News
"Uncle's Jazzes Things Up on Thursdays" Honolulu Advertiser - April 2010
April 20th, 2010
Uncles like jazz too. And that's the reason Bruce Johnson said he introduced Jazz & Sushi on Thursday nights at Uncle's Fish Market & Grill.
Every Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m., Starr Kalahiki, keyboardist Kit Ebersbach and a guest bassist (either Dean Taba or Jon Hawes) take the stage and perform a range of jazz that includes traditional and contemporary tunes."I think there are a lot more musicians out there than just Hawaiian entertainers," said Johnson, an admitted jazz fan. "So I wanted to mix it up a bit."
"We keep it soft," said Ebersbach, co-creator of the kitschy Don Tiki revue. "Starr is something else. Her vocal talent is incredible. She can interpret songs and understands the meaning of them, and then be able to convey that to the audience."
Befitting her name, Starr said she likes to connect with the audience through her music and enjoys taking requests.
"It's a fine balance between being too loud and not being loud enough," said Kalahiki, who cited Loyal Garner, Melveen Leed and Teresa Bright as influencing her music when she was younger. "I like performing here because it has a nice ambiance, the people are good and, of course, I love the food."
While not normally available on the menu, sushi takes center stage here on Thursdays. It may be an abbreviated menu but it contains enough selections that guests should find something they like, according to chef Geoffrey Arakawa.
"Some sushi menus are too extensive and I get lost looking at all the words," Arakawa said. "Our menu fits on one single page, and includes nigiri, sushi rolls and sashimi."
As can be expected from a place that touts that "its fish is so fresh, it's from tomorrow," the sushi here is about as good as you're going to get anywhere.
Since Johnson owns and operates Fresh Island Fish Co. — the largest wholesale fish distributor, which supplies seafood to many local restaurants — he has immediate access to ahi, salmon, hamachi, oysters, ono, opah, mahimahi, opakapaka and practically anything that's sold at the Honolulu Fish Auction.
"We're not trying to be a sushi bar," Johnson noted. "I decided on sushi during jazz Thursdays because I thought it would add a little more flair to the evening."
Sushi also adds a little more visual pop. The Volcano ($17.95), for example, is a colorful arrangement of salmon-wrapped crab meat garnished with bright orange scallop masago. As it is often said, "We eat with our eyes," and this Volcano tastes as good as it looks.
One item that needs no dressing up is the chu-toro (market price), the prized belly loin of the fatty blue fin tuna.
Two-piece nigiri selections include ahi ($7.50), hamachi ($8.50) and salmon ($6.50).
Aside from the Volcano, other available sushi rolls feature spicy tuna ($6.50); California ($9.50), made with real crab meat; shrimp tempura ($8.50); Hawaiian rainbow ($11.50), composed of fresh ahi and salmon; and Bamboo ($9.50), made with broiled unagi, and slices of cucumber and creamy avocado.
"It's the same as a Caterpillar, but I think Bamboo sounds more appetizing," Arakawa said.
Of course, no sushi menu would be quite complete without sashimi. A premium trio comes with three slices each of ahi, hamachi and salmon ($17.95).
Other available items are fresh New Zealand oysters ($11.95), shrimp cocktail ($8.95), ahi poke ($8.95), seared sashimi-grade ahi salad ($15.95) and Uncle's signature poke tower ($15.95), layered with poke, guacamole and ahi tartar then crowned with tobiko.
"We've gone back to flatware and glassware in the evenings," Johnson said. "But people still have to place their own orders."
But that's OK if you're a jazz fan.
"I've seen guests rearrange the tables to clear a path so they can dance," said server Shelley Supnet. "They dance when they go to place their order and they dance when they go back to their tables."
"38 Special" Hana Hou! April/May 2009
May 31st, 2009
story by Sheila Sarhangi
photos by Brad Goda
Pier 38 in Honolulu Harbor doesn’t have a lot of things. There’s no roller coaster, like at the Santa Monica Pier. You won’t see guys in rubber aprons heaving fish around like you would at Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle, and if you’re looking for kitschy tourist shops like those at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf or Monterey’s Cannery Row—well, that’s what Waikiki is for.
