Island Italian
Since first opening its doors as a small pizzeria in the tiny South Kohala harbor town of Kawaihae in 1988, Café Pesto has gone on to make a very big name for itself. Long a somewhat secret pleasure of Big Islanders in the know, the family-owned restaurants (a sister café opened in Hilo in 1992) have gained national recognition, praised by Fodor’s Travel Guide as “best of Hawaii’s hidden treasures,” and called, simply “wonderful” by Food & Wine Magazine.

And no wonder: Arriving on the scene just as the “Hawaii Regional Cuisine” movement was taking off, the restaurant serves what it terms “creative island cuisine” — fresh local seafood, exotic pizzas, colorfully eclectic salads and Asian-inspired pastas and risottos — in a casual café setting. The grilled fresh catch of the day is topped with a soy-mustard vinaigrette and served with furukake mashed potatoes and crispy Asian slaw. The Island Seafood Risotto comes with fresh fish, Keahole lobster, jumbo scallops and prawns served over a savory sweet-chili risotto.

Open for lunch and dinner, Café Pesto offers kids' meals, too — "Pele's Pasta," for instance. Café Pesto is located in South Kohala at the Kawaihae Shopping Center, [(808) 882-1071] and in the historic S. Hata Building on Hilo Bay [(808) 969-6640].