mmm-yoso!!!

The Hilo Loco from Leilani's Cafe

A few weekends ago, I had to head into the office for a few hours to finish some things up.....call me weird in these times; but I find I'm much more focused and productive in an office or a non-home environment. I'm also all for the separation of work from personal life as well......more on that in a future post. Anyway, not needing to go in at 530am on weekends is a plus; though I just wake up when the Missus left for work at 6 anyway. Got my act together; took Frankie for a quick morning walk before things got too hot, headed over to work and decided to call it a day at around 930am.....on some weekends; the Missus will request Her own personal version of "Goober Eats" and ask that I drop off a poke bowl from HFS for Her....but NOT before I have to add kimchi, radish and cilantro sprouts, and avocado. But I'd already done that the day before; so I was free and clear on this day.

I really wanted to treat myself to some "comfort food"....which in this case meant, well......you know me.....a Loco Moco of course. Of course, my first choice would be Island Style Café, which would be open at this time had they sadly, not closed down in August (hope you reopen soon ISC). Da Kine's which is a few miles from home would be the natural second choice; but they wouldn't open until 11.....I wanted to be in a loco moco fueled hibernation by then. So.... it became rather clear after doing a Google search...….Leilani's Café opens at 7am on Sunday. And yet, even though I've been expanding my "roaming range" a little at a time over the last couple of weeks....this one; out in PB was maybe not where I really wanted to be......but then again; we weren't talking about Happy Hour on Garnet Avenue here....this was usually less busy Cass Street. So, I decided to call in an order for the Hilo Loco ($12.75). And headed off from the office.

Of course, I'd forgotten about the somewhat hit-and-miss parking situation in the area; but I did find parking on a quiet street two blocks away.

There were quite a few people eating al fresco when I arrived; but they were nicely distanced and no one was waiting either at the order window (up front) or the pick-up window (to the side). My order was waiting when I arrived and I was out of there in less than five minutes.

The Hilo Loco was in good shape when I got home.....even after I let Frankie out to do "his thing" in the backyard and got my portable table out....

This might be the best loco moco I've had for takeout in a while. The egg was still nice and runny, the rice piping hot....large chunks of Portuguese Sausage in the fried rice; which might have been a tad too mushy for me; but that's splitting hairs. The gravy had a more beefy flavor than I recalled; though was still a bit on the "gloppy" side. That burger was thick, hand formed, moist, with a nice beefiness to it.

And the one big plus? Leilani's stopped having Tabasco available a few years back....when eating this at home; well, I could bust out my own Tabasco.

Leilani’s Cafe
5109 Cass St
San Diego, CA 92109
(858) 361-1280
Current Hours:
Daily 7am - 2pm

So in this case; it was worth stretching my "range" a bit. I didn't run into a single person walking to and from my car and my only contact was thru screen and plexiglass with the chipper young lady at Leilani's.

All was well in the world......

Unitl I ran into this "sign of the times".

Which instantly jarred me back to 2020.

Oh well; I'd rather just think about this......

Island Style Cafe Closing on 08/16

**** Island Style Cafe has reopened in Santee.

I've always maintained that I have a wonderful group of "FOYs" (Friends of Yoso), my own "coconut wireless" that keep me informed of what's going, or even share their stories and experiences with me via comments and emails. I always love hearing from them all. Though it's not always "butterflies and puppy dog tails"..... I recently received an email from "FOY" KarenM who informed me that a favorite of mine Island Style Café was closing! I know; it's hard to believe, it seems I was just there for Covid-19 takeout. Karen was nice enough to provide me with this Nextdoor post.

Man, what a bumma'......I've been going to Island Style Cafe for 12 years! Since I needed to pick up my dry cleaning in Tierrasanta anyway, I called in my order and wen hele over to Island Style Café.

Terri wasn't working the front counter, but the nice young lady did confirm that ISC was closing on the 16th.....I was told that this came on quite suddenly.

Sad, I took my LocoMoco home. I found that my usual favorite; the Kaloko Loco doesn't hold up too well for takeout, so I went with the "standard" Loco ($10.50). And of course, it was more than enough for me.

I enjoyed it as I always do....but of course it was bittersweet. It's always sad when a favorite you've been going to for over a decade closes.

On the bright side; the young lady informed me that they will start looking for a new location after taking a short break. I hope so.