No, Pier 38 wasn’t built for tourists; it’s the nexus of Hawai‘i’s fishing industry, and it looks that way. It has an industrial vibe: big box structures, a tidy paved-over landscape, scattered parking lots and a panoramic view of cargo containers across the harbor. Roughly 140 long-line fishing boats land at Pier 38 after spending twelve to fifteen days at sea. They offload their catch—‘ahi, mahimahi, ‘opakapaka—and wheel it directly over to the Honolulu fish auction for sale. Not the sort of place to go for an evening stroll along the waterfront.
But the powers that be saw opportunity at the pier. In 1988 former Gov. John Waihe‘e met with some of the kingpins in the fishing industry about transforming Pier 38 from a location with rusting gantries and fuel storage tanks to a showplace for Hawai‘i’s fishing industry. At the time, United Fishing Agency, which runs the fish auction, had been operating out of a 3,000-square-foot building at Kewalo Basin. Back then, flatbed trucks had todrive to a half-dozen piers, unload the fish and transport them on ice to the auction house—not ideal for an industry that relies on freshness.
After several fits and starts, the auction finally moved into its new building in 2004. Things moved swiftly after that: A month later the pier’s second tenant, POP Fishing and Marine, a commercial fishing and boat supply store, opened next door in its new 27,000-square-foot-building. Shortly after, the restaurant Nico’s Pier 38 rented out a corner of POP’s building. Fresh Island Fish, a wholesale fish distributor, moved into its new building in 2006 and opened Uncle’s Fish Market & Grill in July 2007.
There’s still more to do; the pier hasn’t yet realized its full potential since only three of its ten lots are filled. But for now, locals have responded by coming in droves to eat at the pier’s two restaurants. And for good reason: Their proximity to the auction ensures the freshest fish on the island.
It’s 6 a.m.; the auction bell rang a half-hour ago. On this particular October morning, 42,000 pounds of fresh fish were unloaded from five long-liners. Under the blinding lights, plastic palettes loaded with fish are positioned along the floor in long parallel rows: One palette holds mahimahi (dorado); another, opah (moon- fish). Huddled around a 100-pound ‘ahi (yellowfin tuna), two dozen bidders stand elbow to elbow, inspecting a slab of meat cut from the tail. How much the fish will go for depends on its freshness, fat content and the richness of its color.
Bruce Johnson, owner of Fresh Island Fish, is standing beside me, his eyes fixed on the action. His buyers on the floor need to snap up 20,000-plus pounds of fish to satisfy the company’s 1,400 restaurant, hotel and retail store contracts statewide. Once fish are purchased, they’re wheeled 600 yards to the Fresh Island building where they’re weighed, tagged, filleted and shipped. Refrigerated vans deliver fish across O‘ahu; neighbor island orders are shipped nightly by air freight to Maui, Kaua‘i and the Big Island. It’s a seamless process and it has to be: Fresh Island Fish is the largest wholesale fish distributor in the Islands.
Johnson, now 58, was involved in the initial talks back in the 1980s regarding Pier 38’s transformation. He’s been in the industry since he moved from California to Kailua-Kona at 17 and worked as a fisherman. Why did he move? “Why not?” he says. “The surf was good; the girls were pretty.” At 21 he became a commercial fishing captain; three years later he moved to Maui. At 27 the enterprising angler opened Fresh Island Fish at Ma‘alaea Harbor. When he was 30, he dipped his hands in the restaurant business and opened Ma‘alaea Fish Market and Grill in the same location. He later opened a second and third Fresh Island Fish in Kailua-Kona and Honolulu respectively. Moving from the old location near Honolulu Airport to Pier 38 allowed for Uncle’s Fish Market & Grill.
