Hilo’s historic “Home of the Loco Moco” likely is going on an indefinite hiatus.
The iconic Cafe 100 building at 969 Kilauea Ave. is listed for leasehold sale at just under $2.9 million.
The 5,561-square-foot restaurant building on 0.57 acres of land comes with all equipment and cooking pots, pans and utensils included. The building also has solar panels installed seven years ago, with 10 years remaining on the warranty.
Mari Kobayashi — owner of Cafe 100 and granddaughter of Richard and Evelyn Miyashiro, the restaurant’s founders — said that an illness has forced her to sell the building and its contents, but not the business itself.
“My son and I, he’s 9, we ate a bad fish, and we got ciguatera. It’s been a nightmare,” Kobayashi told the Tribune-Herald. “It’s getting better, but we’re still dealing with it. That’s kind of why I figured I’ve got to do something. That’s why I’m putting it up for sale — the building itself.
“But I’m hoping, after recovering or whatever, to reopen somewhere.”
According to the California Department of Public Health, people contract ciguatera from eating tropical reef fish which have accumulated ciguatoxin, a naturally occurring toxin in microalgae eaten by the fish — or in the case of larger fish, eaten by smaller fish the larger fish ate. It’s not possible to detect the ciguatoxins in fish by sight, taste, or smell. They also can’t be destroyed by freezing or cooking the affected fish.
“It’s a neurotoxin. And a neurotoxin affects everything in your body — your brain, your mind, your joints,” Kobayashi said. “I have good days and bad days. I thought I would’ve been able to shake it by now.”
“My son has just started back to school; he’s been out since September,” she added. “I’ve been trying to hang in since August. I still come (to the restaurant) every day, but I can only do so much. I check on my people to see how they’re doing. But that’s pretty much all I can handle.”
Kobayashi said she plans to remain open until the building is sold, but needs the time for her son and her to get better. She’s holding on to the Cafe 100 name and trademarked slogan “Home of the Loco Moco.”
“I’m hoping to recover and open up shop in another location, somewhere. So, it’s not like Cafe 100 is gone, but maybe at this location it is,” she said. “We’re going to operate. It’s for the local community. That’s who we serve.”
As the Miyashiros’ granddaughter, Kobayashi is the third generation of family ownership and management of the popular eatery, which has a storied history.
Richard and Evelyn Miyashiro — Hawaii-born children of Okinawan immigrants who came to work on Hawaii’s sugar plantations — opened the landmark restaurant in the Waiakea Town area of Hilo in 1946. They named it in tribute to the 100th Infantry Battalion of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
“The One-Puka-Puka,” as it’s affectionately known, was a unit of Hawaii-born Japanese-American soldiers in which Richard Miyashiro served during World War II, when Japanese-Americans faced bigotry at home because of the Pearl Harbor attack.
The original restaurant, at Kamehameha Avenue and Manono Street, was severely damaged in the April Fools’ Day 1946 tsunami. The family reopened the restaurant a bit more inland on Manono, but it, too, was washed away — as was the Miyashiros’ family home next door — in the tsunami that hit Hilo on May 23, 1960.
The restaurant was Richard Miyashiro’s dream — and he and Evelyn weren’t about to give it up.
“They made it through two tsunamis. What perseverance! I admire what they endured and what they rebuilt,” Kobayashi said. “I’m fortunate to have known both of them.”
The Miyashiros opened in their present spot on Kilauea Avenue overlooking Wailoa Pond in 1962, with the current building completed in 1964. Cafe 100’s fare of plate lunches and loco mocos proved popular with the local community, and its success spawned numerous imitators.
Richard Miyashiro died at 65 in 1982. Evelyn Miyashiro remained active until her passing at 94 on Dec. 28, 2015.
The couple’s three daughters — Gloria Kobayashi, Kay Shintani and Gayle Miyashiro — and the Miyashiros’ grandchildren worked in the restaurant for years before the second and third generations assumed ownership and management of the family business, which now numbers about 20 employees.
“I’m the owner, but I’ve always looked at it that I’m the caretaker of it, not necessarily the owner,” Mari Kobayashi said.
Kobayashi said that no matter what the future holds, Richard Miyashiro’s dream restaurant is in her blood.
“I grew up in this place,” she said.
“I grew up in this building. I grew up with a lot of the people who still work here. Last year, one of our people retired after 47 years. That’s what we have here.
“We have a love for each other and for the community. We love what we do.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.