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Uncle Bobo, a closer look
 Uncle Bobo's official Site! |
 Yelper's on Uncle Bobo's Kaaawa! |
 Trip Advisor reviews on Uncle Bobo's! |
Aloha!
12/5/10 - I swears, every time we venture out to the North Shore, there's always something new and interesting to see. Just getting there in the first place was highly memorable this time, as Kumi and I were doing our best karaoke all the way down, at the top of our lungs, to love songs from the 70's and 80's, thanks to a massive collection my brother just lent me on his hard drive! Upon arriving at our first stop, Sunset Beach, a diver just happened to emerge from a session that even my pro surfer buddy and free diver Kirby Fukunaga would be proud of! I don't know who he was, but a guy diving alone, right from shore, with at least 25 lbs of fresh moana kali, mu, palani, and uhu on his back sure does have some serious skills!
All that singing and sightseeing made for two hungry campers, but instead of experimenting with another shrimp truck, we back-tracked to Kaaawa (yes, there's 3 A's in that name!) for lunch. I've been hearing for a long time about a particular hole-in-the-wall there, one I initially thought was another plate lunch spot when it opened a while back, but is actually oooh, so much more!
In arriving for the first time, it's probably easier to locate its more conspicuous neighbors. Directly across the street is Swanzy Beach Park, with its public bathroom and mini-kids school. Keep this restroom in mind, too, as there is no bathroom provided at the eatery we're visiting today:
And also next to the place on the Haleiwa side is the Kaaawa 7-Eleven, with its back-drop of coconut trees and the beautiful Koolau Mountain range:
The name is Uncle Bobo's, and it also shares their small, single-story building with the Kaaawa Post Office - with all of these landmarks, you can't miss it!
It's about as humble as it gets in appearance, with both indoor and outdoor seating available. Outside seemed like a good idea to us, as there was a slight cloud cover and plenty of gentle trades to keep things cool, but it didn't take long before flies made us pack-up and ship-out to a nearby beach, instead.
Here's a shot at the simple tables and chairs available just outside the store:
Inside, it's cheesy Western Tavern meets old local diner:
At least there's no flies!
Though there is a window and menu outside, you're gonna have to walk inside to order from a counter area:
The reason I say Uncle Bobo's is so much more than a plate lunch house is because besides typical plate lunch favorites like chicken katsu, garlic chicken, hamburger steak, and mahimahi, they also carry shave ice, espresso's, acai bowls, smoothies, and the biggest ticket of them all - a wide range of smoked bbq products. And we're talking the real thing, too, as in meats properly cooked for hours, American-style, in a genuine smoker!
Here's the main menu section I lifted from Tim W. on Yelp, who was kind enough to allow us all a peek:
As you can see, there's a few plate lunch items, but from the looks of Yelp and Trip Advisor reviewers above, I don't think anyone ever orders anything but smoked bbq items like brisket, pork shoulder, ribs, chicken, or bbq meat sandwiches. Owners Bob and Keiko do all of their smoking right behind the restaurant, and make no mistake about it, this is genuine American BBQ!
Meats can be in either plated form, with rice and two sides, or as a sandwich with fries:
Bob calls it a sloppy Joe of sorts, only instead of ground meat he uses chopped, shredded meats tossed in their home-made bbq sauce, which is very much on the sweet, tangy side and comes with small chunks of what seemed like pineapple - but don't quote me on that!
Besides our sandwich, our only other order was a plate, only this was no ordinary plate. At $18.50, it came with our choice of 3 different meats, whereupon I promptly decided on ribs, brisket, and chicken, leaving-out only the pork shoulder:
The ribs in the foreground were about as soft and tender as I've had at any smokehouse anywhere. A telltale smoke ring of pink appears on the outsides from a blend of hickory and oak, but these meats as a whole weren't quite as redolent and full of smoky taste as I've seen around. That's not necessarily a bad thing, however, as there's a nice touch to the meats here - not quite as bold and flavorful, but with a kind of delicate, more subtle quality that I really appreciated.
Besides white rice you can also get what they call redneck rice (seen above), which comes with some type of wild grains mixed-in. Actually, I didn't much care for it at all, as the rice was mushy and while the wild grains gave it an extra, almost health food-like kick, don't expect added savoriness or flavors like a fried rice or something similiar.
It was tough deciding whether the ribs or the brisket was better, but forced to choose, I'd say a slight edge goes to the brisket:
Even softer and more tender than the ribs, these thin-siced pieces were succulent and juicy, with that same subtle smokiness and over-all delicateness. With or without bbq sauce, this brisket was a winner!
Wasn't quite as pleased with the remaining protein on our plate, though:
To be fair, it's a lot harder getting a chicken tender and juicy from smoke than it is off a sizzling grill or other quick-cooking means. Certain sections were better than others, but as a whole, I think anyone looking at a combo plate here in the future may be better off with pork shoulder instead of chicken.
Besides the rice and fries you've seen above, there are 4 other side dishes available, these being chili fries, cole slaw, ranch style beans, and mac salad. Every plate comes with white or redneck rice and also two sides of your choice. Not wanting something heavy like beans or chili fries, we went with the remaining two.
The pasta, peas, and potato in this serving of mac salad being perfectly cooked, it was, technically, a well put-together dish. Unlike a typical plate lunch mac, you could feel the extra care and skill placed herein. The lack of mayo and salt, however, which a more discriminating individual would probably appreciate greatly, didn't quite bode well for a local bruddah like me, especially when eaten at a beach park, plate lunch style! It really was nicely done, but a little more flavor would have suited me better.
Their slaw, on the other hand, came with a punch I really loved!
Once again, nicely done, and this time with a zip of tanginess and also a kind of southwestern spice to really take things over the top. The mix of regular and red cabbage was crispy-fresh, and the creamy mayo sauce brought the whole dish together to perfection.
All told, I do believe Uncle Bobo's in Kaaawa is a worthy contender as far as American Smokehouses on the island go, and I'm glad that it's not just another of a gazillion plate lunch houses around. It's not the best atmosphere in the world, and anything this far out in the country is bound to be dealing with a few quirks here and there, but for some great pink-ringed meats, it's hard to go wrong at Uncle Bobo's.
Soon enough, I wanna try the new Sweet Home Waimanalo (sounds like a vegan joint, doesn't it?). It's right over the mountain from my house, and I hear their smoked meats are also very good, with their own family recipes being used.
Hey, you all be good and make sure you get your Christmas shopping done early! Me, I haven't even started yet!
Take care, and Aloha till next time!
Aku
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