Paolo Dominici: Hit By A Boat?

Missing restaurateur may have been killed by boat

DNA testing has confirmed that a bone fragment recovered in the waters off Ali'i Drive is that of missing spearfisherman Paolo Dominici, 49, of San Francisco, according to Hawai'i County police.

Dominici, owner of Bacco Ristorante in Noe Valley, went spearfishing with a friend offshore of the Kona Makai Condominiums on the morning of April 11 and was reported missing after failing to return to shore. Fire department personnel found the bone fragment and other items belonging to the man, indicating he may have been run over by a boat.

Police said witnesses reported seeing a boat in the area where Dominici was believed to have been diving.

[HA: Missing restaurateur may have been killed by boat]
[NVSF: Bacco Owner Missing in Hawaii]

Bacco Owner Missing in Hawaii

SF restaurant owner missing in Hawaii
John King, Chronicle Staff Writer

(04-13) 21:22 PDT San Francisco -- The owner of a popular Noe Valley restaurant is missing in Hawaii, where he entered the ocean on a spear-fishing expedition and never returned.

Paolo Dominici of San Francisco was reported missing on Saturday in the waters off a condominium cluster in Kailua-Kona, where he was vacationing with his wife and daughter.

Dominici and a friend went into the calm waters together but became separated. Search teams have since recovered the mask, snorkel and a portion of Dominici's swim gear, but there has been no sighting of Dominici himself.

"We terminated the search today pending any new leads or developments," Reuben Chun, a battalion chief for the fire department on the big island, said Monday evening. "We don't have a comprehensive picture of what might have happened to him."

The Sunset District resident is the owner of Bacco Ristorante on Diamond Street in Noe Valley, a neighborhood fixture since it opened in 1993. Bacco made the Chronicle's list of Top 100 Restaurants in 2004; last year, on KQED's "Check, Please!," Dominici spoke proudly of making all Bacco's pasta and bread in-house.

The trip to Hawaii has been an annual ritual for Dominici and his family: "He loves the sea, the ocean, spear fishing," said Luca Zanet, a waiter at the restaurant since 1995. Zanet described his longtime employer and friend as "soft-mannered, a very nice person ... Everybody likes him."

Update: The family has called off the search.

[SFGate: SF restaurant owner missing in Hawaii]
[SFGate: Noe Valley grieves for missing restaurateur]