I'm going to try to get another fix in before ISC closes. And, if you enjoy Island Style Café, make sure you visit by August 16th.

Mahalo for all the good meals Island Style Café, a hui hou mākou.

Island Style Cafe
5950 Santo Road
San Diego, CA 92124
(858) 541-7002
Current Hours (according to their website)
Tues - Fri 9am - 2pm, 430pm - 730pm
Saturday   7am - 8pm
Sunday     7am - 2pm

And thanks so much for letting me know KarenM…..so I had the opportunity to have a Loco Moco from ISC at least one more time!

Covid-19 Takeout - Da Kine's

While working one weekend back at the beginning of April, I was wondering what I could pick up on the way home that wouldn't be too far out of the way.

Which got me thinking about Da Kine's which just reopened in September.

So, I decided to call....I think this was just after Da Kine's reopened for take-out. Anyway, Nelson answered...…..and a very typical conversation ensued.

Me: "Can I get one loco moco to go?"

Nelson: "Ok, mac or tossed salad...."

Me (sounding a bit offended): "What? Mac salad of course!"

Nelson (laughing): "Ok, mac salad....when are you picking up....."

Me: "I'm heading on down right now...."

Nelson: "Whoa, wait...….give us at least fifteen, twenty minutes!"

Me: "Oh, sorry, I'm heading down from UTC...."

Nelson (sounding a bit relieved): "Oh....good....I thought you was across the street or something."

And so, about 20 minutes and change later; I picked up my loco moco, and took it home.

Egg a bit overcooked for my liking and oil had gathered at the edges of the plate...probably dripped down from the eggs, but I wasn't complaining....because that mac salad, still nicely chilled, hit the spot, the burger nicely charred, beefy, for some reason I don't mind the filler in this burger, the gravy not overly salty, the rice nicely done.

A little bit of comfort at a time when things seemed so out of whack. And yet, who knew how, but two months later....things are even more messed up.

Perhaps I need another trip back to Da Kine's…...

Da Kine's Plate Lunches
5401 Linda Vista Rd. #402
San Diego, CA 92110

Currently Open Tues - Sun 11am - 5pm

Covid-19 Takeout - Island Style Cafe

My dry cleaning lady sold her business back at the beginning of the year and decided to just do alterations at a dry cleaners in Tierrasanta….and you know how I am about loyalty and stuff; so of course my dry cleaning is now done there. I decided to run away during a lunch time and pick up my dry cleaning, but the place was closed. So, in order to have some consolation and not waste the trip I went to Rite Aid to pick up some necessities and also made a call....to Island Style Café; it was too early for the Homestyle Hawaiian location in the area and heck, with all that's going on; I wanted some comfort food. I headed to Island Style Café right after Rite Aid.

They had the "Covid set-up" going, my lunch was ready when I got there....in and out in less than 5 minutes. The Owner "Terri" was so nice and told me "Mahalo for giving us business during this difficult time". So nice.....

Of course I got the Kaloko Loco.....

And while the crepe didn't travel real well...perhaps I should have ordered a regular loco......everything else was good; from the not massed produced, beefy hamburger patty, to the fried rice, to the egg that was still nice and runny.

No complaints.....though I wish they had Tabasco....and I didn't have any back at the office; so I had to make due with Cholula. That's ok, it worked out fine.

And while my appetite these days isn't what it used to be.....I polished it off. How did that old commercial go? You know, "I can't believe I ate the whole thing".

A little bit of comfort goes a long way these days.

Island Style Cafe
5950 Santo Road
San Diego, CA 92124
(858) 541-7002

Be safe, be good to others, and take care!

Da Kine's Reopens in Linda Vista

First off, before I get started on this post; I want to extend some major Mahalos to "Kerri" who sent me an email telling me Nelson Ishii and Da' Kine's is back in business. Kerri mentioned the address in the email and I instantly knew where this was; it's almost in my 'hood at the old Kona Kakes location in Linda Vista. Man, being out of town for two weekends in a row really prevented my from going "holoholo". But, once I was back in town, I quickly headed over to the strip mall on Linda Vista Road, and there it was!

Da Kine's la' dat

There's been a bit of shuffling of the configuration of the place from the time it was Kona Kakes, but the color scheme remains the same.

