Longhi's Launches New Menu Items

A special media event was held the other night to launch a series of new menu items at the famed Longhi's Restaurant Ala Moana. In the midst of a construction zone, this restaurant is still buzzing with happy diners and wait staff who welcome you with a smile and lots of aloha. 

I haven't been to Longhi's for dinner in years. I love this place for breakfast and firmly believe the Benedicts and cinnamon roll are outstanding. I was excited to hear of the new menu items added to enhance the use of local ingredients with a homestyle comfort food Italian twist. Charlie Longhi (Bob Longhi's son) runs the Oahu restaurant and was kind enough to explain the dishes they showcased and added his personal touches like... "my dad and I used to make this together..." when describing the meal components. 

A few of the outstanding dishes have me craving more and wanting to go back very soon, here is a look at what we had:

Grilled Maui Romaine Salad: local baby romaine, gorgonzola, maple cured bacon, drizzled with Italian balsamic reduction. The lettuce is nice and fresh with good flavor. This salad was just ok. I would say the Crab Salad or the Endive Salad sound pretty interesting too.

Clam Risotto: Petite Manila clams with house made risotto, lemon, butter, white wine, garlic, local tomatoes and sprinkled with parsley. The clams were very nice, had good flavor and the risotto was perfectly cooked.

Prosciutto and arugula pizza - whoa amazeballs. We all agreed that this pizza was awesome! The pizza crust was thick, yet light and had a nice chewy texture. The perfect amount of arugula for spice and prosciutto for salt. It's pretty large too! They plan to eventually do pizza takeout, thank you in advance.

Sicilian Cauliflower: Cauliflower rolled in breadcrumbs with Italian seasonings, parmesan then deep fried to perfection and finished with a brown butter sauce and capers. This could very well be the best thing I ate this month, we will see. It was crunchy, crispy, salty, buttery, and had the perfect amount of spice for flavor. Love this side dish.

Lobster Tail Gnocchi - Maine lobster tail served on a bed of gnocchi with a creamy lobster sage butter sauce. You know when people dream about food, this is what they should be dreaming of. The gnocchi is perfect, the sauce is like eating lobster bisque and it's so delicious it's addicting. I am mildly obsessed with this dish!

Petite Filet Loco Moco: Grilled filet, over mushroom risotto, topped with caramelized onions, two eggs and a brandy peppercorn demi-glace. I was too full to eat this, but tried the sauce and it was really good. I heard the meat was really tender.

New Breakfast Item: Tiramisu Pancakes- three pancakes layered with an espresso Kahlua mascarpone and drizzled with chocolate sauce - friends told me this was super light and delicious. I would imagine that this was a very nice end to an amazing dinner, but I had to leave a tad before the meal ended. My friend Chanel described this as "pretty good, the Mascarpone was delicious!"

I am jonesing to go back and order some of my faves along with other dishes that stood out to me on the menu. As always happy eating!
Longhi's Ala Moana Center, 1450 Ala Moana Blvd #3001, Honolulu, HI 96814
Phone:(808) 947-9899
http://www.longhis.com