i am now craving a plate lunch. i have never been to hawaii, so i have never had this, but i want it. this description from the article is making me hungry:
have any of you guys ever had this? it kind of reminds me of what panda express and those cajun chicken places in the mall are trying to do, but much tastier. i am not one to argue with greasy meat in any form though.Drawing on the food ways of the Hawaiian Islands’ many Asian immigrant groups, and chowed down on regularly by everyone from surfers to businessmen to the future occupant of the White House, the plate lunch is simple in form but varied in its elements. Its foundation: two scoops of white rice and a side of macaroni salad, heavy on the mayonnaise.
This carbo load — usually piled into a plastic foam container — is paired with a protein, generally of the pan-Asian variety, often slathered in brown gravy. After a morning of hard work (or hard surf), one might opt for Korean kalbi or meat jun, Chinese char siu roast pork, Philippine pork adobo, Hawaiian kalua pork (a luau favorite), Japanese katsu or salmon teriyaki, Portuguese sausage, American-style beef stew, or loco moco — a hamburger patty and a fried egg.
5 comments:
i read that too! i was trying to figure out where i could get something like that around here. i think you're right, mall food is probably our closest version.
mmmmmm cidahhh
I'm not sure there is a local equivalency (mall food included) that compares to a plate lunch in Hawaii.
I just returned from Hawaii last weekend, and I tried plate lunch for the first time while there. We went to L&L Drive-In, which ironically enough, was not a drive-in at all but was in a stripmall next to a Subway (and also next to a Maui Taco - very yummy). L&L is supposed to be a local favorite in Maui, and by the looks of the crowd coming to get take-out, that seemed true (it looked like vastly more real people than tourists).
My experience with the plate lunch was not a good one. I opted for a kalua pork, which turned out to be fairly flavorless and very, very fatty. The rice was good and almost sticky, and the macaroni salad was so mayonnaisey-overloaded delicious that I liked it best.
My husband, on the other hand, got short ribs with his, and he said the marinade on the meat was a sweet soy sauced-base tang that he thought his meat was delicious.
So all in all, a mixed assessment of the plate lunch. I might have just mis-picked or hit them on a day when they were off with the kalua pork. I'd definitely try plate lunch again, and you can get it nearly everywhere "local" in Hawaii it seems...even in some of the more touristy-places like Whaler's General Stores. But the addition of the heaping helping of the macaroni salad is what made it so excellently gluttonously good.
And don't even get me started on the deliciousness that is Spam sushi, a speciality in Hawaii and other islands in the S Pacific.
sara, great review of your plate lunch experience! it is good to hear about firsthand. i still want to try it but it sounds like you have to pick the right meat. the macaroni sounds sooooo good...
NEWS FLASH: There are L&Ls all over the US now. I even found two in Texas. I just came back from Hawaii a week ago and have been really sick. I'm just getting my appetite back and guess what I'm craving??? Yes, a plate lunch. I live in Dallas and found one in Plano, Texas. So that's where I'm going after work. Haha! Try your luck on doing a search for L&L Foods. I'm sure you will find in your state. Mahalo!
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