*** Big Kahuna's no longer resides in PB.
Located in Pacific Beach on Ingraham Street is Big Kahuna's:
Part pizza joint/sports bar, part plate lunch restaurant, I've been told that the owner of Big Kahuna's is the Grandson of the original owner of Da Big Kahuna's Pizza on Puuloa Road in Honolulu.
Of course with a name like Big Kahuna, you'd have to go with a beach-surfer-tropical theme.
Though Big Kahuna back "home" is known for the pizza and sandwiches, I thought I'd try out the plate lunches. If you're wondering what the pizza at the original Big Kahuna looks like you can find a post on where else, but Ono Kine Grindz, it even has a photo of, ahem, the Big Kahuna "Balls".
For lunch one afternoon I ordered the Beef Teriyaki Plate($8.95):
In a few minutes a very large plate arrived, three scoops of rice, even! I enjoyed the macaroni salad, with just the right amount of mayo.
The teriyaki was indeed "local-style", on the sweeter side with the flavor of ginger. The sauce was more of a glaze, than a sauce.
Though I love good pineapple(my Dad is from Lana'i), I hate it as a topping for food, so I scraped it off. The meat was a very tough sirloin, and I mean very tough, and in spite of the sauce quite dry.
One evening I found myself in the area, and decided to try out the Lau Lau Plate($8.95):
Again three scoops of rice, and quite a large Lau Lau, which smelled promising.
The luau leaf tasted bit on the bland side, not the usual flavor of "greens" that I enjoy so much. There was a nice chunk of fat in the Laulau, but no salted fish, and the pork was on the dry side. To be perfectly frank, this is a typical Mainland Laulau, so I wasn't very disappointed.
While I was waiting for my Laulau the very nice Waitress mentioned a breakfast menu, and was kind enough to bring me one to check out.
And there it was….a Loco Moco. I was told that Big Kahuna's serves breakfast on weekends, so I made a mental note…..
And made an appearance at 1030am on a Saturday morning. I walked in, and it seemed that everyone was still sleeping….so I grabbed a table, and eventually managed to order my Loco Moco($7.50):
After a short wait, my Loco Moco made it's way to my table in slooooowww moootion. First thing I noticed was that the burger was crumbled and stir fried with onions and a gravy. For some reason the thought, "I think this is last night's burger", kept playing over and over in my head….
The eggs(3) were okay, easy over, the yolks slightly runny, though I would have enjoyed crisp, crunchy edges on my eggs, but that's being nit-picky.
The gravy, was more like a sauce, and the nice, dark color belied the fact that it was pretty
bland, luckily there was a good selection of condiments and sauces to help out. Ditto with the crumbled burger, though it was piping hot.
The service at Big Kahuna's is "bar service", and though very nice, sometimes a bit on the spacey side. I had ordered my toast dry, but got it buttered, and the Server/Bartender was more concerned with stocking beer than bringing me my Diet Coke. Still every contact that I've had at Big Kahuna's has been friendly.
I've tried a few other items that are not pictured, all portions are quite large, always making sure you get enough carbs! The Kalua Pork, though a bit under flavored was pretty good. I thought the Portuguese Bean Soup was very bland, lacking a nice smokey flavor ham-hock flavor, and with hardly any beans, sausage, or anything except soup for that matter. I've not had the pizza at Big Kahuna's though it looks pretty good, though those "balls"(12 for $6) – garlic bread rounds baked in butter, and topped with melted cheese cheese, make my arteries cringe in fear. I'll cover the Big Kahuna Burger on a future post.
Big Kahuna's
3780 Ingraham St
San Diego, CA 92109