Taapuna, a Tahitian-style ceviche with coconut milk and eaten with a baguette, is named after a surf spot on the island of Tahiti; Abreojos, which is farmed shrimp in cilantro, onions, pecans and orange juice, is named after Punta Abreojos
BY BOBBY COMMAND
WEST HAWAII TODAY
bcommand@westhawaiitoday.com
Some say it looks like salsa. Others call it “fish salad.” A few locals have dubbed it “Mexican poke.”
But woodworker, surfer and now small businessman Dave Weaver said it’s “ceviche,” a Hispanic dish which has become the latest culinary hit in Kailua-Kona ever since “Ceviche Dave’s” opened three months ago at Hale Kui Plaza in the Kaloko Industrial Area.
“People who’ve traveled through Latin America know what it is,” said Weaver, whose nickname Ceviche Dave was taken from a newspaper article in West Hawaii Today about Weaver’s practice a few years ago of making ceviche and giving it away at the Pine Tree’s surf spot.
Weaver should know about ceviche. He built custom homes and managed an eco-lodge for six years in Costa Rica with daughters, Brynn Bailey and Margaux Bailey and wife, local midwife April Bailey-Weaver. Costa Rica was once part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, where ceviche originated.
“We were the jungle family,” said Brynn, who took orders from across the custom koa bar at Ceviche Dave’s while showing off a scrapbook of their former lives. Sister Margaux also works at the small restaurant, which is decorated with some of Dave’s fine woodworking, including a hunting bow on the wall and a monkeypod table being used on the lanai.
Margaux said many of her father’s loyal customers are those who once partook of his free ceviche at Kohanaiki, which happens to be the name of a dish that features mac nuts, bell peppers in lilikoi juice and served with chips.
“A lot of them said they were treated by Dave for a long time, and now it is time to pay him back,” she said.
Other customers include woodworking buddies, like Richard King, who ordered cioppino, an Italian-style seafood stew that is almost like spaghetti without the pasta.
King used his digital camera to show off his latest creation, cabinet doors of dark, book-matched mango wood. He is also proud of the giant stump of monkeypod in Kapaau now being carved into giant slabs.
“Dave’s place attracts a lot of interesting people,” he says.
Back in the restaurant, two British men are finishing up their samplers, which includes ceviche dishes named after surf spots around the world.
Taapuna, a Tahitian-style ceviche with coconut milk and eaten with a baguette, is named after a surf spot on the island of Tahiti; Abreojos, which is farmed shrimp in cilantro, onions, pecans and orange juice, is named after Punta Abreojos in Baja Sur, Mexico, and Escondido is fresh fish in habanero sauce with cilantro, onions, sweet bell peppers, corn and raisins, named after Puerto Escondido
