Tasting the uni-verse

Many of you have seen me out on the town eating uni (sea urchin) pasta lately. I swear, I’m not doing any kind of review or gallery; whenever I see the item on the menu, I feel compelled to eat it. Why? Because I love uni.

I had no idea that other restaurants in town (other than Taormina) offered uni pasta, and until you saw me posting it on Twitter, I’ll bet you didn’t, either. Everyone’s been asking me how they compare, so here is my personal evaluation of each.

Taormina ~ 227 Lewers St., Waikiki Beach Walk
808-926-5050
$36; serves two

There’s nothing in this dish except pasta, uni, olive oil, and some garlic. If you want to taste pure uni flavor, this is probably your best bet. The funny thing about this is, since it’s cooked, it doesn’t really taste like uni — it tastes more like eggs, which is what it is, really. If you have never eaten uni before, this is probably a good introduction. The good: If the uni is excellent, that fantastic flavor and texture comes through. The bad: If the uni is less than excellent … well, unfortunately, that comes through, too.

Arancino di Mare ~ 255 Beachwalk
808-923-5557
$29

This is almost like Taormina’s, except the pasta is tossed in a light tomato cream sauce. I was apprehensive about how uni and tomatoes would taste together, but trust me — the sauce is really more of a binder than anything else, and you won’t detect a strong tomato flavor at first. The sauce does two interesting things to the dish, though: 1) It gives the uni a meatier flavor, so at first, you may think there are chunks of ground meat instead of chunks of uni in it; and 2) it’s very subtle, but it helps to mask the uni flavor. So unlike the naked pasta at Taormina, I think you actually could hide any quality flaws in the uni here. This is probably best for people who have never had uni before, to guarantee a good experience.

Bernini ~ 1218 Waimanu St.
808-591-8400
$26

As you can see, Bernini’s is different from the other two. There are little pieces of uni tossed in the pasta, and a couple of generous whole uni on top. The flavor here wasn’t as pronounced as the other two, probably because there were other ingredients like the fresh tomatoes that added to it and possibly distract your tastebuds from the brininess. If you like large pieces of uni, this is a good choice — just remember that the other two are richer and creamier (but with small pieces).

Are any of these better than the other? Hard for me to say. Each is different in their own way, so it’s not fair to declare one the “best” over the other two. But there you have it: I’ve described their characteristics, so you can try them and decide for yourself. Are there any other restaurants in town with uni pasta? Let me know!