Category: Hawaiian Food

Wow, Laulau! And why Reid has Become a Legend

Cooking, Hawaiian Food, yoso-silly

I was really thrilled this past Saturday; I received a package from Reid of 'Ono Kine Grindz. In that little box were gel packs and 3 wonderful Laulau from Young's Fishmarket:

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For those who don't know what Lau Lau is, it is cubes of pork, usually shoulder and a cube of fat, sometimes a small piece of salt fish wrapped in lu'au (young taro leaves), finally wrapped in Ti leaves, in sort of a neat bundle. The Laulau are then steamed for 4 hours or more. After heating them up this is what they look like when you open them up:

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P1010613 The aroma of Laulau is amazing! The leaves are moist and have a slightly "al dente" texture, the taste is close to say, collard greens without the bitterness. The pork is moist, and has absorbed the taste of the lu'au leaf – delici-yoso! This taste of home really made my weekend!

Reid you are an amazing guy, thanks so much!

I'm so amazed at how Reid managed to send this to me through the mail. And that's how Reid's become a sort of legend in our household. The Mother of a good friend of ours is also pretty much a Legend in our home.  For the sake of this story let's call her "Lola". When visiting "home" we'd have a meal with our good friends, their two wonderful Boys, all made by Lola. P1010616 Lola absolutely adored the Missus, basically because the Missus adored Lola's cooking. Whether it was Kare Kare (Filipino Ox Tail Stew), Lumpia, or Her Adobo, Lola would watch my little 100lb Chinese Wife chow like a Longshoreman. Lola, like most "Lola's" are consumed with a desire to give and provide. So we'd be back home in Los Angeles, and receive one of those flat "shirt boxes" in the mail, and be totally amazed when there would be a pristine  Bibingka(Sweet Rice Cake) all wrapped up in the box. Or the most amazing thing of all, we once received a small box. When we opened the box amid the crumpled up newspapers was a round ball of tape(???), after several minutes of unwrapping the tape, there was a little bottle of home made Bagoong Alamang(Shrimp Paste), Lola had remembered how much the Missus enjoyed her Bagoong in the Kare Kare, and sent us some! We always considered Lola to be the "Legend of Postal Dexterity"; but now with  Reid's feat of sending me the Park's Brand Kim Chee Sauce, and now Laulau from Young's Fishmarket, he's joined Lola as a "Legend"…..

Since I had some chicken thawing I made a little Chicken Katsu, Laulau, mixed plate:

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I even made my own Tonkatsu Sauce for the Chicken:

1/2C Worcestershire Sauce
1/4C Sugar
1/4C Soy Sauce
1/3C Ketchup
Dash of 5 Spice Powder
1Tb Dijon Mustard mixed with 1Tb Water
Pepper

In a small pot combine first 5 ingredients. Reduce over low-medium heat, until reduced by 1/3. After reduced add mustard and pepper, mix well. Remove from heat, and let sauce cool. Will keep up to 2 weeks in a well sealed bottle.
Makes about 1 cup.

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Kaisen Sushi and Hawaiian Style Grill – Aloha Friday in Oceanside

Hawaiian Food, Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Plate Lunch

**** Kaisen has closed

Update: I've been told that new Owners have taken over Kaisen, and that the "Local-Style" food is gone. It is now more of a Japanese "Bento" Restaurant – Bumma'

Thanks for the update Clark

I'd been hearing about "Kaisen's" over the "coconut wireless" here in San Diego for several years. I'd also been told that Kaisen's had an "Aloha Friday" special that featured Lau Lau and Chicken Long Rice. So with my back feeling better, and having today off, I decided to take the 30 mile trip North to Oceanside, and got to the little strip mall off of Oceanside Blvd where Kaisen's is located.

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I arrived a bit early and the restaurant wasn't open yet, so I had time to peruse the menu:

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With lot's of "local kine" specials. But the sign that caught my eye was this:

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It was Friday, and it looked like I was in luck! It was no-brainer really. As the waitress brought me the menu, I just pointed to the sign and said – "I'll take dat", funny how the pidgen starts coming out when I'm in places like these.

While I waited for my food I had a chance to look around. Kaisen's occupies a pretty large space, crowned by a sushi bar in the middle of the back area, and lot's tables and booths, and even a small stage. The spacing in this cavernous area is excellent with lot's of "elbow room".

After a few minutes my lunch arrived.

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The plate came with a medium sized lau lau, a little bowl of lomi salmon, a bowl of chicken long rice, a slice of sweet potato, macaroni salad, and I decided to forgo rice and had bowl of poi. To bad there was no chili pepper water, oh well, can't win 'em all. Those of you who know me, would probably get a really good laugh out of the poi; it's not among my favorite things, but somehow, time makes the heart (and stomach) grow fonder, and since I haven't had poi in at least 9 or 10 years, I thought what the heck.

Now to the nitty-gritty, the macaroni salad was very bland and plain, needed some zing. The sweet potato was really good, sweet and starchy, and not over-cooked, making it very enjoyable. As for the lau lau, the luau leaf tasted good (and it was luau leaf!), but was under cooked, and somewhat more solid than I'm used to. The pork was kinda dry, but the taste was ok, I think I even spied a little bit of salted fish as well. Overall, not bad, it at least tasted like lau lau, not like what some of those frozen "things" taste like, and was very aromatic. The chicken long rice had pieces of really cooked celery, onions, and tomato (a new one for me!). And a rather large piece of chicken. There was a nice essence of chicken and ginger, with good balance. With a shot of shoyu this was probably the best thing on the plate. The lomi salmon was too mild, and not saltyKaisen05  enough. And the poi was really runny and not "sour" enough for me, actually rather bland as a whole. So what's my solution? It's the typical, "local" solution; I mixed my lomi salmon in the poi, and scarfed the darn thing up in a second! I also got the onions (no Hawaiian salt! Auwe!) and dipped them into this mixture! Delici-yoso!

Kaisen's is a bit far for me, and the food really doesn't warrant a 30 mile drive. But I saw some of the other dishes (the chicken katsu and kalua pork looked good) and they caught my interest, so I may make another trip in the near future; I'll drop in for sure if I'm the neighborhood. I've also heard the sushi is pretty good and the service is very friendly. Kaisen's features Hawaiian Music on Saturdays and Wednesdays as well.

Kaisen Sushi and Hawaiian Grill
1906 Oceanside Blvd Ste H
Oceanside, CA 92054

(760) 757-1484