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Megs Drive In, a closer look
A Few More Takes on Meg's Drive-In Honolulu!
 Pomai checks out Meg's Drive-In Kalihi! |
 Yelper's on Meg's Drive-In Honolulu! |
Russel and Lyle find bargains at Meg's Drive-In! |
Aloha!
7/22/10 - I've been wanting to throw a link up to Pomai's Tasty Island site on two of my last three Closer Look's, but for some reason, the pics on a bunch of his pages are down. I sure know how that goes. He is in the process of correcting them, but it just takes a while, is all. I've decided to include a link to his Meg's visitation even though it's void of pics right now, as hopefully, it'll be corrected one day and someone visiting six months or so down the line will see them!
Anyhow, cross our fingers, but Kumi and I have been pretty good about staying away from expensive dinners so far, seeing as our countdown to Scandinavia beckons from right around the corner. While Kumi, being from Japan, doesn't really appreciate the greasy virtues and countless calories so many plate lunch houses are known for, I, on the other hand, have been happily reacquainting myself with the local bruddah inside. But don't tell her that. Can't be giving wifey more fuel to the fire of me gaining ten pounds around the waist, losing an inch around the chest and biceps, and finding whatever bricks I once had turning to ay brick since we first met over six years ago!
Just kidding. Not about my mid-life physical demise, that is, but about the fact that she does, in fact, know full-well that I'll wait till she's at work before hitting-up such places with mom, sis, bro'-in-law, friends, whoever!
Meg's Drive-In is housed on Waiakamilo St., just above the Dillingham intersection corner where the more well-known Bob's BBQ plate lunch house is located. And if you do a brisk plate lunch business only steps away from Bob's BBQ, which Meg's does, you gotta be doing something right!
A couple of years ago, I did a series on the differences between 3 local grindz institutions - plate lunch, okazuya, and local bento. There, I explained that there is a distinction between Chinese-style and truly local-style plate lunch, even though both are still considered local. Meg's Drive-In happens to be of the latter class; an old-school, local bruddah hang-out that makes no excuses for a few rough edges here and there (mostly dealing with exterior stuff and not really food!). They'll never consider it all a fashion show, so don't go expecting limousine service and bubbly. If there ever were truck stops on the island, with their inexpensive diners and fair share of gruff, industrial-looking patrons, I could easily see Meg's as a bona-fide island pitstop. I mean, first think Kalihi. Then add the word Plate lunch. Then, lots of construction workers and yes, truck drivers, too. Finally, mix-in a few local sistah's at the counter with either a strong Filipino accent or pidgin that'd make Bu La'ia proud, or a combination of both. I think... I think... Aaai like it!
Kumi'd probably feel out of place if she were here, but I put on my best pidgin and blended-in like a single tako on a flattened bed of coral rock. Got a few rough edges, myself, ya know?
There's ample room to eat both inside and out, along with a counter each serving both areas. As you can imagine, it's nothing fancy, with classic jealousies just like at grandpa's house, free self-serve water straight from the Coleman (that didn't have any plastic cups today!), and your customary laundry list of storage items intruding into the customer dining area - cases of soda, boxes of napkins, etc! It's all laid-back and eee-zee here, no worries. And shirts optional, as you can see:
As you can also see, the menu board is large and diverse, with normal plate lunch fare like chicken katsu, teriyaki beef, hamburger steak, and beef curry as well as step-up's like NY steak, shrimp scampi, ahi sashimi, and Portuguese bean soup, all in the $6-$9 range! Dat's inkwedible! But I believe the biggest and best steal of 'em all is their opakapaka, that most expensive of fish normally served in the best Hawaii Regional Cuisine restaurants! Done Chinese-style, with shoyu, green onion, and hot, sizzling peanut oil, it's only served on Thursdays and Fridays and many come just for this particular special on these days.
Another well-known dish Meg's has long been known for is their beef stew. I remember hearing about it 15-20 years ago, when I don't know if it was Meg himself or his son who came from Japan and spiced-up the recipe. Was it any different from normal plate lunch stew?
Here's the biggest thing I see, see: a typical plate lunch stew comes void of what I call the luuuv. Luuuv is the bits and pieces of broken beef, vegetable fiber (that acts like a cornstarch), and other residue that permeates the gravy of the stew. In the case of fancy restaurants, they tend to skim this stuff out, especially with soups, in order to create a cleaner, silkier texture and appearance; with inexpensive plate lunch houses, it can also not be there because they don't cook it long enough to diffuse its hard contents and/or simply rely too much on a straight-forward tomato sauce/ketchup mix. With Meg's version, you can easily see all the broken-edged carrots, potatoes, and beef, all of it providing lots of diffusion and also proving that this particular pot was cooked long and slow, to an extra-soft, super-tender, home-style perfection!
