The Weekly Eater

By Nadine Kam
Star-Bulletin

This story is excerpted from the April 18 column.

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In the culinary realm, there wasn't much to get excited about. Yes, Cafe Pesto's still there, and does pretty good business, mostly because diners can't think of any other options. Don's Grill serves fresh, home-style meals with heavy sauces out of the '50s and '60s - comfort for some, cliche for others.

Naturally, one doesn't leap from the '60s to the '90s easily, unless one happens to live in an alternate universe. So rather than hitting, say, the illustrious A Pacific Cafe, I had to start at the beginning, popping into Alicia's Market for roots cooking.

Alicia's is not a restaurant at all, but one of those endangered species of old-time general stores, selling everything from produce to toys to crack seed and its own private label dog chow. This is surely a place that would make Hilo folk feel at home.

Raymond Kam, no relation, and his wife Alicia opened the market in 1949. Back then Raymond told a doubting uncle, who thought he had paid too much for the business, "Someday I'm gonna build a big building, almost the whole block."
Raymond made good on his promise in 1965, and today, the building at 267 Mokauea St. bears Alicia's name in bold letters.

Raymond, 81, met Alicia, 69, in China during World War II. He was a soldier who couldn't speak Cantonese, but he learned fast.

"She smart how to cook, that's why the taste of the food is so special. All the supermarkets, they try, but they cannot copy," Raymond says with pride.

Though their son Leonard now minds the store, Alicia is still responsible for making the Pork Hash (6 pieces $2.25) larger and meatier than any in Chinatown. These are sweet and heavily seasoned and salted. In fact, much of the food here is tasty, though heavy on sodium. No problem, their take-out menu boasts "Ice cold beer always on sale," perfect for pupu.

And Alicia has been here long enough to put her own twist on such favorites as Banana Lumpia with a touch of cinnamon, and kulolo ($5.95 per pound) - a confection of grated taro, coconut and sugar - more like Chinese gau (pudding) than the hard nuggets we've grown to love.

I was directed toward the Roast Pork Plate ($4.95) by two people from TheBus who know how to get around. The Kams' pork is just as fatty, but cleaner tasting than any in Chinatown. For those who love char siu pork, you can sample it on the bone as well. Char siu ribs are one option for the plate lunch that includes your choice of two meats; peppery crab, macaroni and potato salad and kim chee cucumbers.

All the plates are meat lovers specials, so that laulau on a Hawaiian Plate ($5.95) offers more pork than luau leaves.

Beyond the plate lunches there is a glass counter full of dried fish, sashimi and several varieties of poke, with a rare offerings of Conch Meat ($8.95). This was softer than conch I sampled in the Bahamas. Under a spicy, hot Korean-style sauce, it was hard to tell if this was the same sweet conch, though this sauce would make it even if served with rubber slippers.

In the age of Wal-Mart and Costco, it's a thrill to find families doing business the old way..

Alicia's Market:

267 Mokauea
Hours: (for food) 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. weekdays; to 6:30 p.m. Saturdays
Prices: Plates $4.95-$6.95
Call: 841-1921 or fax 845-7596

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