I haven't been to Hawaii in ages. But one thing that I do miss is their "plate lunches," which are an odd combination of rice, macaroni salad, and some main, which in this case was short ribs...otherwise known as kalbi. Yep - plate lunches are an amalgamation of the various cultures in Hawaii thrown onto a single plate. The Americans contributed things like hamburger patties, the Japanese contributed things like pork cutlets, and the native Hawaiians contributed various roast pork dishes, among others.
As odd as it might seem, it really does work, and is something that I haven't had in a very long time. So when I passed by an outlet of this Hawaiian chain up here in Northern California, I made sure to stop by. It was only partially through the afternoon, I only got a "mini" portion of a plate lunch, but it was enough to give me a taste of those pork ribs, whose grilled aroma was mouth-watering. They were sweet, but that's what made it go so well with the rice and macaroni salad, the latter of which I wolfed up in seconds.
The other item on the left there is another classic Hawaiian staple that I had to get: Spam musubi. Yes, just as with above, this was another cultural marriage of Japanese musubi and American Spam. The thought of Spam might not be appealing, but I've known a few folks who have woken up to it after eating this grilled stuff. I definitely want to come back to try all of those other things that they have on their menu. I've just gotta come with a bigger stomach next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment