I feel old. It’s starting to hit home as I watch my contemporaries — chefs who were present at the dawn of the Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement and subsequent explosion of restaurant growth that put Hawaii on the culinary map — hang up their toques to explore other paths.
Their ranks include our James Beard Award winners Chef Mavro’s George Mavrothalassitis and Alan Wong. Wong closed his eponymous restaurant in the midst of the pandemic.
More recently, Russell Siu served his last meal at 3660 on the Rise — though he will continue to run his separate dining room operations for catering special events, along with another project in the works — and at Tangö Contemporary Cafe, chef Goran Streng has turned over ownership to Lawrence Nakamoto, longtime executive chef at Neiman Marcus.
When I heard the latter news, my mind started working its calculus, trying to figure out how Nakamoto’s style of modern American cuisine might mesh with Streng’s Scandinavian aesthetic, and whether the new chef would keep the menus intact for a fandom likely to scream bloody murder should their plättar and salmon boards suddenly disappear.
I needn’t have worried. Pri or to joining NM, Nakamoto had spent a year-and-a-half working as Streng’s sous chef and learned his recipes by heart. They remained in contact over the years and the soft-spoken Nakamoto, who said he had always wanted to own a restaurant, has stepped seamlessly into the chef-owner role, having gone as far as learning to wait on tables to get a feel for front-of-the-house operations.
And although he has a business partner, Nakamoto says, “Accounting is a whole new thing,” and his past 50-to 60-hour work weeks have increased to 80 to 90 now. “I think it’s worth it. It’s freedom.”
I, for one, am happy to see the continuity, though to be honest, I hadn’t been to Tangö in a while because its small size and popularity required planning and reservations antithetical to my spontaneous streak. So I was surprised by how large and diverse its menus continue to be. It was Streng who described his cuisine as Scandin-Asian, having fused his native Swedish cuisine with that of our melting pot plantation culture.
Nakamoto said he always told Streng he was crazy for offering such a large menu, which seems all the more difficult to pull off in the current climate of food supply issues and menus shrinking to avoid waste. He foresees his first dinner menu changes coming in two months, but for now diners can enjoy dishes they’ve enjoyed since 2008, with breakfast, lunch, week end brunch, dinner ,and continuation of the restaurant’s wine dinner tradition every third Tuesday and Wednesday of the month.
My favorite time to visit was always during weekend brunch when you can find an array of salads, Benedicts, pancakes and signature “pytt i panna” — Swedish for “stuff in a pan” — sautées of diced potatoes, onions and other ingredients ranging from ham, sausage and eggs ($14.50) to shredded duck confit hash and eggs ($18.50).
Tangö’s Benedicts differ from the usual with the ease of a base of house-baked focaccia. Favorites include a juicy and flavorful crab hash Benedict ($18) and Florentine ($15.50) combining spinach, potatoes and poached eggs.
You can get buttermilk pancakes ($13) here, but I can never resist the plättar ($13.50), which are small, thin eggy Swedish pancakes topped with a berry compote and fresh fruit with whipped cream on the side.
Many of the items, save for the “pytt i panna,” repeat on the weekday breakfast menu, but you’ll rarely see me out that early.
Lunch entails a roster of classic salads such as a Caesar ($16) with protein options of blackened mahi, grilled shrimp or herbed chicken, as well as sandwiches and burgers. Heavier entrées include char-grilled New York steak with garlic-herb butter ($22) and sweet Madras curry ($21), with vegetarian, shrimp and chicken options and housemade mango chutney.
Dinner is where you’ll find Tangö’s famous boards, made popular here 14 years before charcuterie boards became a thing. Instead of cured meat, though, you’ll find a salmon board ($19) with velvety gravlax, smoked salmon, smoked salmon rillette, labneh (strained yogurt) and rye bread. There is also a vegetable board ($15) that awes when one thinks of the labor that goes into this single dish of quinoa topped with avocado, accompanied by an assortment of grilled eggplant, zucchini, summer squash and asparagus, plus beets and pickled vegetables. It’s a boon for all who struggle to fulfill their day’s veggie requirement.
You might want to start with a crab-and-portobello Napoleon ($14) or escargots with toasted croutons ($12).
Entrées range from a comfort dish of creamy Hamakua mushroom risotto with choice of garlic shrimp or confit duck leg ($32) to Asian-style five-spice braised beef ($29). A dish of beef stroganoff on housemade fettuccine ($29) went a bit overboard on the mustardy aspect of sour cream demi-glace.
And chef Nakamoto is able to have his presence felt with the offering of daily specials that recently included a Thai seafood curry ($38) full of clams, shrimp, luscious fatty salmon, eggplant and basil.
It’s a huge responsibility to carry on this legacy, and I’m glad Nakamoto has taken on the task.
Tangö Contemporary Cafe
1288 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu
Food: ****
Service: ***½
Ambiance: ***½
Value: ****
Hours: Breakfast 7-10 A.M. Mondays-Fridays, Lunch 11 A.M.-3 P.M. Mondays-Fridays, Dinner 5-9 P.M. Mondays-Saturdays, and Brunch 8 A.M.-2 P.M. Saturdays-Sundays
Prices: Breakfast, lunch and brunch about $40-$45 for two; dinner about $80-$90 for two without alcohol
Nadine Kam’s restaurant visits are unannounced and paid for by Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Follow Nadine on Instagram (@nadinekam) or on YouTube (youtube.com/nadinekam).
