 |
 |
Plate Lunch, page 1
L&L. A Closer Look. Various locations. Lunch and dinner daily, breakfast at most locations daily. Parking outside stores. Prices: $. By 1976, the local plate lunch was already established in the islands, but when Johnson Kam and Eddie Flores Jr. opened up shop in that year, little did they know how their humble little store in Liliha would mature and branch into the King of the plate lunch heap. One of the few that have crossed over the ocean to Mainland states such as California, Washington, Oregon, and New York, to name a few, L&L has won acclaim and many awards as one of the top franchises in the country, opening over 190 restaurants nationwide. It continues to make all the great staples of a classic plate lunch consistently and on the cheap. If you’re having a get-together or party, the small or large trays of bbq chicken, teri-beef, chicken katsu, and other items are a great and economical way to fill everyone up.
| These L&L Hawaiian BBQ outlets are popping up everywhere, including here inside the giant Wal-Mart on Keeaumoku st. |  |
Locomoco. Various locations. Lunch and dinner daily. Parking outside stores. Prices: $. For some reason, even though plate lunch stops are wildly popular, mostly all are individual, family-owned eateries as opposed to larger chains or franchises. Locomoco could possibly be the next plate lunch establishment to hit it big, after the path blazed by L&L. It seems to have enough business sense and consistency, and their various locations are reasonably busy. The Hawaii Kai location, at the Koko Marina Shopping Center, has been renovated with attractive pastel colors and a modern surf motif. It is a perfect stop just a minute’s drive from beautiful Hanauma Bay.
Grace’s. 3 locations: 1296 S. Beretania st. in McCully/Moiliili, (map shown) 593-2202; 98-820 Moanalua rd. in Pearl City, 484-2028; and the Market City S.C. in Kaimuki, 732-0041. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily. Parking outside stores. Prices: $. Map. Grace’s is a classic local eatery that has been around for a while. They are different for including kim-chee and chow fun noodles to their plates, although neither is any cause for celebration. The plates are good, however, and unlike most places that only offer a few set combination plates, here you have the option of mixing and matching any combination of different entrees.
 |
A long-time favorite, especially for surfers from nearby Waikiki and Diamond Head breaks, Rainbow's has great local grinds and super-fast service at beach-bum prices. |
Rainbow’s. A Closer Look. 1029 Kapahulu Ave. in Kapahulu. 735-5505. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily. Parking outside store. Prices: $. Map. A favorite stop for many generations, this historical site has a simple, economical chili that is probably the second most popular on the island after Zippy’s, along with one of the best macaroni salads. The boneless chicken w/gravy, teri-beef, and mahimahi are all great, and you can get all three on the same plate if you want by ordering the mixed plate special. The BBQ burgers are high on taste, but don’t expect much on quality. When ordering be sure to specify if you want a sliced meat-type burger or a ground meat-type burger, because they may or may not ask. The strawberry-flavored slush with ice cream is super-sweet and delicious. The line at the counter often looks menacing, but don’t worry because it moves faster than any other place in town – you may have a plate in hand before your wallet even slips back into your pocket! The tables provided are self-service and a bit dirty, so you might want to drive to nearby Kapiolani Park or Waikiki to eat – actually, they’re just as dirty, but at least you’ll have a nice view.
 |
Rising Superstar - you'll wonder how they fuse so much garlic taste and smell into their garlic chicken plate at Sugoi's in Kalihi. |
Sugoi’s. 1286 Kalani St. at the City Square S.C. in Kalihi. 841-7984. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily except closed Sunday. Parking in center lot. Prices: $. Map. This newcomer from Kalihi has exploded onto the plate lunch scene with the help of their heavy-hitting entrée, the garlic chicken plate. Very sweet, very crispy, very delicious, and most noticeable of all – very garlicky! Open up this plate at the office and you will have the entire floor coming at you for a closer inspection, led by their up-turned noses. I don’t really know how they put so much garlic flavor into that chicken, but oh, my! The other items like mochiko chicken, yakisoba, and combination bento plates are also fabulous, but you’ll have a hard time veering from the item that requires the breath mints.
Bob’s BBQ. A Closer Look. 1366 Dillingham Blvd. in Kalihi. 842-3663. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Parking outside store. Prices: $. Map. This little lot on the very visible corner of Dillingham and Waiakamilo Rd. has been popular with locals for a good reason – Hawaiian-style BBQ. Whether it’s beef, chicken, kal-bi ribs, pork, or any other meaty variety, all come in a well-marinated sauce that is a bit on the sweet side and one of the best anywhere. Unlike most plate lunch places, they have American-style BBQ also, with the sweet red sauce dripping all over the baby-backed ribs, pork, and chicken. On the cheap side, the ground beef BBQ burger is one of the best economical burgers around. The tables here are pretty dirty and sitting on a car emission-choked intersection, so you may want to take-out to a comfortable park.
