Zia’s Caffe

By Serena Valdez

A CLOSER LOOK AT THIS WEEK’S HOUSE SPECIAL: EGGS BENEDICT WITH SMOKED SALMON AND SPINACH ($13)

For nearly 15 years, Zia’s Caffe has been serving delicious Italian cuisine to Kaneohe residents. Recently, owner Don Diamond created a new special for the menu. Zia’s Weekend Breakfast special, a menu of breakfast dishes only available on Saturday and Sunday, includes classic breakfast items like French Toast ($10) and Omelettes ($11), and local breakfast dishes like Loco Moco ($10.50).

Also on the menu are featured mixed drinks, called Eye Openers, including Mimosa, Bloody Mary and Bourbon and Zia tea with mint, a house special Diamond describes as a “super charged mint julep.”

This week’s special, the Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon and Spinach, is one breakfast item that is sure to hit the spot. The dish is a traditional eggs benedict with two poached eggs on a toasted English muffin smothered in house-made hollandaise sauce.

Popping with color underneath the eggs and hollandaise are generous portions of Norwegian-style Atlantic smoked salmon, all topped with fresh spinach and served with hash browns.

The Norwegian-style Atlantic salmon is a really nice breakfast salmon, Diamond says of the fish. “You don’t find it in a lot of places. It’s a unique item on the menu.”

Making hollandaise is a tricky feat, but when done right — as it is at Zia’s — it’s a rich and buttery complement to a spot-on eggs benedict.

The smoky, salty flavor of the fish adds to the creaminess of the eggs and hollandaise, making for a delicious meal.

The hash browns are prepared on a flat top grill with butter to create that crispy, delicious outside while maintaining a soft, chewy inside.

Sprinkled atop the hollandaise sauce is paprika, just enough to taste the biting flavor without numbing your taste buds with heat.

Zia’s Caffe

620 Kamehameha Hwy., Kaneohe
235-ZIAS (9427)
Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m.
Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Breakfast is served on Saturday and Sunday until 3 p.m.
ZiasKaneohe.com