THE coincidences surrounding a luncheon at Gordon Biersch in the Aloha Tower Marketplace yesterday was worthy of a plot from "Murder She Wrote." I was meeting my old friend Dr. David Eith to treat him to a birthday lunch. Naturally, his wife Kim, who is Vietnamese, was part of the celebration and David reminded me that he shares the same birthday with the late Ho Chi Minh. He also recalled our first meeting was way back in 1961 when he was an extern at St. Francis Hospital and an old high school classmate of mine, Dr. John Copeland, introduced us. We've been friends ever since. Plot twist No. 1: Sightseeing through the marketplace was Jim Bob Hackleman, the former Star-Bulletin sports editor, now retired and living in California. He was seeing sights that weren't in existance when he left here four years ago. He joined me in greeting Dr. Eith, who was physician to him and his kids when he ran the Industrial Medical Clinic. They had a nice reunion talking about grandkids, of which Hack has eight. (Yes, he can name all of them, "but don't ask me their birthdays." ...PLOT twist No. 2. Also in the Market Place were several Olympians who'd just completed the Troy Barboza Torch Run, named for the police officer who was gunned down several years ago at his home, near my former house in Manoa. Soccer nut Jack Sullivan managed to corner Hackleman and talk soccer to him and mentioned that Barboza's parents, Ronald and Jerry Barboza, flew in for the run. At my urging he introduced me to the Barbozas and I told them about the same high school buddy who'd introduced me to Dr. Eith, knowing he was Troy's Pop Warner League football coach. They were excited to learn that and informed me that Dr. Copeland is now the personal physician of their granddaughter. The coincidences were flying fast and furious ...
SPEAKING of Gordon Biersch, as we were a moment ago, G.M. Bruce Faber is off this week to attend the Indianapolis 500, and while the bloom is somewhat off the rose due to an upstart race with many previous Indy "names" in Michigan the same day as well as the death in a crash of pole sitter Scott Brayton in a back-up car, it still will be a huge sporting event. In fact, Danny Ongais, the long-retired "Flyin' Hawaiian" has been selected by car owner John Menard to drive Brayton's car. And yes, Hawaii's own Jim Nabors will again me making the trip to sing "Back Home Again in Indiana" ...
MORE and more chefs who made a big name for themselves on the Neighbor Islands are moving their culinary artistry to Honolulu. The Big Isle's Sam Choy and Alan Wong come to mind. Now Kauai's famed Jean-Marie Josselin has followed suit from his "A Pacific Cafe" in Kapaa, Kauai, and opened up an Oahu version of the restaurant at Ward Centre where Andrew's used to be. Like appetizers? So does Jean-Marie - that's why he has a selection of 25 to choose from. Keeps one coming back for more. Only Maui's top chefs have elected to stay on their home island (David Paul Johnson, Mark Ellman), and perhaps that's one reason why a national visitor publication has just named Maui the "Best Island in the World." ...
