While you might expect most chefs to tell you that they were born to cook, Michael Mohica, the owner of Ono Hawaiian Café, is the few I’ve met who has actually said just that. “I was raised in a kitchen cooking with my grandmother in Hawaii, and she taught me everything I know about cooking.” And what he learned, he brings to Ono.

Le Café de Paris follows the model of a French bistro rather than the more “hoity-toity” stereotype that Americans often have of a classic French restaurant. As owner Mathieu Choux explains, “What I’m trying to do is casual French food. What I do at Café de Paris is mix three things to fit in the same place – a bakery, bar, and a restaurant. We try to do a nice presentation with our food, but it’s not overdone. Good food doesn’t have to be all fancied up.”

There have been only a handful of owners of the restaurant that since 1955 has served a cross section of downtown denizens ranging from sportsmen to legislators to skateboarders; but its most recent proprietors, Bob Dempsey and wife Lisa Kugel, are determined that even though their historic café has since changed its downtown address, its menu and place in the community will return to their former glory.

Cuisine: Classic American diner-style breakfasts and lunches, along with a vegetarian and gluten-free menu