Lahaina residents are still reeling this morning from the accidental death of one of their own. 25-year-old prep cook Tony Paoa lost his life yesterday when he fell into a meat grinder, in front of a packed dining room at the Abramo Chop House. The accident has friends and family reeling, and they say a planned midnight vigil by Tony’s employer and Lahaina meat mogul “Big” Bob Abramo is not helping. Famous for his larger than life persona, the family says Abramo has gone too far with his plans to use the same grinder involved in the accident to sell half-priced burgers during the proposed memorial.
A frequent visitor to Lahaina, Spring Casey says she and her husband had just been seated for lunch and were watching Tony prepare the day’s burger. Part of the marketing campaign for the Chop House’s new foie gras triple SSHAM burger, employees grind hundreds of pounds of Bob’s Best Burger Blend in front of customers every afternoon. “I don’t really care to see a machine grind up meat, but Bret was really excited to have one of the new burgers and take in the whole spectacle,” Spring says.
The couple’s interest in seeing how their food was made soon turned to horror when Tony slipped from the top of the stool he was standing on and fell into the commercial grinder.
“It was awful. One second he was adding a container of short rib to the hopper and the next second he just fell in. We were all in shock, I didn’t even have time to scream before he was pulled in and bits of his apron started coming out. It seemed like it took forever for someone to shut it off. In the end, just his feet were sticking out the top. I just wanted to go, but they wouldn’t let us leave until we paid for our appetizers. It was terrible!”
Paoa’s friends and family say they are still trying to come to terms with Tony’s death and were traumatized again when the announcement about the midnight vigil was made. A portion of that announcement reads: “Like many of you, we are devastated by the loss of our bruddah Tony, but we know he would want the show and the grind to go on… We have thoroughly sanitized the machine in question and are offering half-priced burgers from midnight to dawn to celebrate his life and his commitment to prep work. Let the tears and juices run down your face… fill your heart with memories of our friend and your belly with the best burger on the planet.”
In addition to the poor optics of using the machine so soon after the accident, many have raised concerns about safety. However, Betsy Kaukau, an investigator for the Department of Health, says that there is nothing illegal about the practice, even though it is “clearly in bad taste.” She says thousands are seriously injured or killed in kitchen accidents every year, and as long as the machine is thoroughly sanitized it is not a danger to the public.
“The truth of the matter is that there are over a half million commercial kitchen accidents every year. While most of these are minor, there is a significant number that turn out to be serious or even fatal. There is no doubt that you’ve eaten salad that has been chopped by a knife that has taken off the tip of a finger. You’ve had steaks prepared on grills that have burned off layers of skin, and might have even enjoyed a pickle made in a brining tank where someone drowned. As distasteful as it is, there isn’t anything illegal about using a grinder that killed someone as long as it is properly sanitized.”
For his part, Abramo says that he personally oversaw the cleaning of the grinder and thinks most of the pushback about the Chop House vigil is by people who didn’t know Tony or competitors trying to manufacture outrage.
“Tony was a part of our food family, and I know it must be killing him that he left such a terrible impression on our customers. As much as I hate to admit it, a good dining experience isn’t completely about the food. It’s about fun and atmosphere too. People don’t want to hear blood-curdling screams when enjoying a shrimp cocktail or watch a man being killed by a piece of commercial kitchen equipment while eating their soup.
We’re killing two birds with one stone, by giving Tony a do-over while we celebrate his life with the best burger anywhere at a substantially reduced cost. I personally know that Tony believed in every one of the 2730 calories inside our new foie gras triple SSHAM burger.
Some may think being ground alive in front of a horrified audience is a terrible way to go, but those of us who worked with Tony know he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Well…maybe being boiled alive in bone broth or bleeding out from a deep cut from the rib saw, but definitely in our kitchen. It was his home, and we’re going to have one last discounted home-cooked meal in his memory.”
