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You Hungry, a closer look
Aloha!
8/9/09 - Such wimps. Wifey and I peered out from the air-conditioned comfort of our car, wondering if we'd made the right call. The small parking lot on the corner of Beretania and Alakea, smack-dab in the center of Downtown Honolulu's Business district, was beginning to receive the ominous attention of a few dark rainclouds hovering in from the mauka side. Kinda surprising, actually, as we are well into the dog days of summer, with our water table standing to benefit greatly from a few blessing from heaven here and there. Only, couldn't it wait just another 15 minutes or so?
In times like these, I always remember my days living in the rain-cast Northwestern coast of the Mainland for a few seasons. Straight upon arriving back home in the islands, a bunch of us were hard at play for a few weekend volleyball games up at the park, where, in the middle of a good game, we were greeted with, from out of nowhere, a sudden inundation of showers. Before you knew it, the entire park was completely empty, everyone scrambling for cover under trees, under the bathroom structure - anywhere with a roof! Everyone, that is, except for myself, who was left standing in the center of the court, ball in hand, temporarily baffled and in wonder as to what the big deal was all about!
I guess living in such an area for so long, you don't think twice, nor even blink an eye when it rains in all but the most torrential of downpours. I just had to smile and laugh inside, catch myself, calibrate my exact geographical location, and, while re-acclimating to my own band of natives in my own hometown, was then left with nothing better to do than to casually join them in huddling for shelter!
Turns out the threatening rainclouds on this particularly lovely day in Downtown Honolulu, though, produced only a few measly drops that were gone in no time, so it really wasn't too big of a decision, despite the drama I may have induced. Hey, check out these office workers, none of them with umbrella in tow, and none of them with seemingly any problems at all regarding lunch, in a shot taken right through the front windshield of my car, in-between wiper-blade rotations:
Not quite sure who owns this lot and what building it's for, but there always seems to be enough space for people to drive up and grab a quick lunch - just don't take that as a gaurantee, as I'm sure the lot owners won't take kindly to those abusing space or causing any commotion there. Just keep it on the down-low, is all, and I'm sure everything will be fine.
The folks at You Hungry lunch wagon have quite a past, first opening Ono Hawaiian Steak stands in supermarkets around the island, then acquiring both Pu'u Wainani lunch Wagon and the now-closed You Hungry plate lunch house on Atkinson, across from the Hawaii Convention Center, which now houses a Blazin' Steaks outlet, instead. I guess they're sticking with the You Hungry name, but have since put together a combination of different dishes that take advantage of all their past acquisitions.
Catering to the Downtown lunch crowd, plates arrive quickly and at prices you'll be amazed at! There are small or large plates of garlic or seared ahi salads, as well as small or large plates of mochiko or garlic chicken, hamburger steak or roast pork w/gravy, and specialties like fried poke, steak, garlic shrimp, ahi casserole, and crab-stuffed salmon, all of which range between $4.75 and $6.75! The sign on the menu board says best prices in town, and they just may be right! Each plate comes with either brown or white rice, and macaroni or vegetable salad.
One of the dishes I haven't mentioned yet is also one of their most popular, a fried ahi in wasabi butter sauce:
Taste-wise, this was probably my favorite dish of the day, though the single slice of fish was very much on the thin side. There was a crispy coating on the outsides, which allowed a good soaking from the delicious, tangy, slightly-sweet wasabi butter sauce. In fact, I would have loved another pour of that sauce, maybe over my extra scoop of rice, which would have gone great with just about any fish, chicken, and perhaps even pork dish. Definitely worth a return visit.
Wifey, in her fancy work clothes that couldn't afford one drop of rain on them, requested a shrimp plate, but they were, unfortunately, already out, despite it being only about 11:30am. Oh, and though it's not in writing, did I forget to mention you can mix and match most items on the menu? Informed of the option, I quickly changed course with a steak/garlic chicken plate:
The steak was much like other steak plate wagons and stands around the island - great flavor, sub-par-quality steak. Makes sense, though, as most are still doggedly sticking with the original $6 prices they've had since the genre's inception, and that's including a 12 oz. soft drink. What was it, about seven or eight years ago? Less?
The garlic chicken was also another familiar taste to the islands, and though you wouldn't think it because you now find it everywhere, is also a relative new-comer to the local scene, at least on a large scale. You Hungry's version is not bad at all, with its crispy, deep-fried morsels of skin-on (thank God!) chicken, which is then dipped in a sweet teriyaki sauce. Notice I didn't say garlic sauce? Well, I only say that because at most places, Sugoi's Plate Lunch being the obvious exception, only the slightest hints of garlic are evident, leaving me to conclude that at most locales, they should just call it a deep-fried teriyaki chicken!
Nevertheless, this one was great. Nice sauce and a deep-fried chicken that's not afraid to show some skin? Can't go wrong!
Don't know about you, but I'm definitely a save-the-best-for-last kind of guy. Today, however, I'm doin' the opposite! I'm going best to worst today, instead, and the last plate, despite being the one I was most looking forward to, turned out as the biggest disappointment! I can see the dish having a lot of potential and promise, especially at the $6.75 price, but one major obstacle stands in the way of that happening.
Sure is a pretty dish, though, ey? The only problem was that the salmon was hopelessly over-cooked and dry. I know it must be hard serving from a mobile wagon, but unless they find a way to compensate, I wouldn't bother ordering this dish again, no matter what the price. The crab stuffing on-top wasn't bad, but didn't carry much of a crab flavor at all, not even an imitation crab flavor, as it seemed loaded with starchy filler more than anything else. Nevertheless, it still would have been an ok dish had the salmon been reasonably moist.
Eeeh, can't complain. Except for the last dish, which was, ironically, the most photogenic, I don't see any problems at all coming back and trying a few other dishes. With these prices, we can all afford not to be too harsh and critical. We are talking about plate lunch here, with the added complications of using a mobile wagon, after all! For a quick, affordable, anytime/anywhere lunch, it's aaalll good!!!
I'll leave you with a final pic of the wagon. Nothing special, but it get's the job done!
Y'all take care and have a great weekend!
Take care and Aloha till next time!
Aku
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