While I wouldn't say it was the best beef stew I'd ever tasted, it was very good. For a solid and trustworthy meal, I'd say it's definitely a safe choice.
I was a bit confused on their chicken katsu, though, that most venerable of plate lunch items:
That's because there was a fifty/fifty chance at greatness here, as half of the katsu was dark and over-cooked, leaving a drier, tougher chicken, while the other half was actually cooked perfectly. The good thing about it was that it didn't have an especially heavy coating from being breaded, or katsu'd, then thrown in the freezer for extended periods of time before frying. This one was such that it may have been just refrigerated, not frozen, but I can't tell for sure.
Also working against it was the fact that our plates sat steaming in their containers for a good half-hour or so before we ate, and that never helps. Other items like beef stew, curry, and roast pork can withstand long car rides back home reasonably well, but orders like katsu, fish, and most fried dishes suffer greatly. And like a broken record, I'll say it again: when taking out - always ask them to house your mac salads separately! Storing a cold mac salad in the same styrofoam as your other hot items leads to runny mayo and oftentimes, soft macaroni from literally cooking in the heat. There are actually some who enjoy warmed mac salad and mayo leaching into their stews or curries, but not I! I'll take it cold and stored in its own container, thank you very much, just like this:
And it'd probably behoove you to take care of the mac here at Meg's, because it's one of the better ones around. In my opinion, it's the third-best I've had so far, just behind Rainbow's and Zippy's! It's a very simple, light taste, in this way similiar to Rainbow's, and not meant as a main dish, but somehow, some way, it's always a winner.
Having to provide for my sister's beautiful little girl, we got that one fail-proof meal that never fails for the youngn's - noodles! This time, it was saimin:
Like our katsu, these noodles suffered a bit from the ride back home, softening substantially from the enclosed heat. Not that it mattered to 3-year-old Lene-girl, who happily munched her way through the bowl. Small bits of pork, green onion, colorful rounds of fishcake, and a strong, well-flavored dashi broth accompanied the softened noodles.
Once upon a time, I remember ordering a set of spicy wings here. They were excellent allright, but so tiny I thought they used pidgeons (ok, ok - not thaaat tiny!). This time, however, the wings carried that same fabulous, slightly spicy taste but were large enough to make a grown man happy, and delicious enough as a pupu in any respectable restaurant:
Veeery nice. I'd recommend these anytime. Their fries, on the other hand, were a bit boring. At plate lunch houses, the best is thick, crinkle-cut fries, but here, this is what you'll get:
One of the trademarks of a real, old-school, local-style plate lunch house is a good roast beef and roast pork w/gravy. They most often come as thin slices of meat smothered in a brown gravy, and there are some very good ones out there for the price. Usually, roast pork is much safer than roast beef, as it's much harder to mess-up a slow-cooked pork than beef, which can dry-out or become tough. Having never tried the roast beef here at Meg's Drive-In before, I gotta admit, I was a bit worried, but with one taste of the beef, my worries were quickly relieved!
Not bad at all! The pieces were soft and tender enough to easily separate by tooth or fork, and how can you go wrong smothered in brown gravy like that (although it's kinda settled to the bottom after the drive, instead of still covering the meat)?
Meg's Drive-In is a classic plate lunch house, with old-time favorites and a wide variety of menu choices. If you want cheap eats, this is definitely a great spot to check out. Don't let the rough exterior and location fool you - they do a surprisingly large amount of things pretty darn well. Check 'em out, brah!
And as long as you're there, right across the parking lot of Meg's Drive-In, oceanside, sits Keg Liquor, a small liquor store with lots of snacks and other grocery items, as well. Owner Lisa is almost always there working hard, and she's super-cool and friendly, while hubby Ken is also waaay cool. I visit about once a month or so to pick-up a new keg from them, so I've gotten to know them pretty well. Here's their store:
Next time, with all these local grindz we've been having, it's time for one of the relatively newer health food stores. I'll give you a hint - macrobiotic - and no, it ain't a return trip to Well Bento, another really great macrobiotic eatery.
Take care and Aloha till next time!
Aku
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