The Weekly Eater

By Nadine Kam
Star-Bulletin

This story is excerpted from the April 11 column.

Home-grown fish is
delish at Seaside


-- Food
-- Service
-- Atmosphere
-- Value


WHENEVER restaurant service is slow in coming, the sarcastic thing to say is that the staff must be out catching the chicken, fish or whatever, but the Seaside Restaurant and Aqua Farm in Hilo is perhaps the only one in the state that can legitimately use that excuse.

In a rustic old building overlooking 30 acres of fishponds, the restaurant is able to offer customers the freshest of fish. Dinner might consist of aholehole, mullet, golden perch (tilapia), meaty rainbow trout raised from eggs shipped in from Washington state, or catfish scooped out of the ponds that very afternoon.

The fish is served real local-style, pan-fried or steamed in a ti leaf with onions and lemon for $16.95 ($18.95 for aholehole) complete with rice, canned corn (would it be so hard to split a fresh cob?), a simple salad of lettuce and dessert of apple pie.

Hilo folks agree aholehole fried to a golden crisp is best. Granted, not everyone likes their fish served this way, meant to be eaten only with white rice and a little soy sauce.

"A lot of people don't want fish with the head on, especially people from the mainland," said Colin Nakagawa, a third-generation restaurateur whose family owns the Seaside. "They want to eat that so-called Hawaiian fish mahimahi."

Seaside is happy to oblige, having introduced mahi, ahi and ono at market prices to their menu in recent years.

Any of the farmed fish can be served in combination with chicken at $15.95, or steak, at $20.95 (at market prices for mahi, ahi or ono combos).


"This guy came in from the Washington Post,
but he didn't even eat my fish.
He ate ahi."

Colin Nakagawa


In spite of the restaurant's swimming success, it's the chicken that gave Seaside its original claim to fame in the '80s before the hatchery operation was in full swing. The Seaside Chicken ($10.50), breadcrumb coated and pressure-cooked until the succulent meat melts off the bone, was one of the specialties introduced by Colin's grandparents Seiichi and Matsuno Nakagawa, who ran the nearby Seaside Club from 1921 until the restaurant was swept away by the tsunami of 1946.

It wasn't until Colin's father Susumu retired from a career with the United States Department of Agriculture in 1982, that he was able to rebuild the fishponds and restaurant operations.

The menu keeps expanding with Grilled or Baked Atlantic King Salmon ($16.95), Calamari Steak with Linguine ($12.95) and the occasional specials of shrimp or black cod for variety.

Whatever you order, you don't want to confuse the Nakagawas' fish with the ocean catch or imported seafood. To do so would invite ribbing. Said Colin, "This guy came from the Washington Post and wrote about us, but he didn't even eat my fish. He ate ahi.

"He didn't even talk to me. It was kind of corny."

Why don't those guys in Washington just consult the experts?


The Seaside Restaurant & Aqua Farm

1790 Kalanianaole Ave., Hilo
Hours: 5 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday
Prices: About $18 to $20 per person
Call: 935-8825; reservations and pre-orders recommended

Nadine Kam's restaurant reviews run on Thursdays. Reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Bulletin. Star ratings are based on comparisons of similar restaurants:

- excellent;
- very good, exceeds expectations;
- average;
- below average.

To recommend a restaurant, write: The Weekly Eater, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or send e-mail to features@starbulletin.com



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