I placed my order and went to have a seat. And guess what? Nelson came over and started chatting with me.....the most I'd ever got out of him in the "old days", was "uh.....". It seems he's mellowed a bit over the years. While I waited we talked about what happened to Da Kine's, why he gave the restaurants to employees and went to catering, and why he's now back. Some of it seemed quite personal, so I'll leave it for folks to ask him yourself. I will say that Da Kine's was the first place I had a plate lunch at in San Diego when I was doing consulting work here in the late 90's. By the time we'd moved to San Diego in the "oughts", things seemed a bit shakey. By the time I did my post in 2005; Da Kine's had definitely slipped. So much so; like I mentioned in my Mira Mesa location post in 2007, a person identifying himself as the Manager of the PB location started his email with "Wow, yoso-harsh.....". And then all the locations started closing. The National City location became Nani Moku and the Liberty Station location closed soon after.

I ordered the Loco Moco, which hadn't done too well in my Loco Moco comparison in 2005. So, how would it fare fourteen years down the line?

Well, let's go back in time and pull out my "Modified Rubio Scale" inspired by James Rubio who used to have a wonderful food blog; Big Island Grinds. There's still a remnant of it here if you're interested.

So let's get on with it, eh?

BURGER: Two good sized patties with a nice char. A bit over-charred for my taste though. Moist and tender. Nicely seasoned, perhaps edging on too salty. 3.0

RICE: Back in the day; Da Kine's used to always serve rather mushy rice; but this was decent, not overly mushy, not hard. 3.0

GRAVY: Dark, but not gluey, somewhat beefy, no lumps, not overly salty. And guess what? They have Tabasco! 3.0

EGGS: Now this was weird. It's sunny side up, not over easy. It's also only slightly runny as the bottom portion is solid. Would also appreciate some crisp edges and seasoning. Also, you can tell it went from the pan on top of things because there's a pool of oil around the gravy. Still, not horrible. 2.5

STUFFS: Man, look at that bombucha scoop of mac salad. And it's not just mayo and macaroni. Perfectly chilled, well seasoned, much different than what I used to get at Da Kine's before. Did I mention the Tabasco? 3.5

Wow, that's a 15??? Pretty good, huh?

A few days later travelling between meetings I went and got take-out. I got the Chicken Katsu and an Ala Carte Kalua Pig and Cabbage.

The katsu was still fairly crisp, moist, and tender when I got to the office. Notice something missing? There was no katsu sauce.....soft opening missives I guess. Luckily, I have a bottle of Bull Dog Tonkatsu Sauce in my desk drawer....but pitty folks who got their katsu this way and don't. The mac salad was still cool when I consumed it, the rice was a bit dry.

I only had a couple of bites of the kalua pork and cabbage, which edged on almost being too salty and was really smoky. Also, it was almost three-fourth's pork. The way it should be. This was a drier version, but was not bad. In fact, I gave most of it to "AG" and Calvin, who both really enjoyed it.

This past Sunday, I went to work for a few hours, then decided to head down to Da Kine's to reward myself for lunch. I'd heard they had Laulau on Sundays. I cracked up when I saw Calvin waiting for a take-out order when I arrived. It was really good to see Lynn, his wife, and his little girl as well.

I ordered my Laulau plate and had a seat. Soon, several groups of people arrived.....many of them asking "where's Uncle Nelson?" From what I overheard, they had only made thirty laulau, and I'm sure they soon sold-out. But I did get mine.

And with some poi to boot. It's been a while since I've had poi. This was thick, smooth, innocuous. Looks like they've got the mac salad down as it was as good as the previous two times.

The laulau was moist and meaty, no salt fish though. The meat wasn't overly fatty (I do like some good chunks of fat in my laulau). I also like a good layer of luau leaf, this one only had one single layer, so there wasn't much of that bitter-sweet collard green like flavor I enjoy. I also thought the meat could have used a bit more salt.

The chicken long rice was the best version I've had in years; perfectly seasoned, great chicken flavor, the long rice wasn't mushy, and just enough ginger.

It was nice to see a couple of multi-generational families come in....I haven't seen this many people from Hawaii in one place on the Mainland in a while. "Uncle Nelson" is indeed beloved. And he's done quite a bit over the years for the Ex-pat Kama'aina community in San Diego. I actually went to that Kalapana Concert in 1999 partially sponsored by Da' Kine's. I was consulting here and stayed the weekend. Kalapana, along with C&K and Olomana defines what contemporary local music was to me when I was growing up back in the 70's. My friends brother sneaked us into Top Ada Shoppe to hear Kalapana and then later Summer play. I felt sad at that concert in 1999 because it was the year that Mackey Feary committed suicide. RIP Malani Bilyeu who passed away at the end of 2018.

It was great looking at the photos lining he walls....heck everybody now knows BJ Penn, but do you remember Mosi Tatupu?

I hope Da Kine's does well. It's fairly close to home for me; so I'll drop in once in a while for my plate lunch fix. And also to look at those photos and posters......

Da Kine's Plate Lunches
5401 Linda Vista Rd. #402
San Diego, CA 92110
Current Hours (as of 09/09/2019)
Tues - Sun 11am - 5pm

And thanks so much for thinking of us Kerri!

A Loco Moco from Kona Kakes

Recently, I had just finished up my errands on a nice Saturday morning and was heading home down Linda Vista Road. As I drove past the strip mall, you know where Ballast Point is located, I saw Kona Kakes. It had been over five years since I last visited (yeesh!) and tried their plates. I was really hungry, so I decided to stop by. For some reason, the place seemed a bit cleaner and brighter than I recalled.

Being quite famished; I decided to get what is a guilty pleasure these days, the Loco Moco ($10.99). It did take a while to arrive, but I got to watch all of the happy folks coming to pick up cakes for various occasions. The loco moco made its way to my table and was fairly hefty.

Since getting just downwind of a loco moco is means for celebration these days; I decided to bust out the "Rubio scale", a scoring system originally developed by James Rubio on his now defunct "Big Island Grinds" blog way back in 2005. I modified the scale back in 2005; man, fourteen years ago, and hadn't used it in over six months. So, you ready? Hea' goes......

BURGER: Was supposed to be 1/3 pound, but seemed thinner and smaller than expected. Too lean and tough, but well seasoned. Studded with green onions. Beefy with a decent char. 3.0

EGGS:  Perfectly runny, though not seasoned, and it would have been a winnah' if the edges were crisp. 4.0

RICE: A bit on the dry side, but adequate. 2.5

GRAVY: Very dark, though not too gluey, salty, I definitely don't think this is made from scratch. Bitter bits in the gravy. And no Tabasco either! What's up with all these places not having Tabasco???? 2.5

STUFF: The Mac salad was much better than what I'd had before and served nicely chilled. Could have been seasoned and fairly standard. Standard is also the word for the green salad. 2.5

Overall score - 14.5. Decent, but nothing to go out of your way for. Considering that a typical L&L usually scores a 10, this ain't bad, but it's definitely not in the same league as Island Style Café.

Really friendly, nice woman working about my age, who spent her high school years on Oahu. It was nice chatting with her and I got a couple of to go treats for my friends....who loved the guava cake the best.

So, at least I got my Loco Moco fix in!

Kona Kakes
5401 Linda Vista Road Suite 402
San Diego, CA 92110
Hours:
Mon - Tues 11am - 3pm
Wed - Sat  11am - 6pm
Closed Sundays

Circling Back to Leilani's Cafe

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! 

Island Style Hawaii BBQ & Local Food

***** Island Style has closed

Island Style Hawaii is a favorite of one of my "customers" and after finding out that I'm originally from Hawaii she had asked me what I thought of the place. I told her that I'd had had my fill of these Hawaiian BBQ type of places and really hadn't been motivated to visit. But one day at work I got a call. She had a meeting in the same building and decided to drop of "some lunch" for me......from Island Style. How sweet.

So I suddenly had mini-plates of Garlic Chicken and Mochiko Chicken on my hands.

Now, I didn't expect Sugoi's or Mitsu-ken, and this was pretty mediocre. Even though she had picked this up on the way to our offices, it hadn't held up well and was more gummy than crisp. I expected more garlic flavor, but what I mostly got was burnt bitterness. Sugoi and Mitsu-ken have both garlic flavor in the seasoning for the chicken as well as a sauce; it reminds me a bit of karaage. This was basically fried chicken.

It's the Mochiko Chicken that had the sauce.

While I thought the batter on this was a bit better; the sauce was pretty one-dimensional. This style of chicken isn't really hard to make.

I gotta say, for a mini-plate, the portion sizes were quite hefty. Compre the $6.99 mini-plate with the $11 food truck plate lunch.

The rice was fine, but I really didn't care for the potato "mac" salad. The quotes on the "mac" is because this was like chopped spaghetti noodles. It also just tasted of plain mayonnaise with no other seasoning. The young lady really wanted to know what I thought, so I told her. Man, if I were a millionaire, I'd love to buy her a ticket to HNL, so she could actually have the real deal.

Anyway, this got the ball rolling so I decided to drop by the place. It's in Pacific Beach, near the corner of Cass and Garnet. I can honestly say, I don't get down here very often.

Wasn't this a location of Rakadeka in a previous life? So, it was a Saturday morning and I'd read that the place opens at 11; so I got there at 1105.....no Bueno. Must've been on Hawaiian Time. So I took a walk around the block. I returned at 1120 and the open sign was on; but the door was still locked....go figure. Eventually, I did get in.

The menu had all the usual suspects. Since this was a weekend and I could definitely just roll back home and take a nap, I decided to add another one to my Loco Moco collection. I ordered a regular sized Loco Moco ($9.29).

This was a passable Hawaiian BBQ/Chain style loco moco. The beef patty was cooked to death and tough. The rice was strange, some of it was dry and hard and the rest really mushy. The eggs were nice and runny, though I enjoy a bit of crispness around the edges for a textural contrast and these weren't seasoned, thus in dire need of some salt. The gravy was on the thinner side, but other than having a bit too much black pepper was fine.

During this visit, I noticed an "Aloha Friday Special" ($13.99) on the menu. So, with the Missus at work, I returned on my way home that Friday.

Man, this was a hefty plate. First things first. I noticed a lot of liquid that smelled like laulau at the bottom of the package. I opened the container up to see all the liquid from the laulau on the bottom. It hadn't been drained well.

The laulau itself wasn't very good. This being "mainland laulau" I expected no salted fish, but the pork was really dry and stringy, and the luau leaves weren't cooked enough for my taste and were hard. Even here in the laulau wasteland that is San Diego, I thought Poke, Etc was better.

I'm still not a fan of the potato mac salad; though I did find a couple of small cubes of potato in this. It really needs a bit more seasoning.

The kalua pork was not bad. On the dry side, the trick I learned when I worked drive-in kitchens back home was to mix the fat and liquid that drained off the pork back into it when shredding. It did have enough salt and smoke flavor though.

I didn't expect much of the lomi salmon and it was just that. Really in need of seasoning; the tomatoes not ripe enough, too watery, quite bland.

Island Style has a very nice location, close to the beach and all that. If you enjoy quantity over quality this might do it for you.

The service very laid back. The young lady at the front likes to spend her time on the iPad. Not sure if I'll return and if I do, what I would get....the katsu perhaps? Saimin? I dunno.

Here's a to Soo's visits to Island Style.

Island Style Hawaii BBQ & Local Food
4508 Cass St
San Diego, CA 92109
Hours:
Mon - Wed 11am - 10pm
Thurs - Sat 11am - 2am
Sun 11am - 8pm

Chris’ Ono Grinds Island Grill (North Park)

After several years; I finally made it to Chris' Ono Grinds in North Park. I'd been meaning to ever since, sadly, a couple of years after visiting the Mission Gorge location, it was consumed by fire (here's a video). I'd actually been thinking of revisiting the Mission Gorge location about the time of the fire. I put the North Park location on my "list" and well, call it old age, promptly forgot about it. Until recently when one of the guys at work, "BigD from Georgia" told me how much he enjoys the place. Well, even though "BigD" wouldn't know a plate lunch from a slate lunch, I thought it was about time.

It was a nice weekend morning, about eleven-thirty-ish, when I parked and crossed the street into the tiny shop.

The folks here are quite friendly, very hospitable. It was close enough for breakfast for me to order the Loco Moco ($11).

Well, other than the perfect easy-over egg (it was overcooked last time), this was basically a replay. The burger had some nice beefiness, but was really tough and rubbery. The gravy had a sour-bitterness to it that I found rather unpleasant. The rice was fine.

That mac salad was the best thing about this meal. Edging on a bit too sour, it was served nicely chilled, the macaroni was perfectly cooked, the amount of mayo was hitting that top end, but was still within parameters.

