At Fete, pros run the place and their expertise shows

I have eaten at so many poorly managed restaurants in the past year that I feel a little gun-shy when visiting an eatery for the first time. If I walked into a new establishment with no expectations in years past, I now walk in with skepticism.

A restaurant run by professionals has become a rarity since boundaries to entering the scene have been run down by food trucks and pop-ups. Too many of those proprietors who graduate to bricks and mortar appear to be winging it. I’m weary of seeing everyone’s brother or cousin open with one good idea, or foreign owners in pursuit of visas foisting travesty upon us.

But, sitting down to dinner at downtown Honolulu’s newest restaurant, Fete, and speedily plied with greetings, menus, ordered drinks and pupu in spite of the full house, I breathed a sigh of relief. Yes! Obviously, professionals at work.

Even though Fete is a first-time effort from the husband-wife team of Chuck Bussler, general manager, and Robynne Maii, executive chef, the two have lengthy backgrounds in food service.

Maii’s extensive culinary resume starts with local restaurants such as 3660 on the Rise and Padovani’s Grill, leading to New York’s Waldorf Astoria. She’s also been an educator and worked as a research editor and “Truth in Labeling” columnist for Gourmet magazine. The couple met in New York, where Bussler worked at several restaurants, including Savoy, Blue Hill and Prune. He also worked with Hugh Acheson of TV’s “Top Chef,” to open 5&10 in Athens, Ga.

Bussler designed the interior and tasked local artists with creating glass lighting fixtures and other unique details. I’m already a sucker for Chinatown’s brick walls and picture-window storefronts, and the additions bring warmth and a modern sophisticated grace to the early-20th-century space. It’s a restaurant that could fit in easily in San Francisco’s or Brooklyn’s food scene, but we’re the lucky ones.

FETE’s artisanal menu is short and sweet to keep service manageable for the kitchen. In spite of its brevity, there’s no shortage of good ideas, so you’ll probably be hungering for all 11 lunch items, 16 dinner items, plus sides and desserts. This is a place where it’s just as pleasant ordering a few grazing bites prior to a show at Hawaii Theatre as it is sitting down for a full meal. Brunch is also in the works.

The bar is similarly curated with a handful of old-fashioned cocktails, predominantly local craft beers and a roster of eclectic wines from around the globe.

A couple of salads top the menu, but my eyes landed on “Snacks,” where the one must is a hard-to-find-in-Hawaii tapas dish of bacalao fritters ($12), light and perfect golden orbs of deep-fried salted black cod served with harissa aioli.

I would have been content to graze on these, along with an appetizer of chicken liver mousse ($15) topped with red onion-sour cherry marmalade and served with toasted country bread. On the side are delicious bites of pickled okra. All paired nicely with the evening’s complimentary amuse-bouche, a dish of marinated kalamatas infused with orange zest. Beautiful.

Those with an appetite for seafood might try New Zealand cockles ($19) sauteed Provencal style with tomatoes, thyme, saffron, fennel and basil, or sweet Kauai shrimp ($14) sauteed in anchovy butter. I’ve heard raves from several people about the grilled octopus, or pulpo ($16), so I returned to try it. Alas, it was sold out and might prove elusive due to popularity.

Also on the list of appetizers are foie gras gyoza ($17), which some have glowingly praised to me. Sorry, I can’t say the same. It’s OK for someone who might never otherwise eat foie gras, but for me the amount of foie gras is negligible and overwhelmed by other ingredients including maitake mushrooms and water chestnuts, poha berry jam and a soy-balsamic chili reduction. The richness of foie gras is maximized with minimalist prep.

Kabocha squash risotto ($23) delivers a healthier take on the rice dish, with curly kale and shiitake, shimeji and maitake mushrooms that also give the dish texture. If you want more decadence with your carbs, there’s linguine carbonara ($17) tossed with a smooth, light blend of Parmigiano-Reggiano and Pecorino Romano, accented with bits of Portuguese sausage and slab bacon.

The four main courses start with the juicy Chaz burger ($16) topped with caramelized onions, Naked Cow Dairy’s Pika Moon cheese, Kula tomatoes, roasted garlic aioli and a house-made ketchup.

Maii shows her Korean roots with a dish of grilled kalbi-marinated bavette ($28), the steak flavored with a mild touch of kochujang sauce and layered over flavorful fernbraken and mung-bean sprout fried rice. The dish is topped by an over-easy egg and cucumber namul.

It’s hard for me to resist deep-fried fare, so I had to try the fried chicken ($26), an organic bird encased in an extra-hard, crunchy shell. This is not a dish for those with sensitive teeth. I got past that shell and enjoyed the juiciness of the chicken itself. I think a lot of people would appreciate a change in the batter.

Save some of your opu real estate for a dessert of house-made “Rocky Road to Hana” ice cream that starts with downtown neighbor Madre Chocolate’s Guatemalan 70 percent chocolate, an intense flavor. I usually don’t order rocky road because I loathe the stiff commercial marshmallows, but a server convinced me the ice cream was worth trying, and I was happy to discover soft, fluffy house-made marshmallows. Four of us ordered a single scoop ($4) to share because we were full and skeptical. By the time we finished, we all wished we had ordered our own scoops.