On Golden Pond

A fish out of water eats a fish out of water

In Hilo, word of mouth still travels faster and further than e-mail and carries nearly as much weight as the word of God.

The Seaside Restaurant and Aqua Farm " 1790 Kalanianaole Ave. " (808) 935-8825 " Tuesday to Thursday, 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. " Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

"Once a few people say that they don't like your food, you're doomed," said an acquaintance from the Big Island town. "Word travels fast in Hilo. And people listen."

So when Seaside Restaurant and Aqua Farm owner Colin Nakagawa decided to stop serving apple pie with his meals, he braced for the worst. The pie had been the finale to the eatery's complete meal, which had been on the menu for more than 60 years. Some people grumbled. Some stayed away, but eventually they came back.

"I figured that after a really good meal people should have more choices than a piece of apple pie, no matter how good it is," says Nakagawa. "So I offered everything à la carte. Even though it [the apple pie] was such an institution, we needed to change."

The picturesque Seaside sits beside a 30-acre brackish-water fishpond, not an ocean. It's located along Kalanianaole Avenue, just outside of Hilo town. Originally, the restaurant, which was built in the 1920s, did sit near the shore, but the 1946 Hilo tsunami destroyed the old structure. The following year, Colin's grandparents rebuilt their restaurant across the street, right next to the fishpond, which to this day provides mullet, aholehole and the occasional trout, catfish and tilapia for the restaurant.

photo: Macario

Until Nakagawa took over the Seaside in the mid '80s, the restaurant had just two entrées: chicken and fish, with the chicken and brown gravy being the preferred item despite the eatery's productive fishpond. Over the years, Nakagawa has expanded his menu to stay competitive. Today, there are more than a dozen different entrées, everything from Furikake Salmon ($19.95) and Shrimp Scampi ($17.95) to Vegetarian Pasta ($10.50) and Paniolo Prime Rib ($18.95 to $22.95).

I visited Seaside on an August evening for an early dinner with friends. For an out-of-town city slicker like me, the restaurant's huge, idyllic pond was mesmerizing. It's not beautiful in a spectacular Hollywood sort of way. It's wild and natural, with several trees dotting its rim, nothing that I would put on a postcard. But the thought that my meal would come from the tranquil waters was alluring.

Of course, I ordered the Steamed Mullet ($19.95), which came to the table wrapped in a ti-leaf and was cooked with nothing more than a little salt, several slices of lemon and sliced onions. The meal was accompanied by a small house salad, sautéed vegetables and two scoops of rice.

The fish was simple and delicious. It was tasty and succulent, with the meat coming off the bone in large chunks. I poured a little shoyu on the mullet, then mixed it in with forkfuls of rice. This was the food of my youth.

After dinner, we walked down to the pond's edge and the restaurant's dock and series of pens and small ponds. There we saw torpedo-shaped mullet, bulletlike ulua and large, decorative koi, which resembled fat, graceful birds. Across the pond, snow-white egrets gathered on a large domelike tree. The birds looked like large, feathery gardenia blossoms in the dimming sunlight.

I didn't sample the Seaside's apple pie, or any of its new dessert items that night. Didn't need any. My meal's finale ended up having nothing to do with food.

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