Johnson says he wanted to open his restaurant as a tribute to local fisherman, particularly those in the colorful aku (skipjack tuna) fishery, who influenced him. Fittingly, the walls are decorated with fishing memorabilia, from nets and hooks to black-and-white photos of his mentors. “It’s not a gimmick,” he says. “This is our history and our lifestyle.” Flat-screen TVs loop video of aku fishing, in which fishermen would stand on the deck of a sampan and throw their lines and hooks (un-baited) into a school of feeding aku. Once an aku bit, they’d flick it onto the deck at lightning speed. That way of aku fishing disappeared with the advent of long-line fishing, but Uncle’s is a fitting testimonial to what was once the backbone of Hawai‘i’s fishing industry.
But maybe it best honors that industry through the quality of its fish. Uncle’s offers at least seven or eight types of fish daily, blackened, sautéed or charbroiled. The local favorite: fresh ‘ahi belly sautéed in butter, garlic and capers, served with chef Geoffrey Arakawa’s secret sauce. The result: The fish melts on your tongue.
"Six days a week we go and beat on the fish and bring it here,” says Nico Chaize. “What do you mean, you beat the fish?” I ask, imagining the 33-year-old native of France savaging a mahimahi with his bare fists. “You know, we beat on them,” he repeats. Then I realize: It’s the accent. “Oh, oh, you bid on the fish!” I say, relieved.
Chaize moved from Lyon to Los Angeles when he was 22 and got a job at Café Marguerite, a French restaurant in Marina del Rey. He met his wife, who’s from Hawai‘i, at a reggae concert; they married, and the couple moved to O‘ahu nearly ten years ago. He worked as a cook and sous-chef in two fine-dining restaurants in Honolulu—Michel’s at the Colony Surf and the Bistro at Century Center—before opening Nico’s Pier 38.
For Chaize the proximity of the auction was an opportunity he couldn’t refuse. “The idea was to offer a high-quality, low-price fish,” he says sitting at one of his outdoor patio tables. “And here I can buy the fish at the auction with no middleman and then serve it at the restaurant.” Theproof is in the print: Nothing on the menu is over $10.
The first year, business was slow. “It was a challenge because there was nothing really here; the fishing village wasn’t even on the map,” he says. Dockworkers and nearby businesses were his first patrons; downtown office workers came next. Today he does 500 lunches in one afternoon. (If you arrive between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., expect a line, swift-moving though it may be.) Now Nico’s lanai is packed every weekday with an eclectic cross section of Honolulu: firefighters and cops, longshoremen, students, doctors and nurses, researchers from nearby Bishop Museum. Nico describes his fare as a “fancy, healthy version of the local plate lunch.” A homemade sauce—watercress cream, saffron curry, lemon-caper—always accompanies the catch of the day, and conscious diners can choose brown rice instead of white, or organic Nalo greens instead of mac salad. His furikake pan-seared ‘ahi is by far the restaurant’s biggest seller; about 150 of these dishes leave his counter per day.
Last October, a harbinger of the pier’s future came when Chef Roy Yamaguchi of Roy’s Restaurants chose Pier 38 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his Hawai‘i Kai restaurant. It was like a stamp of approval for the pier; as one of Hawai‘i’s most famous chefs, Yamaguchi could have thrown his gala event at a swanky hotel in the heart of Waikiki. Instead, he set up a tent and hosted a gourmet dinner in which eight visiting master chefs cooked for twenty-five tables, each of which sold for $10,000 (with the money benefiting culinary education). “[We] wanted a venue that was different from the norm,” says Yamaguchi, “and we also wanted to showcase our local seafood to the visiting chefs.”
Though Pier 38 has become a mainstay for Honolulu residents, both Chaize and Johnson acknowledge that visitors have yet to really discover it. Perhaps that’s because it’s off the typical tourist path, and even if you’re driving along Nimitz Highway, you could easily miss it. Perhaps it’s because, for all the great seafood, the pier still looks more like an industrial waterfront than a seaside esplanade. But for those who do eat at the pier or visit the fish auction—which the public is welcome to do—it’s a piece of Hawai‘i they won’t find anywhere else. HH
"Say Uncle" Honolulu Advertiser - February 2009
February 8th, 2009
Restaurant now open until 9 p.m. Fridays through Sundays
It’s whatever the fishermen bring in. And last Thursday, they reeled in onaga, mahimahi and ono, to name but a few of the fresh seafood that made it from the boat to the menu board at Uncle’s Fish Market & Grill.
