First taste: Mix Cafe

Simple food, fresh ingredients whisk diners to Europe

By Kawehi Haug

Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Read Kawehi's blog about 10 reasons to LOVE Mix Cafe

When was the last time you tasted something that made you want to stop chewing just so you could taste it a little longer? Chances are you weren’t eating something as ordinary as a sandwich.

But the last time it happened to me, guess what? I was eating a sandwich.

When Bruno Iezzi opened Mix Cafe, a little citrus-colored, Euro-style sandwich and pasta shop, on Beretania Street a few years ago, I thought that the only thing better than Mix would be another Mix. In my imagination, Mix II would be close to either my office or home, making itself easily accessible ... to me.

So far, everything’s worked out the way I had hoped it would, with one exception: Mix Cafe’s second location (coincidentally referred to as “Mix II” by its staff) opened a month ago, though not in either of my neighborhoods. Oh well. There’s always Mix III. It could be called Mix Cafe Kailua, and I would be its most adoring customer.

Mix Cafe’s second location on Alakea Street has a similar menu to the original, minus the pasta dishes, plus an expanded sandwich menu that includes paninis.

At his new Alakea Street location, Iezzi offers what has become his signature sandwiches: a tender roasted pork sandwich, a roasted turkey sandwich made with meat from a whole turkey he roasts daily, and a sandwich filled with fresh bufala mozzarella, grape tomatoes and mushrooms sauteed in rosemary-infused olive oil.

It was the latter that stopped me mid-chew last week, and prompted a member of my lunch crew to admit, rather sheepishly, that the sandwich was so good it made her weepy.

A sandwich!

I’m as baffled as you are. But not by my — or her — response to the food, but rather by Iezzi’s ability to make simple food do that to me.

By simple, I mean food made from just a few good ingredients. There’s nothing here that boasts four kinds of meat, three kinds of cheese and dressing dripping from its ends. Iezzi doesn’t do excess.

Every ingredient has a purpose — every one is meant to be there. Meant to be tasted. Meant to perfectly complement the others. And every ingredient is fresh and seasonal, which accounts for the occasional inconsistency on the menu. One time, you might get your veggie sandwich with roasted corn and kabocha, the next time, it might come with asparagus and green beans. But when you know that the reason for the change is because Iezzi refuses to feed you food that isn’t as fresh as it can be, the inconsistencies are welcome because they really just mean that your chef is paying attention.

And when Iezzi, whose culinary inspiration comes from his southern Italian home of Abruzzo, makes an off-the-menu suggestion, it’s your turn to pay attention because that means he’s going to break out the imported speck and Gruyere, and make you an incredible sandwich.

For one lunch hour, you can pretend you’re at some faraway European market, where meat hangs from the ceiling and cheese comes in giant pungent wedges.

Back on Alakea Street, Mix Cafe is the perfect blend of tropical and European. Its walls are blue and yellow and chocolate brown — the color of ocean, sun and earth. Its shelves are lined with edible decor — a row of bright red apples, jars of whole dried spices.

As a breakfast and lunch spot (breakfast and salads are still in the works), Mix is designed for the Downtown crowd. There’s no table service, but there are a few tables for the people who can sit awhile. The service is fast and friendly. All sandwiches ($7) come with a mixed salad made from fresh local greens, and are packed in sleek, environmentally friendly boxes.

Mix Cafe is the prince charming of restaurants. The culinary equivalent of a Renaissance man. Good food, prepared according to old-fashioned values of freshness, wholeness and goodness, served in a modern setting, with a mind for ecological responsibility.

Swoon!

Mix Cafe
1025 Alakea St.
808-532-4540
Hours: 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mondays-Fridays
Prices: Sandwiches $7, desserts $2.50
Other details: There is plenty of parking at Ali‘i Place (1099 Alakea St., between King and Hotel streets), and it won’t cost more than lunch. Otherwise, there are plenty of corporate lots around, but parking in them can cost as much as $8 per hour.