KJ’s. 45480 Kaneohe Bay Dr. at the Windward City S.C. in Kaneohe. 235-5799. Lunch and dinner daily, except closed at Sunday evening at 5pm. Parking in center lot. Prices: $. Map. The ticket here is the gigantic plate of fried chicken. The six plus-sized thighs are so hefty they literally can’t fit on the plate! While three pieces are crammed into the Styrofoam housings and are large enough for most appetites, the other three pieces overflow into a foil pouch alongside to complete your single order! They are best eaten fresh, while the meat inside is still tender and juicy and the skin still extra crispy, as it tends to lose its appeal when left sitting for too long. They also have a wide variety of other foods, such as the popular furikake chicken, as well as homey-sounding dishes like stuffed bell peppers, stuffed cabbage, and meatballs w/gravy. The mac salad is unique in that spaghetti noodles are used exclusively instead of the regular macaroni, and flakes of canned tuna are mixed in with the mayo. All the plates are huge here, so come ready to gorge!
 |
The beef stew at Meg's is a bit more complex than a typical plate lunch stew, with more beef and less of that "canned-tomato" taste. |
Meg’s Drive-Inn. A Closer Look. 743 Waiakamilo Rd. in Kalihi. 524-4260. Lunch and dinner daily. Parking outside store. Prices: $. Map. Getting most of the attention at this longtime Kalihi eatery is the beef stew. It is a bit more complex than most beef stew plates which are often simply drowned in canned tomato sauce, and has a darker, richer tint that you know comes from the natural beef drippings and flavors. These guys run the gamut with a wide variety of plate lunch fare, from simple stuff to haughty step-up's like NY steak, shrimp scampi, and even opakapaka (Thursday and Friday only!). The fried wing dings are delicious, coming packed with golden-fried flavor and a slight heat, making them perfect for pupus. Both the roast pork and roast beef, sometimes with stuffing, is moist and tender, with a home-made flavor and covered in dark brown gravy. Another big plus here is the mac salad, which in my book, places above anyone else except for Zippy’s and Rainbow Drive-Inn. It is your basic flavoring of mayo and macaroni, but comes with an extra zing that I honestly can’t put a finger on. Just trust me!
En Fuego Grill and Poke. 590 Farrington Hwy. at the Marketplace S.C. in Kapolei. 674-8805. Lunch and dinner daily. Parking in center lot. Prices: $. Map. This west-side spot has grown in popularity, sporting a wide variety of local favorites like Hawaiian plates, bento, burgers, salads, and of course, the plate lunch. With a mini-fish market in-house, they also have many selections of poke available and do a lot of catering as well. Its sister restaurant, Yosh (500 Ala Moana Blvd. at the Restaurant Row near Downtown Honolulu, 537-4573), is also popular with Downtown office workers looking for a quick, cheap bite and respite from their long workdays at the office.
Jurison’s Inn. 94-799 Lumiaina st. at the Waikele S.C. in Waikele. 676-1171. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily. Parking in center lot. Prices: $. Map. Out in Waikele, if you’re visiting the Outlet Mall, stop by Jurison’s for a good plate lunch. The place has a varied menu and a clean, comfortable dining area. Instead of just rice and mac salad as side dishes, it also serves salted bean sprouts and corn as well, not that this will draw much attention. The mochiko and garlic chicken plates are very good, as is the interesting hibachi (fire-grilled) tofu. If you can get out early, the buttermilk pancakes are great because unlike most places, you can actually taste the buttermilk!
| Old-school eats like this delicious teri-burger are found at long-time establishment, Pee-Wee Drive-Inn. |  |
Pee Wee Drive-Inn. A Closer Look. 1602 S. King St. in McCully/Moiliili. 949-5781. Breakfast and lunch daily, except closed on Sunday. Parking outside store. Prices: $. Map. One of the classic, old-school plate lunch houses on the island. Despite changing ownership three times over the past several decades, Pee Wee Drive-Inn has long held a steady clientele of faithful patrons, coming for meals straight out of grandma’s kitchen! The daily-rotating menu of special plates, at about 6-10 items, is almost as big as the regular plate menu, where you’ll find such favorites as teri beef, veal cutlet, hamburger steak, and a really great chicken katsu. Other than that, the menu remains simple and old-school, with a very popular teri burger, saimin, fried saimin, mixed bentos, and, because the current owners are Korean, such things as mandoo and meat jun. Cheap breakfast plates of rice, two eggs, and Portuguese sausage, luncheon meat, spam, or bacon will set you back $4.25, and that’s up from $3.99 just a short while ago!
BBQ Town. A Closer Look. 820 W. Hind Dr. at the Aina Haina S.C. 373-3128. Lunch and dinner daily. Parking in center lot. Prices: $. Map. Located at the Aina Haina Shopping Center, with Foodland, Chuck E. Cheese, and McDonald’s, this tiny operation doesn’t fall short when it comes to food. Portions are a shade on the small side, but the variety is pretty good, with a different daily special of a two-entrée combo plate made available each day. The thing to get here, however, is the teri beef, which is one of the best anywhere, coming with a teriyaki marinade that is on the darker side, sweet and shoyu-salty at the same time. There’s only a few tables, so you may have to take-out during peak lunchtime hours.
 |
One of the best teri beef plates anywhere is found at a tiny-little shop in the Aina Haina Shopping Center called BBQ Town. |
-------------------------------
Comments:
JL (7/15/09) - I like the site...it offers a variety of places but i dont agree with you on locomoco being the next plate lunch place to hit it big, ive eaten there a few times and refuse to go back, the food sucks!
Aku (7/15/09) - Thanks for the complements! Just to clarify, the main guide pages we are in now are much different animals than the Closer Look pages - the first is a more generic description, void of too much opinion, while the latter is more of a blog, so I get a lot juicier. When I wrote Locomoco could be the next to hit it big (main pages), I did say in terms of business structure and sense (not the food!), much like in the way of L&L, which is wildly popular even though I wouldn't consider them particularly good, even as compared to the other plate lunch houses. The Big Boy'z list, placed at the beginning of each particular food type section (main pages), does list my favorites for each section, and neither L&L nor Locomoco is found there. But Hey, thanks for writing and sharing some input! That's always welcome, brah!
----------------------------------
Post a Comment or just say hello! Don't worry about leaving REAL names if you don't want to! Changing to Code names are fine, but just stay consistent with your code names, allright? No e-mails will be posted without consent! Hope to hear from you all, even if you disagree!
