Aku Eats Oahu : Local Grindz : Plate Lunch

Plate Lunch

Please go to the following links for your favorite plate lunch stops on Oahu, Hawaii:

Page 1: L&L, Locomoco, Grace's, Rainbow's, Sugoi's, Bob's, KJ's, Meg's, En Fuego's, Jurison's, Pee Wee, BBQ Town.

Page 2: Karen's Kitchen, HK's, Byron's, Keneke's, Lahaina Chicken Company, Kiawe Grill, Tae's Teppanyaki, New Diner's, Papa Ole's, Dirty Lickin's.

Kicked-Up Plate Lunch: Kakaako Kitchen, Diamond Head Market & Grill, Nico's at Pier 38, Dean's, North Shore Grinds, Kahai St. Kitchen, Your Kitchen, Food Company.

Da Big Boy’z: Rainbow’s for teri-beef and boneless chicken w/gravy plates; Sugoi’s for garlic chicken; Bob’s for local-style BBQ meat plates; KJ’s for fried chicken plates; HK's for deep-fried ahi w/teri sauce and fried noodles; all kicked-up plate lunch spots are great.

One of the best Hawaiian-style bbq-mixed plates on the island comes from Bob's BBQ in Kalihi.

As we continue moving through our list of local-type foods, we find the venerable force of nature known simply as “plate lunch” – two scoop(s) rice, one scoop mac(aroni) salad, and a hefty portion of meat or other entree. Along with Chinese restaurants and American fast-food outlets, you'll find these humble locales anywhere and everywhere you look in the islands! And forget about the sophisticated type, those advocators of healthy fare, the calorie police pushing sprouts on rye and tofu patties! Something more substantial is required here for the local bruddahs! We’re talking all starch and protein, and nothing else besides the 32-40oz. giant Coke to further raise the State’s already astronomical blood sugar levels.

Many find the heavy flavorings and robust qualities of the plate lunch irresistible, especially when considering the low prices which will only set you back from $4-$8 per plate. Typical of this type of fare are the Hawaiian BBQ meats. Our BBQ comes not from the red-colored, American-style version, but from the Japanese shoyu/sugar base called teriyaki, only sweeter (usually). A mixed BBQ plate is a good bet to sample several choices, and usually comes with thin-sliced beef, kal-bi short ribs, and boneless chicken, although variations do abound. Other popular menu items are chicken katsu (like a boneless cutlet, but instead using Japanese panko flakes as a coating), hamburger steak or roast pork w/gravy, mochiko (a sweet Japanese flour) or garlic chicken, beef stew or curry, and loco-moco, which is a mound of rice topped with hamburger steak, one or two fried eggs, and brown gravy – a local specialty!

Though plate lunch houses do have a reputation for being heavy and fattening, some of the health implications can actually be side-stepped to a degree and can, in fact, be much healthier than a typical fast-food meal. The BBQ chicken with skins taken off or a grilled mahimahi plate is not a bad meal at all if you go easy on the mac salad or choose the veggie’s instead, and if there is brown rice available, we’re talking health-food territory! The huge portions customarily given on a single plate can also be mitigated by sharing between two and sometimes even three people, while mini-plates, which can dip south of $4, are another great option and usually substantial for one person.

Plate lunches are usually either take-out or eaten in simple, self-service tables that may or may not be very inviting. You may choose to take-out, in which case it is a good idea to ask for your mac salads on the side because as a cold mayonnaise item, it can get warm and runny when enclosed for too long in your plate alongside hot rice and entrees.

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