So, there I was at Clairemont Town Square….having to get something at Ace Hardware yet again, when I turned and saw that it seemed that the L&L I'd noticed was "coming soon" a couple of weeks ago was open?
So I walked on over.
As I approached, the "Open" sign got turned on! Well now; I really hadn't planned on having lunch at 10am and really am not enamored with the "cult of Eddie Flores"….who, if I recall once said in the now defunct Honolulu Weekly, which I've mentioned in an earlier post:
"L&L doesn’t use the term “plate lunch” in its mainland restaurants. Instead the cuisine is called “Hawaiian barbecue.” Flores says that with about 80 L&L restaurants on the mainland today and more than 100 set to open by the end of the year—along with 50 or 60 copycat restaurants with names like Waikiki Hawaiian Barbecue and L&K Hawaiian Barbecue—the words “plate lunch” are on their way out."
“In five to 10 years, we won’t call it plate lunch but Hawaiian barbecue,” he says. “Only old-timers will remember the plate lunch.”
Though, there was a time that I enjoyed L&L. Back when we lived in Rowland Heights, I'd be missing home, that's when the first L&L opened on the mainland in Puente Hills Mall, which I've gone more into detail in this post. It was pretty good for a homesick ex-pat Kama'aina back then; though when I returned to the old neighborhood….well almost a decade ago now…man was the food bad. The place has since closed, but that was my last visit to an L&L. My last visit to an L&L in San Diego was almost a decade ago now, to the location in Campus Plaza, which has also closed. I did try to revisit when I did my "Back to the Beginning" post in 2018, but as I walked in I was overwhelmed with…shall we say, the "fragrance"? I've noted that attempt at the bottom of the post.
Anyway, I think my stance on L&L has softened over the last couple of years. And heck, Eddie Flores now retired is chairman of A Better Chinatown Association trying to revitalize Honolulu's Chinatown.
So I thought, why not and walked on in.
Well, it sure has been a long time since I've eaten at an L&L for sure. The last time I ate at the Puente Hills location, the Mini Loco Moco was $7….it's now $14. And check out how much the menu has expanded with stuff like Chicken Adobo?
The woman working; whom I'm think is one of the Franchisees was very friendly. I fully intended to get something that you don't see much of here in San Diego…a chicken cutlet….not katsu mind you, but cutlet. The difference being; in "local" terms, a chicken cutlet is basically chicken katsu with gravy. It's a way of ordering from back in those "lunchwagon" times. Heck, I remember when Grace's was a lunchwagon near UH. Ok, enough of that.
Well, just like the way I went off on a tangent above; I got distracted when looking at the menu and ended up being really curious about the Kalua Pork & Lau Lau Plate ($18.75)….I don't remember the last time I had decent Lau Lau in San Diego. So I ended up ordering that. The woman mentioned that the Lau Lau comes from Hawaii…she gets it from the same company that distributes the Hawaiian Sun juices she sells.
While the outdoor tables seemed nicer; I just took a seat at one of the two tops in the small indoor space.
And the nice woman actually brought my order to the table!
Well, where to start? Check out the rice will you? It was very mushy.
You can tell just be looking at the kalua pork. Super chewy and stringy, lacking in smokiness, overly salty, not good eats. It really needed some of the nice, rich, fattiness of the rendered pork fat mixed back in.
The mac salad was best item on the plate. Unlike what I've had a few times at L&L's here, this one was the classic; simple, well coated macaroni, some carrots….I think there's a touch of onion, nicely salted, quite refreshing.
But man….well most at least, can't live on mac salad alone. The Lau Lau was kinda pathetic. Of course I didn't expect salt fish, but while the luau leaf was quite tender, the pork was again too lean and chewy; lacking in flavor. For me, this was all about the luau leaf (taro leaves), which kind of says a lot about this lau lau. I'm fairly certain; unless they've really gone downhill, this is worse than the frozen Keoki's I can get at Marukai!
This was a bumma! Perhaps I had visited too soon? Nice folks, but I did not enjoy my meal. At this point, well I made my mind up.
Since it's only a few miles up the road, I needed to return….and get what I had intended to in the beginning. So return I did a couple of weeks later. Same nice woman working. I ordered the Mini Chicken Cutlet ($13.25)….who'd have thought, over thirteen bucks for a mini plate?
As you can see, the rice was much better this time. The mac salad had more mayo and less carrots, but was ok.
I went looking for some Tabasco….a must for me for chicken cutlet, but guess what? No moa! This is a full on Sriracha shop…..
The chicken was on the drier side, but the panko batter was nice and crispy-crunchy. The gravy was smooth and not too gloppy, if overly salty and lacking in other savory components. In fact, the whole thing was a bit sodium heavy for me and had me chugging H2O for the rest of the afternoon.
Not a bad version, but definitely not "return visit" material.
Kind of a bummer since the only place I really think is decent in the huge mall is probably Main Chick…. I'm sure FOY "ChrisR" is going to find that amusing.
Well, perhaps I will return in a few months….perhaps…..
L&L Hawaiian Barbecue
4705 Clairemont Drive
San Diego, CA 92117