mmm-yoso, the blog, is never on vacation. Cathy is posting while Kirk and Ed are not. Primarily because Kirk is in Peru and Ed is in Yuma…they have interesting lives.
Sadly, Da has closed and now the only Hawaiian food in Santee is L&L, and at my house.
Hi. Cathy here, sort of adding onto "Plate Lunch Week"..with my own ‘White Girl From Santee’ point of view…
Yes, we have a Hawaiian Restaurant in East County…
Well, actually, one day it turned into this place
. Wherein they changed the name on the sign on the outside; all of the menu items inside still say "Shaka" and the paper to go menu is the old one with the other Shaka locations crossed out:
You can click onto any photo and it will enlarge. We will soon have another Hawaiian Restaurant!
So, Kirk is from Hawaii…I was born and Raised in Detroit and have never been to Hawaii. But I know what kind of food I like to eat…I paid attention to Kirk’s posts and asked him a few questions. This is because, before this place became "Da", it was "Shaka". The Mister and I went to Shaka in November of last year. Admittedly I was in a cast to my shoulder with my little broken wrist (I was not on any pain pills at the time, though; I got a prescription for 100 Vicodin and still have 92 in the bottle; you can check) and, well, the food from Shaka was not good. At all. I just didn’t even want to post about it….and I really did not understand what all this fuss and craving about ‘Plate Lunch’ was all about…
One day, I decided to stop and look at the signage in the window. Hmmm. Kirk was doing his "Plate Lunch Week" and I was a bit curious, so I made The Mister come here after work with me.
We got two basic things-Loco Moco ($7.99).
When we were here in November, this particular item was particularly unflavored- not bad, just…nothing. This time however, the rice was nice and sticky, the gravy rich and flavorful, the egg a nice orange yolked done over easy and the hamburger patty, although preformed, had a nice flavor. The gravy, in particular was rich and flavorful and therefore not a waste of calories.
I wanted to try the Katsu chicken and the Kahlua Pork. ($8.99)
WOW. The katsu coating was light and crispy and the chicken moist. The sauce was tangy and not sweet. It went well with the crispy coating. That Kahlua pork- oh my- such good flavor. Light smoky, deep pork flavor, not greasy. I now have cravings for it. The macaroni salad was tangy and not too sweet. I liked it. I don’t like macaroni salad usually…like never have I ever like macaroni salad…this stuff I ate up.
I went to pick up some ‘To Go’ items the other day. (There are some only listed at the cash register)The chicken curry rice plate($6) was excellent, deep flavored curry gravy and with plenty of chicken.
The carrots were fresh and not mushy as were the celery and few potatoes.
The chicken wings ($4 for the plate) were so crispy fried with garlic and a light batter.
I got the Katsu Chicken and Kahlua pork again, because I could not believe the serving size in the restaurant. But there was just as much pork in the "To Go" box as on that platter. It was great.
If you notice on the door, there is a sign about "Happy Hour" , Monday-Friday from 2-6 pm. Hawaiian beer for $3. A PuPu Platter with 2 vegetable lumpia, musubi ( a block of rice wrapped with a choice of meat (Spam, Portuguese sausage, Chicken katsu or BBQ chicken) and edamame for $7 and also the boba drinks are $3 (versus $3.50 regularly). 
I went one afternoon and just got two vegetable lumpia and a taro boba drink. My first taro boba ever. Not my last.
Taro is a root vegetable and is that beautiful light lavender color. It is a starch, is sort of nutty in flavor, et also like potato and so wonderfully fulfilling, sweet but not too much, even with the boba.
The lumpia were pretty standard. Fresh made and with a good amount of vegetables.
This sign is in the window also, and it is why I did not put the post up sooner. There is a Ukulele playing guy who used to come to the restaurant on Wednesdays, and when I went, one day, he wasn’t thee and he changed to Fridays and I haven’t been able to make it to get a photo. A lot of people come to hear him and eat some great food.
I don’t know if all this food is authentic, or if Kirk would approve, but I liked it and I think you will too.
Da Hawaiian Grindz 205 Town Center Parkway Santee (Backed up to the Costco Gas Station in same parking lot as Home Depot but next to Big Lots) 10:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m, 7 days
will you two stop posting pictures of good food? it makes dieting impossible. 🙂 i’m thinking of all kinds of excuses to “pass thru Santee.” Maybe go to GTM, or take the long way to Barona. I leaning towards the latter.
Um, it is a FOOD blog, Toisan… and you know I have photographed some bad stuff as well as icky (see yesterday’s post with the Bugles and Asahi). There are lots of reasons to stop and stay in Santee. Yes, GTM is definitely one (have you signed up for their weekly email of specials and coupons?) and, I didn’t know there were any other ways to get to Barona -I can do it without getting onto 67 at all- 🙂 Really, Barona and that All You Can Eat Buffet… bad for the diet…Da, Scootz, the plethora of taco shops, Costco, WalMart, Home Depot, two stand alone Starbucks plus the one in Vons, Target, Pier One, Old Navy, Barnes and Noble, Best Buy- we have it all! Shop, stay and eat, then you can go back home.
Another great post Cathy! We are going to Palm Springs this weekend and I hear there is a new Hawaiian eatery down there. stay tuned. Hope Kirk doesn’t come back a pod person after that meteor hit Peru.
Hello and thanks, Michael. Looks like Kirk/his pod is OK since he commented between when you wrote me your note and when I got home from lunch. Probably from an internet cafe. Have a nice weekend. Blog it.
It’s been a long time since I’ve driven out to Santee. I think I need some chicken katsu and kalua pork! Great review, Cathy! Another to add to my list.
Actually I don’t have much of an interesting life currently. Just grading seemingly endless papers. Thanks for posting.
Thanks, Carol, Santee is in the middle of everywhere now with the freeways. It takes me 23 minutes to get to I-5 in Chula, 18 minutes to get downtown and 13 minutes get to La Jolla. All without traffic or CHP involvement, of course. As a destination, well, we have a Costco and pretty much everything else. I don’t find myself having to drive around for shopping necessities. Oh, and soon we will even get a Walgreen’s. Woo Hoo!
Kirk could be a pod person by now, ed-Peru got hit with a meteor yesterday. I know you have a life. It’s OK. I seem to eat every day and now just carry the camera with me. Pretty soon though, it’s gonna be ‘meals from the 7-11’…heh heh heh…Slurpees and nachos and weird hot dogs and taquitoes..
I am so bummed that they closed, they had the best Hawaiian food I have eaten since visiting Hawaii. Now I need to find a new place, cause I don’t care for L & L.
I did go here all the time, too Jimmy. It was really good. L&L is close and some of the stuff is OK if you know what to order…and the new “Taco Tuesday” with kahlua pork (as well as fried shrimp, BBQ beef and a few other choices of 99¢ tacos) is good. The loco moco I got the other day was the best I had had there in a long time. Maybe we have to watch who is cooking…
Thats good to hear, I am going to have to try those kahlua pork tacos, they sound good. I had a bad experience at the L & L I went to in Phoenix, so I figured they were all the same. I was so happy when I tried Da, but I will give L & L another try. Thanks for the reply.
I like kahlua pork in general and it was great at Da, but the tacos at L&L are very good and quite large (if it isn’t Tuesday,they cost $2.19 and are quite filling). L&L is kind of standardized, but not in a McDonald’s type of standardization way. It is something in Santee, anyhow.