Too bad about the gravy, because that egg was lovely.

A couple of weeks later, I was in the neighborhood, so I decided to drop by. This time I went with the Huli Huli Chicken - Teri Steak ($12). One thing you can't complain about is the portion sizes at Chris's.

Well, be it ever so humble, once again, that mac salad was my favorite thing about this meal.

I gotta give it to Chris's though, the beef, while cut thicker than usual for teri beef was fairly tender. I just wish it was better marinated and had less of the salty-heavy ginger glaze.

The Huli Huli Chicken was as before, too sticky sweet for my taste and this time it was really charred to death.

Nice portions, nice people, not my kind of loco moco or plate lunch. In thinking about things; Chris's has the potential to be something along the lines of Diamond Head Market and Grill. Man am I missing home right now.

Chris’ Ono Grinds Island Grill
4506 30th St
San Diego, CA 92116
Open Daily
1130am - 9pm

The Lanai Leucadia

***** The Lanai has closed

One evening after a long day at work, I dropped by one of the local watering holes for a beverage. One of the folks there started up a conversation; mid-thirties surfer dude, very friendly. As is typical in the category of what "locals" back home call the "wea' you wen grad" moment....that is I was asked where I'm from and mentioned "Honolulu". In a sort of a conspiratorial whisper he asked me if I knew what a "Loco Moco" was. A funny moment in deed. Do I know what a Loco Moco is?

Anyway, the fella' mentioned his favorite spot was a place in Encinitas called "The Lanai". Which I filed away for "one of these days when I have time." Well, one of the good things about having to work weekends is that you can take as long for lunch as you wish. So on a bright and sunny Sunday, I headed up to Leucadia and hit up the Lanai.

Interesting locale.....the Surfer Dude told me that this used to be some Organic Taco shop or something? Anyway, it's quite hipster-hippy-ish looking; basically a food trailer parked in a "lanai looking" lot with picnic/patio type seating, next to a Nursery.

It's the typical "food truck" type of thing; order and pay at the window. Though they do bring your food out to you.

The menu ranges from Sandwiches, Poke Bowls (of course), Salads, Rice Bowls (the cheapest item on the menu at $9.25 and up), and Plate Lunches....with four different items available. The Loco Moco was $10.25.

Whoa, sunny side up eggs on this one, instead of easy over. Really good eggs. The hamburger patty was very lean and really tough and chewy, decent beefiness though. The rice was nicely done; edging on dry, but ok. I didn't care for the gravy. It had that made from base flavor to it....like the institutional stuff I used to work with from companies like "Knorr". Still, it was not bad if a bit on the pricey side. And no Tabasco....it's Sriracha all the way here.

So of course, there was the following Sunday.

You know, I kinda like this set-up....though I wouldn't want to be here when it rains (but heck, it's SoCal) or when it's really hot.

I went for the Mixed Plate ($14.00) which after tax was over fifteen bucks, yikes! I got the Kalua Pork (thankfully they spelled it correctly) and the Chicken Katsu.

First off the rice was a tragedy; mostly hard bits. The Kalua Pork was pretty darn good if on the dry side....it looks like they dump it on the griddle to heat up. Nice salt, mild smoke, other than being dry, it was nice. The Chicken Katsu was not to my liking; it looked like it had been pounded flat, with more, really hard instead of crisp breading than chicken and not much in terms of flavor. The katsu sauce tasted odd; like there was something fermented in it?

The Mac Salad was ok, if a bit odd in flavor....I think some of the kimchi juice had mixed with the salad. Simple stuff; macaroni, peas, mayo.....it was decently chilled.

The bok choy kimchi was okay; I enjoy my stuff a bit more fermented and didn't expect that here.

Food was kind of a mixed bag overall. Also on the pricy side. Nice folks working. I also kind of enjoyed the vibe, but am not sure how things would be if they were busy. Drinks are limited to coconut water, bottled water, some teas, kombucha (of course), and the ubiquitous Hawaiian Sun (which, strangely, I actually worked for a zillion years ago). Though if you want a plate lunch; I'm not sure what else is around here since Kealani's closed.

The Lanai Leucadia
1114 N. Coast Hwy 101
Encinitas, CA 92024
Hours:
Tues - Sat 11am - 9pm
Sun - Mon 11am - 3pm