NaniMoku Hawaiian BBQ

*** Nani Moku has closed

I realize that over the last couple of years, I've kinda gotten away from all da' plate lunches, and stuff like that....... Still, once in a while, I just need a plate lunch. And in spite of the many Hawaiian BBQ joints in San Diego, a good plate lunch is hard to come by. As I mentioned before, for me, all Hawaiian BBQ is a subset of plate lunch. And most Hawaiian BBQ places do not offer the variety, nor quality of food that an old school plate lunch joint would. 

I wondered, what exactly would Nani Moku be....just another Hawaiian BBQ rehash, or perhaps a good solid plate lunch.

   

I had made a trip to Nani Moku's back in September of last year, thinking I'd be visiting Da' Kine's. I was shocked to find Da' Kine's gone, and Nani Moku in its place. But after looking at the menu, it looked just like Da' Kine's with a new name. Even the staff looked the same, as did the "daily specials..... Except for a little placard that had "Loco Moco" specials..... did you say Loco Moco specials? I was so there, tucked in the pocket of my personal, gravy laden, comfort zone. I ordered the Chicken Katsu Loco ($6.95). Which to me was basically what we call a "Chicken Cutlet" back home. In Hawaii, the term Chicken Cutlet is synonymouswith Chicken Katsu with Gravy. Which this was, except for the easy over egg.......

 

And I enjoyed the very runny easy over eggs. Many places nowadays are starting to hard cook their eggs, but this was wonderfully runny, if unseasoned. I'm sure the eggs could have been a bit more crisp around the edges, but that may have been asking a bit much. The cutlet was full on Da' Kine's, thin, with lots of breading. It was moist, which was nice, and the gravy was dark and seasoned. The macaroni salad was chilled, though still lacking in salt, but better than it usually is.

 

Can you tell that I enjoyed it? I told myself to hang in there, save the photos, and return later on. Soon enough, it was a new year, and I still hadn't returned to Nani Moku. One day, I was going through and deleting photos, when I came across the Chicken Katsu Loco..... and I knew where I'd be headed for lunch......

I returned to Nani Moku, walked up to the counter......

 

And no moa' Special Loco's.... and what the heck is a "Kaluha Plate?"

 

You may say; "you know what they mean......" To which I'd reply, "oh, like ordering some Dung Pao Chicken?" At this point, the menu was Da' Kine's recycled, which, if done well is not a bad thing.

So I ordered a Three Item Mix ($8.75) to get a taste of several menu items, which was a good amount of food:

 

The Chicken Katsu was a safe bet, and was fine as always, along with the ketchup based Katsu sauce:

 

You can tell by the photo the problem with the Kalua (not Kahula) Pork and Cabbage:

 

Once upon a time, this might have been half decent, with a good pork to cabbage ratio, but what I got served was the stuff scrapped from the bottom of the chafing dish...hard and dry.

The Teriyaki BBQ Chicken was moist, but lacked a nice marinated flavor.

 

The Mac Salad was again, nicely chilled, with a perfect amount of mayo, but lacking in salt, or a good savory flavor.

 

Overall, pretty much typical inconsistent Da' Kine's...except for one thing....the rice. Da' Kine's had a bad habit of serving mushy rice. On both visits to Nani Moku, the rice was good....at least that was consistent. As to whether I'd be back.... I dunno.....

Nani Moku
1635 Sweetwater Road
National City, CA 91950

Sun - Thurs: 11am - 8pm
Fri - Sat: 11am - 9pm

Comments

[Masa AssAssin]

The Chicken Katsu Loco looks good, I love over easy eggs on top of most anything. From what I understand they that was not available on your second trip?

[Passionate Eater]

Yea, the return of the PLATE LUNCH!! Goodness, those oozing eggs really make that plate lunch "pop!"

[kat]

aww too bad the place is inconsistent, the photos look really ono!

[Carol]

I haven't gone out for Hawaiian BBQ (or a plate lunch for that matter) since Mo's closed. :-(

There is a new BBQ place by my house but I did the same thing. Went in when it first opened and after a year, still haven't been back. My first experience wasn't so good as your's, it just wasn't very good. Don't know if I can stomach going back. Maybe I should just suck it up and try it one more time. Maybe

[RONW]

es' why hard, Kirk.

[caninecologne]

yeah, i saw this new place that replaced da kine's when i was at the small japanese store next door. there's so many hawaiian places now but not all of them are good or consistent.

[Gastronomer]

Sadly, I've never dug into a plate of plate lunch. Luckily, my Hawaiian friend Liana is coming to the mainland next month and we're gonna have some plate lunch together. Do you know of any good places in the L.A. area? I'm down with quality chains too.

[Kirk]

Hi MA - The Katsu Loco wasn't available on my second visit.

Hi PE - Wouldn't be the same without it!

Hi Kat - It's never the same twice it seems....

Hi Carol - If it was that bad...maybe it's not worth it.

Hi RONW - yes, dat's why hard....

Hi CC - Most of them aren't very good.

Hi G - You're friend is coming from Hawaii, and you're getting plate lunch? Nothing comes close to the stuff back home. My favorite, when we still lived in LA, were:

Bruddah's Hawaiian Foods
1033 W. Gardena Blvd, Gardena, CA 90247

Aloha Cafe Hawaiian Restaurant
410 E. 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Just set the expectations low....

[Sammy]

OMG the katsu loco moco is making my mouth water. i don't know of anybody serving that up on Oahu. Do you know?

[Brian Bautista]

It's crazy to see all these "Hawaiian BBQ" joints all over the city. What's more worse are those self serve fro-yo places!!! Entrepreneurs always try and cash in on the latest fad. :P

[Kirk]

Hi Sammy - I haven't a clue.....but it does look good doesn't it? I really enjoyed it.

Hi Brian - The menu here is the same as Da' Kine's. And fro-yo has taken over the city......