When Donato Loperfido opened his casual, no-service restaurant, Pasta Basta, almost a year ago, it was almost too much to hope that the $9 plates of pasta on the menu and the $12 entrees could compare to the heavenly offerings his Manoa restaurant offered at more than twice the price. But Donato was as good as his word, and somewhere along the line he's even managed to break the longtime curse of the Restaurant Row location that's seen a dozen restaurants come and go in as many years.

Pasta is one of those foods that gets no respect. No matter how good it is, everybody thinks they can boil noodles and toss some sauce on it, so when dining out, they don't want to spend a lot of money on it.

Veteran chef Donato Loperfido knows this, so he came up with Pasta & Basta, a casual, no-frills, order-at-the-counter pasta joint where you'll pay $6 or $9 for basic spaghetti, linguine, rigatoni, penne and tagliatelle dishes, day AND night.

Donato Loperfido's casual pasta, panini and pizza joint (the name means "pasta, that's it") is a Godsend for anyone who wants to take their children out for dinner. The price is right, (our boys shared a $6 portion of spaghetti and freshly made marinara sauce with fresh bread), the atmosphere is casual (you order from the counter - absolutely no frills), and nobody cared if they wanted to run off dinner by racing around Restaurant Row. All this and the fact that whether you spend $50 or $5 on dinner, Loperfido still makes some of the greatest Italian food in Hawaii.

With a front-row seat at Restaurant Row, I've been watching restaurants come and go for years, and the number of casualties seems relatively high. I think of Restaurant Row as a microcosm of the rest of the industry, subject to a small, fickle pool of diners, with a penchant for chasing the new.

Donato Loperfido is the quintessential Italian chef: expressive, opinionated and passionate about everything.

After a 21-year connection to the islands and a marriage to Hawaii-raised Desiree Kanae, the decidedly global Loperfido claims to have turned his in-laws away from Spam and swears his 2-year-old twin daughters shun white rice in favor of risotto with truffle oil.

When 'Elua opened in May, it did so quietly-unexpected behavior for a restaurant whose chefs are known for their big personalities.

'Elua, the Hawaiian word for 'two,' is the theme of the culinary collaboration between Donato Loperfido of Donato's (now closed) and Pasta & Basta and Philippe Padovani of Padovani's Bistro (also closed) and Chocolates by Padovani.

The name of renowned Italian chef Donato Loperfido's casual new eatery in Restaurant Row is an exceedingly simple and straightforward rhyme: Pasta Basta. It's a fitting title for a counter-service operation that is equally simple and straightforward in its offerings.

After a long culinary lull, with few restaurant openings, the scene is perking up.

Two of the Islands' best-known chefs, Philippe Padovani and Donato Loperfido, have partnered to create a new restaurant, Elua ("Two"), in the former L'Uraku site on Kapi'olani Boulevard, expected to open in May. Both men also have solo projects.

Easter Seals Hawaii's seventh annual "Chefs Du Jour" culinary extravaganza took place under the stars on the grounds of Tamarind Park recently. Guests enjoyed an extraordinary array of culinary creations by a celebrity lineup of award-winning chefs.

Since it was my birthday, I got to choose the "Friday night dinner with the family" restaurant. My choice was Pasta & Basta by Donato at Restaurant Row.

If the name Donato sounds familiar, Donato Loperfido used to have a restaurant in Manoa Marketplace a while back. Then he had an idea. A concept where diners can get excellent, healthy, fine dining meals without all the fluff - and without the high prices. Something that Midlifers can appreciate. ;-)

The centerpiece of the space done up with butter-yellow and orange walls is the wood-burning brick oven behind the counter. Pasta & Basta makes good use of it, turning out thin-crusted pizzas, like a simple Margherita of house-made tomato sauce, mozzarella and fresh basil.