Casual and unpretentious, Uncle’s is a place where, in a Cheers-esque cliche, everyone knows everyone, said server Yolanda Shidaki with a wide smile.
"We see this all the time," she said, "It’s like having an impromptu reunion."
In fact, owner Bruce John-son said he had some of his old "uncles" come by the week before and seated with him during lunch last week was niece Amy Hanaialii Gilliom and his great niece Madeline "Maddy" Austin.
"She loves her french fries," said Johnson, while trying to convince Maddy to take a bite of her fish burger. "I guess this place isn’t only for uncles but nieces, too."
After starting full-on dinner service last year, Johnson decided to stop, opting to stay open for daily lunch only. On Friday, though, this changed and Uncle’s has extended its lunch hours into dinner until 9 pm., Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
"We had people fill out questionnaire forms asking what they wanted to see if we opened for dinner," said John son, who also owns Fresh Island Fish Co. Inc., which supplies the seafood for many of Hawaii’s top restaurants. "They said they wanted to keep it like lunch," he added.
"They didn’t want the tablecloth, full-service dinner." Instead, like lunch, patrons step up to the counter, order their meal and take a beeper that will light up and pulsate when their orders are up.
It’s an efficient system during lunch, so it should work the same for dinner.
This then should make it a great place to grab a quick bite, especially if you’re in a rush to get to somewhere else. So don’t expect silverware and China. It’s strictly plastic plates and cutlery, checkered-paper-lined baskets and paper cups.
If you're not in a hurry, kick back and enjoy the live music, which will be heard Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, from 5:30 to 8:30.
Blane Asing is scheduled to play on Fridays and Ray Sowders on Saturday, as well as during Saturday and Sunday lunch.
Guitarist Sonny Silva will take the stage on Sundays.
"We’re keeping the same lunch prices, too," Johnson said. "Because the way the economy is right now, we thought that it would be better if we could keep the same type of self-service and not have to raise prices considerably more, which we would have had to do if we went with servers and bussers."
Voted recently by Zagat as one of Hawaii’s Top 20 Newcomers, Uncle’s is as much about the fresh fish as it is about the fishermen. As one Zagat surveyor so succinctly put it, "the gem to this establishment is the great job that they did to present some of the history of commercial fishing in Hawaii."
The nautical theme is impressive, with walls lined with dated pictures of fishermen, their boats and their catches, all depicting the seafaring conditions and long hours these "Uncles" devoted themselves to in order to bring ahi, aku and bottom fish to back doors and onto plates.
"‘Fish so fresh it’s from tomorrow’ is our tagline," Johnson said. "You’ll never get a piece of frozen fish here."
Last week’s fish-and-chip special featured a choice of either ono or onaga (market price). Covered in panko, the battered fish fillet sticks possessed a nice crunch without the excess oil. The fries, too, were crispy without taking on the flavor of the fish. And a fresh side of coleslaw and homemade tartar sauce were also tucked in the basket.
A "Big Uncle’s" combo offers a duo of shrimp and calamari ($13.95) or add some fish for a $1 more.
As for the daily fresh catch of the day, chef Geoffrey Arakawa said he usually prepares it with a choice of garlic or caper butter.
"Or, people will ask for Uncle’s sauce, which is a soy-butter sauce with chili pepper," he said. "We’re also playing with a new black bean sauce."
And for those non-seafood eaters, choose from a lean burger ($8.75), broiled hibachi-style chicken glazed with teriyaki ($9.95) or rib-eye steak with grilled onions ($17.95).
"People do order them," Shidaki said. "But for the most part, people come for our fresh fish."
Uncle’s Fish Market & Grill
Where: Pier 38, 1135 N. Nimitz Hwy., at the Costco and Home Depot Intersection
Call: 275-0063
Hours: Lunch Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and until 9 p.m. Fridays through Sundays
"Diners Hooked on Fresh Fish" - Honolulu Advertiser November 2008
November 1st, 2008
"Fishing for Lunch" - Hahalua September 2008
September 1st, 2008
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"Uncle's year later" - KHON 1 July 2008
July 30th, 2008
http://www.khon2.com/news/morning/25935109.html
Uncle's Update - A year after opening with now a bar and entertainment and off course the great grinds.
