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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
A fine foodie follow-up
and Big Island broadcast
rebrandingBy way of follow-up, Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar's lunch service at Restaurant Row is shutting down so management can reprioritize, said Ivy Nagayama, general manager.
TheBuzz reported yesterday that today's lunch will be its last.
"We don't want this to sound negative," she said.
The restaurant is going to build up its dinner and late-night offerings.
"We really want to focus on dinner, to improve that and really tighten it up," said chef-owner DK Kodama.
He is working with a consultant on such ideas as special food and wine dinners in addition to elevating regular offerings.
Separately, Kodama is preparing to open a new restaurant on Maui.
Kapalua Island Grill will be at the New Village Clubhouse, where Fleming's on the Greens closed in February.
It will reflect a new direction for Kodama -- Italian food.
Why?
"Because I love Italian food," he said with gusto.
The Kapalua Island Grill will dish out dishes from different regions of Italy. "We're definitely going to have comfort food as well as upscale food," he said. The atmosphere will be casual and he estimates the average check, without wine, will be under $25.
"Kapalua (Resort) has been a great partner and it's a great resort community," he said. "Everyone there is on vacation. Every day is like a Friday and Saturday."
It is to open in late July, after the Kapalua Wine and Food Symposium earlier in the month.
"We want to open to the master sommeliers when we're ready, not when we're first open," Kodama said.
Heritage hu-hu settled
Hilo radio station KAHU-AM, which Buddy Gordon bought and branded as KHBC, now officially sports the call letters of Hilo's first radio station. The original KHBC is now known as KPUA.The FCC granted Gordon's request for a call letter change effective March 19 and the station's legal identification at the top of the hour reflects the change.
"(Station personality) Iaukea Bright talks in an authoritative voice, sounding like Walter Cronkite, and says, 'This is K-H-B-C in Hilo, Hawaii," Gordon said.
The ID is followed by, "ula la e ho," a yodel from the song KHBC Hula, written by Vicky Ii Rodrigues to commemorate the original KHBC.
"That song gets played many times," Gordon said.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com