'Ono Kine Grindz

TacoLicious Taco Truck

A while ago, I used to see this taco truck parked in the Daiei Kaheka parking lot during the afternoons.  In fact, the truck used to be parked adjacent to the one occupied by Tae's Teppanyaki.  Lately, though, I've been seeing this truck parked there in the evenings instead.  Nowadays, there are a couple of stools out front and there have even been times when a line has formed at the window.

The menu is quite short, consisting of 3 types of California-style soft tacos in two sizes -- steak (Angus beef), chicken (white meat chicken) and veggie in either border (1/4 pound) or grande (1/2 pound).  I opted for the grande steak taco with a whole wheat tortilla (US$4.80).

Chunks of Angus beef are topped with some fluffy rice, black beans and homemade guacamole.  The beef was lean and tender, well-marinated and tasty.  The rest of the ingredients proved to be complimentary and I enjoyed the combination of the flavors found in each bite.  Half way through the taco, I asked myself why I waited so long to try this.

Although this may seem a little pricey, what gets served out of this truck is some good quality stuff.  Concentrating on a single menu item (or 3), makes things even better as consistency should be guaranteed, right?  Early evening/late night dining options just got a little better with my visit to this truck.  I'll definitely be back again...soon!

Tacolicious Taco Truck
Daiei Kaheka parking lot
801 Kaheka Street
Telephone:  808.265.1986

Tae's Teppanyaki

It's been a quite some time since I've eaten the food at Tae's.  I guess it's because they are no longer in the parking lot at Daiei Kaheka during dinner time.  So imagine my shock at seeing the wagon yesterday when I was at Daiei getting some groceries.

Tae's is now at Daiei Kaheka only during lunchtime (from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm), but are now here on Saturdays too.  What a great surprise.  Since I was there late, about 1:15 pm, there really wasn't any line.  I loooked over the menu, which hasn't changed one bit.  One item, five different sauces for one price...fair enough don't you think?

I walked up to the window on the right side of the van and ordered my wasabi steak.  The food is made to order and in less than 5 minutes, I was ready to go.  Since it was a nice day, I decided to eat this at the beach.  It's a good thing that the beach wasn't crowded, I was starving!

I found a nice spot under the trees and opened up the styrofoam container.

Inside, I found two scoops of white rice, a container of ponzu sauce, and some thin ribeye steak wrapped around a "ball" of crunchy raw potatoes.  The ribeye steak roll was topped with some wasabi sauce, that while flavorful, wasn't spicy enough for me.  The ribeye steak itself was lean and tender.  The combination of the wasabi and ponzu sauces, along with the crunchiness and slight sweetness of the raw potatoes (I actually thought it was daikon), made this quite tasty.  Normally, the plate lunch is also served with some salad.  By the time I ordered, all the salad was already gone.

I haven't realized how much I missed eating this until now.  If you haven't tried the food here before, it's definitely a must try.  And while this isn't a lot of food (you won't be over-stuffed), it's fresh and tasty which makes this quite a bargain.

Tae's Teppanyaki
Daiei Kaheka parking lot
801 Kaheka Street
Telephone:  808.383.2280

Giovanni's Aloha Shrimp

Today was a wonderful day to take a drive to the North Shore.  Why?  Because it was a holiday and I didn't have to go to work...because it was a nice sunny day...and because I had some out of town guests.  So I decided to take them to eat at Giovanni's in Kahuku.  Now this place has no real address.  Well then how exactly do you find it?  Just keep driving down Kamehameha highway, past the Polynesian Cultural Center (if you're coming from the Windward side) until you see the sign.

Ask any local about this place and most will tell you that it serves the best shrimp scampi around!  I do have to agree that it is one of the best, and the added bonus is that it all comes from a grafitti covered truck.

Now this place is not exactly known for it's decor.  A few plastic picnic tables under a couple of tents...definitely not enough space to seat everyone who comes here.  Here's a look at the crowd that's just beginning to form when we arrive at 12:15 pm.

We were lucky that there was only one person in line ahead of us.  As I approached the truck to order, I glanced at the menu...still the same 3 items that I remember!

Well, I was going to order #2, Hot and Spicy shrimp (read below..."super hot, NO REFUNDS!!"), but was told that they only had #1, Shrimp Scampi today (US$11.00).  So that's what I had with hot sauce on the side.  As I waited for a table to become available and for my number to be called (I was #235, when we got there they had just announced #229), the people started to arrive.  In a matter of minutes a whole throng of people appeared!

After a 15 minute wait, they called my number.  As I went to retrieve my plate of shrimp scampi, I overheard the order taker telling customers in line that it would be an approximate wait of 45 minutes!  Now that isn't so bad.  The last time I was here, I had to wait a little over an hour!  And here is what I was waiting for....

What I got was 2 scoops white rice topped with a bit of scampi sauce, a lemon wedge, and half a pound of shrimp scampi served in the shell.  I had 12 pieces of shrimp and it was delicious!  The shrimp was fresh and done just right (not overcooked!) and the sauce was buttery and full of garlic!  Sinful?  You bet, but worth every mouthful!

The only let down was that the side of hot sauce was not hot at all!  It seemed like some generic hot sauce mixed with melted butter.  Hopefully the next time I come here they have the hot and spicy, otherwise, I'll just have to make due with the shrimp scampi which isn't a bad consolation after all.

Giovanni's Aloha Shrimp
Kamehameha Highway, Kahuku