During my lunch at Homestyle Hawaiian; I started pondering my little blogging history with plate lunches and loco mocos in particular. When we first moved to San Diego; there were a lot less places for plate lunches. The first couple of places that I recalled having plate lunches were at Da' Kines and Kealani's, both places are now gone; I think they both now do catering. Among the next places I tried was Leilani's Café and then Da' Kitchen, which became Mo's Island Grinds, which in turn became what is now the little empire called Homestyle Hawaiian. So you could say; other than those ubiquitous L&L's and similar knock-offs, Leilani''s might be the only one of those "originals" still in place.
Which had me wondering how things were at Leilani's. So, the following morning, thank goodness Leilani's opens early, 7am, so I could beat the traffic in PB, I headed on down to see what was going on with Leilani's.
It was interesting to see that the outdoor area was pretty busy; at a few minutes past 7 on a Sunday morning. It looked like folks were having French toast and omelets. I had other things in mind. Since it had been nearly 9 months since my last Loco Moco, I decided on the Hilo Loco ($11), which is what I had on my last visit over three years ago.
Since my musings seem to take me back to the last decade; I though I'd bust out the "Modified Rubio scale", first developed in September of 2005, a while 13 years ago, a version of "loco scoring", first done by James Rubio in his now dormant food blog; Big Island Grinds.
For those playing at home - "The original Rubio Scale measured each item on the Loco, I decided to take the "base" items, the Burger, Gravy, Egg, and Rice. To this I added "Stuffs", that include macaroni salad, Spam, or any other item that comes with the Loco. All items are graded on a scale between 1 through 5, with 2.5 being average."
So, let's have at it shall we?
BURGER: Obviously hand formed with little filler; making it a bit on the tough and dry side. It was quite thick, with a decent beefiness, but could have used more seasoning. Adding a nice char would have brought up the score - 3.0
EGGS: Nice and runny, with crisp and crunchy edges. Winnah! 4.5
GRAVY: Nice and dark, fairly mild in flavor, a bit too "gloppy". And minus for not having Tabasco....only Sriracha. 3.0
RICE: Fairly moist, though many unbroken "lumps" more on the the other "stuffs" next. 3.0
STUFFS: Lots of Portuguese Sausage in the rice, good flavor, though there were lumps of rice not coated with shoyu/sauce and bit more spicy than I remembered. I do think the fried rice at Island Style Café is better. 3.5
Total score - 17, not bad. Considering that the last time I used the Modified Rubio Scale, that L&L only scored a 10.
Service was very friendly. Leilani's is a wonderful neighborhood joint, one that is nicely imbedded, since all the customers looked like folks from the area. I hope they keep going strong!
Leilani’s Cafe
5109 Cass St
San Diego, CA 92109
Hours:
Daily 7am - 3pm
I'd like to dedicate this post to DerekR who often comments. And in this case had coincidentally asked about Leilani's in the comments of my latest HH post. How funny!
nice loco moco
Posted by: kat | Monday, 17 September 2018 at 04:23 AM
That's good they are going strong. Island Style Cafe is my fav Hawaiian place to get fried rice.
Posted by: Soo | Monday, 17 September 2018 at 07:46 AM
It was pretty good Kat.
It is really nice to see Leilani's is doing well these days Soo.
Posted by: Kirk | Monday, 17 September 2018 at 08:04 AM
Looks good. I would prefer straight white rice. Taste each component egg, gravy and hamburger patty. Definitely minus points for no Tabasco.
Posted by: Kobi | Monday, 17 September 2018 at 08:49 AM
Was Leilanis the one in Serra Mesa? I haven't been to the PB location; once when I tried it was too late in the day. It's a little out of my way, but I will try it soon.
Posted by: Sandy | Monday, 17 September 2018 at 10:58 AM
I actually did taste each item separately Kobi....though it does matter how it works all together as well. And good lord...no Tabasco....
Hi Sandy - Yes, when Leilani was upgrading the PB location she had the Serra Mesa location open.
Posted by: Kirk | Monday, 17 September 2018 at 12:15 PM
Those are some tough hours for a non local. Maybe one of these days the stars will align for a visit.
Posted by: Junichi | Monday, 17 September 2018 at 12:37 PM
Yeah, those hours aren't really convenient if you don't live in the neighborhood Junichi.
Posted by: Kirk | Monday, 17 September 2018 at 12:57 PM
Ooo - dedication post - thanks Kirk! And that looked like a solid moco - just need to sneak in some Tabasco in your pocket next time...
Posted by: Derek R | Tuesday, 18 September 2018 at 10:58 PM
I'm going to have to do that next time Derek! And yes, dedicated to you....since great minds think alike. ;o)
Posted by: Kirk | Wednesday, 19 September 2018 at 10:47 AM