During our recent stay in Hawai‘i, we made our way, with new friends Gary and Betty Burley of Warsaw, N.Y. and travel companions Karen and John Laing, to Café Il Mondo for its hand-made, delicious pizza.
This little pizza joint is on Honoka‘a's main drag, which, when you take away the palm trees and fragrant, warm breezes, reminds me a little of TV’s Mayberry. The restaurant always has a lineup, takes cash only, and you bring your own wine or beer.
We discovered we couldn’t order a bottle of wine with our meal when we ordered our food. “But,” our waitress said, “You can go across the street to the grocery store and buy your own. We have a cork screw.”
Ha! How civilized! Bring our own.
John ran out and grabbed two bottles of 2009 Big House Red, which was $9.99 at the Malama Market and is $12.99 at B.C. liquor stores.
The wine was stuffed with juicy red fruit, a bit of smoke and a pleasant earthiness that worked well with the pizza. It is a classic cheap and cheerful bottle of wine that should have some sort of international status, what with the myriad grape varieties that go into it.
(This piece appeared originally in the February 16 issue of My City, a monthly magazine within the Abbotsford News.)
Cheers, all!
Copyright © 2012 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.
