Okazuya

How's da spread? Okazuya shops like Gulick Deli may look small and homely, but with choices like this, how can you go wrong? And there's still two more full counters of food other than this one to choose from while here!

Okazu, meaning any item on your plate outside the rice, and ya, meaning store, are both Japanese words, but the local influence and history of okazuya in the islands is long and well-established. You will find such local staples as shoyu hotdog, hamburger steak w/brown gravy, corned beef hash, and golden-brown, fried chicken thighs, all deriving a likeness to the plate lunch and very un-Japanese-ish. Even the shrimp tempura found here is a local version, with a decidedly thick batter that is nothing like the delicate, light, and flaky coating of the real thing. There are, however, many traditional Japanese items that remain reasonably true to the culture, such as kinpira gobo (burdock root), konbu maki (pork and gobo wrapped in a thick seaweed wrap), okara (a healthy soy by-product from the process of making tofu), and namasu (a pickled mix of vegetables, primarily cucumber). Unlike the two scoops of rice found at plate lunch houses, rice here is most often chosen in the form of musubi (rice balls) or local-style inari and maki sushi. Musubi is perhaps more popular at the okazuya, and comes wrapped in nori (dried seaweed) and flavored with salt, unlike sushi, which is flavored with a sweetened vinegar base.

Plate of local and Japanese-inspired items from Gulick Deli, tucked away on a small back-road in Kalihi Town.

The wide variety of items are chosen through a glass panel and your choices are arranged on a single plate. They charge per item, and the spread before you is tempting to both sight and smell, so try not to get too carried away without keeping the tab in mind. Instead of the paper plate housed in a brown-bag sheath with rubberbands stretched around it for take-out, as in days gone by, you’ll more typically find your food packed in Styrofoam housings commonly used by plate lunch houses, and you’ll probably have to take your plates to go, as there very few, if any, tables provided.

Hours are not listed because another famous trait of many okazuya places is that they start really early in the day, as in before the sun shines early, and end, not at this am or that pm, but whenever they run out of food, which could be before the lunch hour even arrives! Mondays also find many of these stops closed for business in the tradition of older Japanese eateries. These small, family establishments and are not known for customer service or fancy décor, but for tasty, old-fashioned, local comfort food (with a Japanese bent) and a nostalgic look at the past - they can’t be beat!

Da Big Boy’z: Mitsuken for garlic chicken; Fukuya and Gulick Delicatessen for cleanliness and variety; others all noteworthy.

The popular Mitsuken bento, with furikake rice, hotdog, teri beef, Spam, and, of course, the mouth-watering dish that made this shop - garlic chicken!

Mitsuken. A Closer Look. 1223 N. School St. in Kalihi. 848-5573. Parking on street. Prices: $. Map. The Godfather, if you will, of okazuya, and famous for having the best garlic chicken on the island because, well, virtually noone else even had a garlic chicken! Nowadays, almost every local grinds spot carries this popular dish, and the battle has become a hotly-contested one. Sugoi's plate lunch, in particular, has been a worthy challenger, but there are plenty of sleeper's out there these days. Mitsuken’s version carries a very traditional taste, not quite as sweet nor as crispy as most newer versions found at Sugoi’s and other spots. They are also known for cheap fried rice and breakfast plates. Remember that they do not have a parking lot so you must park on the busy street fronting the store, preferably with a get-away driver standing-by.

Mitsuba. 1218 N. School St. in Kalihi. 841-3864. Parking in small lot outside store or on street. Prices: $. Map. Kalihi seems to be a bastion for okazuya’s. These guys are actually located right across the street from Mitsuken, and have a big advantage over them because they actually have a parking lot! It is small, though, and you may still have to find parking on the street. Their garlic chicken is also very good, with a sweeter taste and crispier skin than their competition across the pavement. A hodge-podge mix of ceramic bowls, plates, and pans house a large variety of different items, from musubi and local-style sushi to nishime, miso butterfish, croquettes, corned-beef hash/potato patties, and tempura.

Another great okazuya with a huge spread is Fukuya on S. King St.

Fukuya. 2710 S. King St. in McCully/Moilili. 946-2073. Parking in small lot outside store or on street. Prices: $. Map. One of the larger, more “polished” okazuya outlets, they have one of the largest selections of Japanese and local items for take-out, even making their own mochi and cookies in-house. They have several set variety plates, also, in case you get overwhelmed with choices and just need to simplify life a bit.

Gulick Deli. A Closer Look. 2 locations: 1512 Gulick Ave. in Kalihi (map shown), 847-1461; and 1936 S. King St. in McCully/Moilili, 941-2835. Parking on street (Gulick) or in lot outside store (King st.). Prices: $. Map. The original Kalihi location has been serving up all the favorites for many years, with long lines waiting for their signature fried chicken, teri hamburger, and chow fun noodles, but you can now find them in town at their King St. location. If you travel a little further down from the Gulick ave. site, towards the ocean, you’ll find another great, but lesser-known and much-smaller okazuya called Matsumoto’s.

Matsumoto's may not have the huge spread like Gulick up the street, but there are still some great, olf-fashioned grindz found!

George’s Delicatessen. 1317 S. Beretania St. in McCully/Moiliili. 597-8069. Closed on Sunday. Parking on street. Prices: $. Map. One of the oldest okazuya’s around, this tried and true eatery has some great home-style comfort food at really good prices. Order as much or as little as you want of the local-style sushi, musubi, nishime, shrimp tempura, fried fish, teriyaki beef, spam, and the like, or purchase ready-made combination trays.

Sekiya’s. A Closer Look. 2746 Kaimuki Ave. in Kaimuki. 732-1656. Parking outside store. Prices: $. Map. Besides its okazuya counter, Sekiya’s also has a sit-down restaurant famous for hot bowls of local-style saimin, and the teri chicken sticks are also very good. Yes, they did have an E. Coli scare in early '08, but have since taken drastic measure to beat the problem. Let's just hope we don't see them on the front page anymore!

Impressive-looking plate of goodies from Sekiya's in Kaimuki. Top row - kinpira gobo, sweet potato tempura, and kinpira gobo. Bottom row - musubi, shoyu hotdog, shoyu chicken, and shrimp tempura.

Masa & Joyce. 45-582 Kamehameha Hwy. in Kaneohe. 235-6129. Parking outside store. Prices: $. Map. This outfit has grown to include other items as well, like Hawaiian plates and regular plate lunches, and is also a genuine fish market, complete with poke, sashimi, and other seafood choices.

Maruki-Tei. 46-056 Kamehameha Hwy. at the Windward Mall S.C. in Kaneohe. Closed by 5pm on Sunday. Parking in center lot. Prices: $. Map. I wonder how such a small store can have such a wide variety of dishes! There are okazuya items such as chicken tofu, pork w/pumpkin, chow fun noodles, tempura, nishime, namasu, and so much more, as well as sushi, Hawaiian food, donburi, and saimin. Great place for either a small snack while perusing the mall or a full meal anytime of the day.

Maru-Hi. 95-1249 Meheula Parkway at the Town Center of Mililani. 623-5848. Parking in center lot. Prices: $. Map. This is actually a casual sit-down restaurant with an okazuya behind the store. The restaurant side has your typical family teishoku, donburi, and combination meals, while the okazuya offers fried chicken, teriyaki sticks, musubi, kinpira gobo, and many other items, including Korean meat Jhun.

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