The fish comes off the fishing boats just a few yards away and rolled right into the freezers of Uncle's. You can't get it any more fresh then this.
This place has FRESH fish that is affordable, tastes great, with quick service, clean, efficient, and friendly. They have now live music at night. A place you may just want to hang out.
"We Cry Uncle" - Honolulu Weekly Writeup June 2008
June 1st, 2008
"Uncles Review" - GoHawaii.com May 2008
May 12th, 2008
http://gohawaii.about.com/b/2008/05/12/uncles-fish-market-grill-at-pier-38-honolulu.htm
Uncle's Fish Market & Grill, an establishment run by fish wholesaler, Fresh Island Fish, opened its doors for dinner on May Day, Thursday, May 1st, 2008. Uncle's will be open daily for lunch and for dinner service Tuesday through Saturday nights until 9:00 p.m.
Uncle's is located at Pier 38 off Nimitz Highway in Honolulu.
Uncle's Fish Market & Grill was just recently recognized by Food & Wine Magazine as "One of the World's Best Restaurant Guide: 293 Outstanding Places To Eat In 40 Cities." With its "freshest fish in town" promise, Uncle's is garnering a lot of attention with its loyal local customers as well as first time visitors.
Uncle's serves some of the freshest and highest quality seafood on the island. Featured menu items include whatever the boats bring in that day - but always includes ahi, mahi mahi and never-frozen fish.
A wide variety of preparations pairs the fish perfectly with the sauces. Chef Geoffrey Arakawa has also put his twist on the menu, offering appetizers such as Uncle's signature Poke Tower, crab-stuffed baked avocadoes and Calamari Dore. The seafood pasta offers the best of the sea in a spicy tomato sauce and ahi fish tacos are always a crowd pleaser.
Featuring live entertainment by Ernie Cruz, Jr., the restaurant is also a frequent haunt for many local musicians who come to play kanakapila style (island jam.) Bruce Johnson, owner and operator of Fresh Island Fish and Uncle's Fish Market & Grill is, after all, the uncle of famous award-winning Hawaiian entertainers Amy Hanaiali'i and Eric Gilliom.
Video screens project vintage footage of aku boat fishing voyages, home videos and travels throughout Hawaii and the South Pacific.
Johnson explains the thinking behind the restaurant. "Uncle's Fish Market & Grill is dedicated to all of the uncles who have made impacts in our lives. Our goal was to have an inviting atmosphere where you can relax and revisit the good old days. The décor is a special tribute to our Aku fishermen of today and yesterday. If we can satisfy the Uncles of Hawaii and make it a place where they want to eat, we've hit the target."
Fresh Island Fish (FIFCO), one of Hawaii's largest and most reputable wholesale fish distributors opened in 1977 and has facilities in Maui, Kona, Oahu and Kauai. FIFCO's Honolulu headquarters shares the building with Uncle's Fish Market & Grill, at Pier 38 off Nimitz Highway.
Located right down the block from the fish auction, FIFCO brings in around 30,000 pounds of fresh fish everyday for use by the restaurant and for distribution to other eating establishments in Hawaii, the US Mainland and Canada.
"Food & Wine 2008 Go-List" - May 2008
May 1st, 2008
http://www.foodandwine.com/restaurants/uncles-fish-market-grill
From the May 2008 Food & Wine Go List
The menu at Uncle’s—a faux-tiki joint—ranges from linguine and clams to fish-and-chips, all served on plastic plates. The owner is also a wholesale fish distributor, so the seafood here is unbelievably fresh.
We loved: Sautéed ahi with slaw.
Insider tip: The restaurant is jammed at noon, so go for a late lunch.
Uncle’s Fish Market & Grill
Pier 38, 1135 N. Nimitz Hwy.
