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About a year ago my wife and I were eating plate lunches. (plate lunch = some meat main dish, macaroni salad, white rice) We commented on how we really like them. But...had we not lived here for a while and grown accustomed to them, we admitted we would not like plate lunch style foods at all.
Let's get the new arrivals started right with the classic plate lunch "recipe," which goes something like this, preferably recited with a sing-song lilt...
"You get your two scoops rice, one scoop macaroni salad, and your main dish."
Main dish could be spam teriyaki, kālua pig, huli huli chicken, lau lau (pork & butterfish wrapped in taro leaves), any number of delectable things. Even a burrito, at Zippy's (see below). But "two scoops rice," not "of rice," and one scoop macaroni salad (or potato salad today, or cole slaw) and a hot dish was an affordable meal served up to farm workers and dock hands doing hard physical labor all day, and needing a filling, hi carb "plate lunch" to keep them going.
For those of us who lead less physical and more sedentary life styles today, "plate lunch" has to be a more occasional indulgence, but it surely is classic Hawaiian soul food, and you can find versions of it served in general stores, from food trucks, even in gas stations all over the state, and normally not for a lot of money. WAY more filling and less expensive than stopping at a chain fast food place like McD's.
The only thing I can say I liked right away was Kailua Pig and Cabbage. So if I recommended any local foods, it would be Kailua Pig and Cabbage in a plate lunch.
Again, it's kālua pig, not kailua pig. Easy mistake to make, and not a huge deal, but it tags you as a malahini (newbie).
Speaking of plate lunch, several good places to get one on Kaua'i are:
- Pono market in "old" town Kapa'a, across from the cemetary. Don't forget the lomi salmon, too.
- Mark's Place, in the Puhi industrial area.
- Suokea's lunch window outside the grocery store in old town Koloa.
Speaking of plate lunch, several good places to get one on Kaua'i are:
- Pono market in "old" town Kapa'a, across from the cemetary. Don't forget the lomi salmon, too.
- Mark's Place, in the Puhi industrial area.
- Suokea's lunch window outside the grocery store in old town Koloa.
We will be back on Kaua'i next year - can't wait to try the plate lunch from these places.
When we were there last year, our girls kept saying over and over that they did not want to try plate lunch and so we didn't . . . until the day before we left, from some place in Honolulu. Their reaction was: "You mean we could have been having this every day?" They loved every bite, especially the macaroni salad.
Location: Central Bay Area, CA as of Jan 2010...but still a proud Texan from Houston!
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Thanks everyone...the responses are so wonderful!!!
OK now for the really silly question. Is good wine available for a reasonable price in Kawai? I love red wine and I love full bodied reds. I am wondering if I should bring my own...say 3 bottles.
Now I am counting down the days till I make it to paradise!
Pokē (pronounced kind of like bouquet... po kay.. Means "cut up") is a cold seafood salad, made from fish like cubed raw ahi tuna, lomi-lomi (smoked salmon with tomatoes), Tako (sliced octopus), etc. mixed with other ingredients like soy sauce and seaweed and sliced onions, and served as an appetizer. Kind of like a sushi salad, without the rice.
Lau lau is kalua pork, best kine with a piece of butterfish added, wrapped in edible taro leaves and tied in a bundle, then steam/smoked. Looks like a big green tamale. Ridiculously delicious.
Another classic is saimin. Kind of a cross between a Japanese ramen noodle, Filipino pancit, and Chinese mein, also reminiscent of Vietnamese Pho, but uniquely Hawaiian, saimin is served in a big bowl with delicious broth and a variety of ingredients, like meats, veggies, hard boiled eggs. It's so popular in Hawai'i that most supermarkets have a cooler case stocked with several varieties of fresh, not dried saimin noodles for preparation at home.
Location: Central Bay Area, CA as of Jan 2010...but still a proud Texan from Houston!
7,484 posts, read 10,447,145 times
Reputation: 8955
Quote:
Originally Posted by OpenD
These are key elements of Hawaiian soul food.
Pokē (pronounced kind of like bouquet... po kay.. Means "cut up") is a cold seafood salad, made from fish like cubed raw ahi tuna, lomi-lomi (smoked salmon with tomatoes), Tako (sliced octopus), etc. mixed with other ingredients like soy sauce and seaweed and sliced onions, and served as an appetizer. Kind of like a sushi salad, without the rice.
Lau lau is kalua pork, best kine with a piece of butterfish added, wrapped in edible taro leaves and tied in a bundle, then steam/smoked. Looks like a big green tamale. Ridiculously delicious.
Another classic is saimin. Kind of a cross between a Japanese ramen noodle, Filipino pancit, and Chinese mein, also reminiscent of Vietnamese Pho, but uniquely Hawaiian, saimin is served in a big bowl with delicious broth and a variety of ingredients, like meats, veggies, hard boiled eggs. It's so popular in Hawai'i that most supermarkets have a cooler case stocked with several varieties of fresh, not dried saimin noodles for preparation at home.
Thanks
Poke sounds very yummy as well as saimin and I can't wait to try them!
Location: Central Bay Area, CA as of Jan 2010...but still a proud Texan from Houston!
7,484 posts, read 10,447,145 times
Reputation: 8955
^^^^ Thank you!
You guys are so nice you remind me of Texans
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They loved every bite, especially the macaroni salad.
Is good wine available for a reasonable price in Kawai? I love red wine and I love full bodied reds. I am wondering if I should bring my own...say 3 bottles.
