HAPA GRILL

91-590 Farrington Highway, Marketplace at Kapolei; 674-8400; www.hapagrill.net; 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays-Mondays

Price cutter: Breakfast plates, $6.75-$10; most lunch and dinner plates, $8-$10

Former journalist Shannon Tangonan Putnam produces restaurant-quality lunchwagon fare and friendly service.

Besides classic plate lunches such as an exceptional teri beef (thin, tender slices glistening with mahogany glaze), Hapa Grill, in the space that was Jurison's, serves contemporary Island food like grilled mahi with mac-nut fruit salsa, I Love You Like a Mango Salad (greens, diced mangoes, calamari or chicken with a mango vinaigrette), and rosemary-accented roast pork with pork demi-glaze. You get easy, friendly service and clean, quiet atmosphere. Tops are pan-fried strips of pork with grilled onions and a delicious brown gravy. You can order a Hapa combo ($11.95) with two options from among the lunchwagon standards. Chicken-fried steak is a bow to Putnam's husband's Southern roots (but she hasn't yet put grits on the menu).

GOOD & HEALTHY CAFE

212 Merchant St., No. 3 (between King and Merchant); 566-6365; 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays

Price cutter: Plates $6.75-$8

Victor Kaloustian and his family found themselves homesick for the foods of their native Beirut, so they opened the takeout Good & Healthy Cafe. Tucked in an indoor alley off Merchant Street, the tiny cafe (there are three two-top tables) serves plastic foam clamshells filled with pan-Middle-Eastern food, as well as dishes from Greece and Turkey.

The plate lunches include a tomato-and-lettuce salad or, with some plates, generous servings of emerald-green tabouli (chopped parsley, tomato and bulgar salad). Instead of the familiar steamed short-grain rice that sits up in mounds, the take-out spot serves a golden-toned bed of long-grain rice pilaf. In keeping with Lebanese tradition, the exceptionally tender rice is made with broth rather than water and is flecked with bits of angel-hair pasta. Choose from pita sandwiches, plate lunches, salads and rotating daily specials. Order the falafel plate and you get five spicy, deep-fried chickpea fritters the size of hockey pucks on a bed of salad with pita and tahini (sesame-lemon) sauce. Chicken tarna and lula kebab combine skewers of flame-broiled marinated meats. Served only on Tuesdays is the Turkish specialty imam bayildi —eggplant, tomatoes, onions and spices fried in olive oil, then stuffed back into the eggplant skin and baked.

THAI SWEET BASIL

2756 Woodlawn Drive, Manoa Marketplace, second floor; 988-8811; 11 a.m.-2 p.m., 5-10 p.m. daily

Price cutter: $6.95-$9.95

No relation to the Sweet Basil in Chinatown, this restaurant serves a must-order fried rice that's studded with stir-fried vegetables, chunks of tangy pineapple and pieces of tender chicken (or beef, pork or shrimp) and garnished with cucumbers and a sprig of — what else? — sweet basil. The Laotian chef cooks up standard Thai dishes such as larb, a spicy entree salad of finely chopped chicken, beef or pork with mint, green onion, cilantro and red onion, laced with hot and sweet peppers and tossed with a tangy citrus and dressing. Another winner is pla ma kum, tamarind fish. You can order a fillet or the whole fish (market price — $25 for a Thai snapper that would easily have served four) served deep-fried and sizzling hot, dressed in tangy reddish sauce thick with vegetables and red peppers. Unusual for a Thai restaurant: the full bar (left over from Donato's days).

CHIN'S KAHALA

4230 Wai'alae Ave.; 737-7188; www.visitchins.com; 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 5-10 p.m. daily

Price cutter: Family-style lunch plates, mostly $7.95-$13.95; more for dinner and seafood specialties; buffet $10.95

For high-quality Szechwan and Cantonese cuisine and exceptional service in a gracious setting, Chin's fits the bill. Plum tree beef — crisp but melting curlicues of beef in a slightly sweet and very rich-tasting marinade — is known to prompt little pleasure noises in the backs of people's throats. Also delicious is the pao hu (aka hot burned pork) — a Szechwan specialty of thin-sliced, seasoned dried pork, stir-fried and garnished with ground peanuts, fiery dried chilies and orange wedges. Want comfort? Shredded chicken with ketchup fried rice, a Chinese-American invention, is moist with a layer of sauteed onions in a light ketchup sauce — the flavor was like beef tomato meets fried rice.

Plates can get artful: Green-tea shrimp on bamboo net, a house specialty, comes as deep-fried head-on, shell-on shrimp, studded with green tea smoked until it was black and fragrant.

As is customary with Chinese menus, this one is as expansive as its country of origin. The list includes the standard appetizers, soups, seafood, meats, vegetables, rice and noodles, but also hot pots, sizzling platters, signature dishes, including live lobster and egg noodles, and Szechwan specialties. At lunch, there are inexpensive combo plates ($6.95-$10.95) and a new buffet. Special gourmet menus can be arranged. And there's a full bar.

RESTAURANT NEWS

Openings: Cassis by Chef Mavro has opened its Cassis Wine Bar, where drinking wines "is a travel experience," says owner George Mavrothalassitis. You'll find wine from Tuscany, Napa, Washington state, New Zealand, Australia, and of course, France. You can also order pupu and dinner selections at the bar. Todd Ashline, sommelier at Chef Mavro, has selected a wine pairing for each of the restaurant's dishes. Wine Bar specials are available 4-7 p.m. Monday- Thursdays and 5-7 p.m. and 10 p.m. to closing Fridays and Saturdays. Besides wine, you can order specialty cocktails (such as the Cassis lychee vodka martini) and draft beers. Pau hana includes a mini pupu sampler for $8 (salt-cod croquette, chickpea pancakes with aioli dip; and the stellar ceviche). Cassis Wine Bar: Harbour Court, (808) 545-8100; www.cassishonolulu.com.