Honolulu
808-275-0063
"Uncle's Offers a Great Catch" - Honolulu Advertiser November 2007
November 1st, 2007
"Star Bulletin Staff Picks" - August 2007
November 30th, -0001
http://starbulletin.com/2007/08/03/features/ourpicks.html
Creationists attacking Darwin's theory of evolution have probably never been to Hawaii, where, clearly, human inhabitants have evolved to adapt physically and behaviorally to island living. Living in this petri dish, it's hard to realize just how weird and tweaked we are by the notion of crowds and scarcity.
This was evident during visits to Uncle's Fish Market & Grill, where I wanted to beat the early lunch crowd. It's a tactic that would work if everyone else weren't also lining up to lunch at 10!
The bait? Fresh fish at a reasonable price, though only during the day for now.
The menu is bigger than you'd imagine from studying the chalkboard, because for every fish offering, whether ono, mahimahi, opah or ahi, you also have a choice of four tempting preparations: charbroiled with garlic and olive oil or Uncle's teriyaki sauce; sautéed in garlic, butter, wine and lemon; blackened Cajun style; or pan-fried with a touch of chili pepper and soy sauce.
For me, sautéing is the way to go if you want to avoid dried-out fish. But the cooks here so far are doing a tremendous job of timing doneness so your fish gets rare-, medium- or well-cooked treatment to order, a courtesy ordinarily reserved for steaks. Both charbroiled and pan-fried styles retained their moisture at medium doneness.
You might wish for more chili pepper in the pan-fried version, but sauces are kept simple -- made from ingredients found in any auntie or uncle's kitchen -- to avoid overshadowing the real star, the juicy succulence of fresh fish.
Go for the fish plates. Other menu items are mere distractions.
In addition to hot entrees, Uncle's offers a handful of refrigerator items packed to grab-and-go, including $5.95 bowls of delicious ocean-fresh spicy ahi poke on cabbage, sashimi and oysters on the half shell. Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays. Meals less than $15 per person. -- By Nadine Kam
"Channel 2 News" - KHON May 2007
May 11th, 2007
http://www.khon2.com/news/local/8101297.html
By KHON News
Circle, highlight and underline Wednesday, June 27th on your calendar. That’s the day Uncle’s Fish Market and Grill opens its doors to the public. From what we saw (and ate) today, this place could be a big winner in the Honolulu dining scene.
Owner Bruce Johnson goes back to 1977 when he founded Fresh Island Fish and purchased the day’s catch from Ma`alaea Harbor fishermen. From that humble beginning he opened retail and wholesale businesses over the years on Maui, Hawai`i Island, O`ahu and Kaua`i. Along the way, he’s expanded his operations to include numerous commercial sources from throughout the Pacific, the Honolulu Fish Auction and many locals. His customers range from the biggest hotels and restaurants to smaller, family oriented places like Uncle’s. He sees no reason why the rest of us shouldn’t get a chance to eat the same kine quality like in big time places.
One of the many lessons he’s picked up over the years: freshness, sanitation and strict adherence to safe handling means a quality product in the market place and in Manolo’s mouth. We’d hate to pay his refrigeration and ice bills, but that’s the way its gotta be when it comes to preserving the taste and texture of fine, fresh fish.
Johnson went with the name “Uncle’s” to express his mahalo to all the uncles who influenced him in his early days on Maui, passing along recipes, fishing tips and making a good aku angler out of him.
Geoffrey Arakawa cooks it to order for you, Holly Crise sees to it that your meal gets to your table fresh and hot. Denise Fernandez has the job of making sure we all know about this new place at Pier 38, just a few steps down the street from the fish auction area. (She must be doing good--she got us to come this morning; though we didn’t need to be prodded much.)
A meal starts at about $8.50, though prices can fluctuate a bit due to supply. But if it swims, scurries or just sits there on the bottom of the ocean, you’ve got a good shot at finding something you like on the Uncle’s menu.
They got oysters! (O.K., they got burgers and salads, too.)
They’ve tried to express a feeling of aloha in their new 80-seat location and you can judge from the video just how good they did. They’ve even reserved a place next to the deli case where anybody can drop in and kanikapila plugged or acoustic.
At Uncle’s they say if it’s fish, it’s fresh, full of flavor and fun.
And it’s ono plenty.