and dinner

Phuket Thai's new location (around the corner from the old On Jin spot, on Queen Street) is beautifully designed, has a full bar and a very contemporary feel, rare in a Thai restaurant. But the best thing about it is the food. When I got takeout there, the smells wafting out of the containers made me want to stop the car and start eating before I got back to the office.

My favorites: Thai Basil (with chicken, $8.95), a spunky stir-fry of vegetables, herbs and your choice of beef, calamari, shrimp or mixed seafood; long rice salad with shrimp ($10.95), a cool melange of thin rice vermicelli, crisp vegetables and herbs, healthy and good; and Masamun curry ($9.25), a hearty stew of beef, chunks of potato, carrots and other vegetables with spices and herbs.

I'm going there again for lunch this week!

— Wanda A. Adams

FORMAGGIO GRILL

Rating: Two forks out of five (Mediocre)

305 Hahani St. at Kailua Road, Kailua; 263-2633

Lunch and dinner (late hours, too)

Partners Wes Zane and Almar Arcano have taken their popular Formaggio Wine Bar in Market City and turbocharged it with a cool, high-ceilinged space and an expanded menu. And Kailuans are eating it up.

With a big open kitchen, the restaurant is capable of serving more ambitious items than its older sister, and along with tasting plates are big dishes — "hot pot classics" (braised boneless short ribs, paella), "wine bar favorites" (bruschetta, escargots), "great steaks" (rib-eye, T-bone), Hawaiian fish (whole moi, Chinese-style 'opakapaka), soups and salads, pizzas, pastas. ...

Service and pacing were problems when we visited, and many of the dishes seemed to have fancier names and higher prices than the execution warranted (i.e., a lamb and leek hot pot was really local-style curry — the best I've ever had, but at $21.50).

One dish that does hit the mark is the foie crostini, a huge piece of liver (a deal at $16.50) cooked perfectly and accompanied by squiggles on the plate of classic port reduction. And the extensive wine menu is the source of lots of fun oeno-education, with clever, insightful notes for each entry.

— Lesa Griffith

NORDSTROM CAFE

Rating: Three and a half forks out of five (Good to very good)

Nordstrom department store (level one), 1529 Kapi'olani Blvd., Honolulu; 953-6100, ext. 1610

Breakfast through dinner

The department store known for its we're-here-to-please philosophy carries that into its cafe, an upscale cafeteria or takeout spot.

But there are just a few small oddities. (And, in my opinion, there should be no oddities, because customers should not have to be trained.)

You get in line. (And if you go anytime between 11:15 a.m. and 1 p.m., there WILL be a line.) Somebody nice in a white chef's outfit will hand you a menu so you'll have something to think about (other than shopping) while you're waiting. If you want takeout, DON'T stand in line. Walk in on the left, around the partition and find the takeout register and the OTHER nice person in a white chef's outfit who will take your order. (You can spend some serious money on Nordstrom cookbooks and other merchandise here, too.)

About the food: My all-time favorite was the blue cheese and pear salad ($10.50), a large, filling plate of greens with big chunks of pear and blue cheese, even bigger chunks of candied walnuts (that appear to be house-made) and a beautifully balanced vinaigrette dressing. A pesto chicken panini ($10.95) made me entirely too happy (there's a lot of fat hidden in those pressed sandwiches). And another day, my inner carnivore was deeply satisfied by the roast beef Romano sandwich ($11.50) with fontina cheese, tomatoes, arugula, onions caramelized in balsamic vinegar and garlic aioli on a demi-baguette.

Good service. Good food. And pretty soon, after everyone's checked them out, the lines should be shorter.

— WAA

TANGO CONTEMPORARY CAFE

Rating: Three forks out of five (Good)

Hokua building, 1288 Ala Moana, next to P.F. Chang's; 593-7288

Lunch and dinner

In a city that begs for a cafe society, it's hard to find a place to linger over casual good food and even better coffee. It's either Alan Wong's or a plate lunch — where's the middle ground? It's at the long-awaited Tango Contemporary Cafe, the baby of former Hawaii Prince Hotel staffers Goran Streng and Tami Orozco.

The duo has adopted the winning formula of high design and low prices. Streng worked with Design Partners on a bright, high-ceilinged space that reflects Streng's Finnish background. He can be found there at dinner (so can Nolan West, a Chef Mavro alum).

Aside from a few Asian detours, the menu is largely what was once called continental. The best thing on the menu may be the textbook gravlax. The silky, moist, salted and house-cured salmon (a dish shared by Swedes and Finns), paired with dill-mustard sauce, was a pleasant surprise. More Scandinavian dishes would really set Tango apart — like Swedish potato pancakes with lingonberries or beef Rydberg. A girl can dream, can't she?

Streng's "less-is-better" approach to cooking sometimes goes to the point of pallid, as in the bouillabaisse. But where simple flavors rang true was in the mustard-herb-crusted rack of lamb, the salty coating playing up the faint gaminess with simple directness. There was bone-gnawing going on.

While the kitchen may still be finding its footing, it's the rest of the package — the inviting space, amiable service — that makes Tango a worthy stop.

— LG

KAHAI STREET KITCHEN PLATE LUNCH AND CATERING

Rating: Four forks out of five (Very good)

237 Kalihi St. (Kalihi at Kahai, makai of Nimitz); 845-0320; fax, 842-4273

Lunch

Those people in Kalihi Kai hate me — that is, the folks who used to go to Kahai Street Kitchen for lunch and find no line and maybe even a parking place, or at least a place to pull over. Then I heard about it, ate a bunch of plate lunches that blew my mind, and now I don't dare turn makai off Nimitz at noon or they'll make kau yuk outta me!

Once you taste the food, you won't care about the lack of decor, the scuffed linoleum, the out-of-the-way location. Because it's brok' da mout' — and it's not what you'd expect: seared 'opakapaka in lemon-butter caper sauce. Tea-smoked duck breast. Seafood paella. Chicken saltimbocca. Osso bucco-style short ribs.

The people are nice. Really nice. Here's how nice: They learn your name and use it. They double-check that they are giving you the right order. They talk story. They smile.

First time, I got the pot roast ($7) and a braised pork and panko-crusted shrimp special ($7.25) and lost my heart to the meltingly tender pot roast. Partners Nao Iwata, Charlie Chintam and Ken Furuta are all food-business veterans. Their goal: "semi fine-dining food at plate-lunch prices." Based on my taste excursions, they're achieving that.

—WAA