Big Island Grinds

Here’s an easy way to make a quick and yummy loco moco, the classic Hawaiian soulfood consisting of 4 components: hamburger patty, rice, egg, and brown gravy.

Ingredients for 2 big servings:

• Hamburger Patties
  • 1lb Hamburger (not lean)
  • 1/4 cup grated onions (optional)
  • salt/pepper to taste
• Gravy
  • 1 can good beef broth
  • flour for thickening
  • 1 tb butter
  • couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• 4 eggs
• hot cooked white rice

Burgers:
1. Gently mix the hamburger, grated onions and salt/pepper. Form either 2 big patties or 4 smaller size patties.
2. Heat frying pan until very hot.
3. Place hamburger patties on the pan/grill and let sear just until juices start appearing on the top. Flip over and cook for a couple more minutes. You will want the burger slightly charred but still tender on the inside.
4. Place burgers on the side.

Gravy:
1. Pour a little broth into the same pan and incorporate the yumyums, then pour in the rest of the broth.
2. Bring to a boil and let reduce for about 3-5 minutes or so, depending on taste, for a more potent gravy.
3. Turn down heat to a simmer.
4. Add couple dashes of worcestershire sauce.
5. In a seperate bowl, mix flour with some water.
6. Using a whisk, slowly whisk in the flour/water mixture until gravy is nicely thick & smooth.
7. Turn off heat and mix in the butter until well blended.

Eggs:
Traditionally, the eggs should be sunny-side up. The secret to a good fried egg is to fry the egg slowly on low heat until it’s cooked… just don’t overcook it! It also helps to have the eggs thawed to room temperature before cooking them.

Rice:
Use regular medium grain white rice… like 3 scoops worth per plate.

Assembly (bottom -> top):
Rice -> Burger -> Egg -> Gravy all over

Optional condiments:
Shoyu, ketchup, tabasco

Enjoy!

Wooohooo, the fair is in town! Glad to say, the loco mocos were much better than last year (which isn’t saying much, since last year was really bad). I’m just glad that someone else was doing the loco mocos. Good reppin’ Keaukaha!

The prices, though, were a lot steeper… still worth the better loco moco.

We ordered and shared the “midget special” — ironic no? 2 hamburger patties, 2 eggs, 1 big bowl of fried rice, and gravy ($8). It was pretty huge, and it filled us both up. The fried rice was killaz! Nice pieces of ham and bacon and seasoned well. The next best thing were the eggs… they were so fresh and rich that the yolk was almost orange. Only thing about this loco moco were the burgers. They were premade, but they were tender and tasted ok. The gravy was standard brown gravy… tasted like the one Freddy’s uses. Even the burger tasted like the one Freddy’s uses. Anyway, we were happy and cleaned off the plate.

80%

• Burger: 18/30pts
• Gravy: 20/30pts
• Egg: 20/20pts
• Rice: 22/20pts (bonus points)

I just had to take a photo of this boy attacking a bento of korean chicken from Blane’s!

There were other vendors too. There was even a poke truck. Nani Mau was also there offering this yummy looking prime rib plates for $9, which looked like a great deal. Great looking crepes making them fresh in front of you. Blane’s bentos. Kalbi plates for $6.

I didn’t even get to go on a ride. I spend all my money on food nowadays… *sigh*

Sad news — Loco moco prices are up from $1.90 to $2.50 at Freddy’s Drive-In! No longer can I carry 2 bucks for lunch and still get back change. Yet another sign of the hurting economy.

We decided to picnic at Wailoa State Park, just one block away from Freddy’s. This beautiful park is full of green grass, calm waters, funky bridges, and kids running around with bread feeding all the ducks that hang out here.

There are lots of nice shady places to picnic here, and we found a perfect spot under a big tree, near the ducks!

Unforunately, the ducks didn’t seem to care for the taste of our loco mocos. :/ But we thought they were pretty good.

So what are your thoughts on the new Loco Moco Scale? I’m still debating whether or not I’ve weighted the items in the loco moco fairly.

Here’s the current breakdown (UPDATED!):

• Burger: 30% (instead of 35%)
• Gravy: 30% (instead of 35%)
• Egg: 20% (instead of 15%)
• Rice: 20% (instead of 15%)

Adding up to a maximum:

100%

I’ve had one say that the egg should have heavier weight, which sounds fair, but I’m curious of what you all think. Please let me know your thoughts!

After having a great steak plate from Mister D’s lunch-wagon, I had to come back to try their loco moco, so I went out today to go back. It broke my heart to see that there was another lunch-wagon in its place (MJ’s lunch wagon). I knew Mister D’s was out there, somewhere.

I drove around aimlessly around Hilo, trying to find Mister D, until I turned a corner and saw the sign “Lunch? Steak Plates $6.50″!

I was overjoyed. The lunch wagons must have some kind of rotating schedule, so if you can’t find Mister D’s near Blane’s industrial, make sure to check on the intersection of Kilauea Ave & Puinako St, across from KTA in the lot of the Kai Store.

In the same corner lot, I usually see a Poke Wagon called “Poke To Your Taste” and a stand that sells wonderful fresh sweet corn.

I have yet to try the poke here, but the corn is very delicious!

Here’s the front of Mister D’s Lunch Wagon again.

I ordered a double loco moco ($5.50) and a steak plate ($6.50) for a co-worker. He started frying my sunny side-up eggs.

Here is the double loco moco:

I’ll use my loco moco rating system again, testing out a new points based system. Maximum points add up to 100, and the burger and gravy have higher weight than the eggs and rice, since I think those are the two most equally important items in a loco moco.

Burger: Pre-made, mushy texture, bland tasting mystery meat which hardly tasted like hamburger (9 out of 35pts)
Gravy: Average tasting regular brown gravy, but a little saltier than normal. There wasn’t enough flavor to balance out the saltiness, though. (20 out of 35pts)
Egg: Good buttery tasting egg, cooked well, but maybe a little too fast. (13 out of 15pts)
Rice: Good rice, cooked just right. (14 out of 15pts)

56%

Sad to say, the burger really brought this one down. I believe that the burger was the same one I had in the loco moco at the County Fair.

Stick with the steak plates here!

Last month I went to Itsu’s and had one of the most onolicious plate lunches, so I had to come back to try their other goodies, especially their famous Kim Chi Burger. I also had to further investigate their loco moco, which they have a very “interesting” way of preparing!

First, the Kim Chi Burger ($1.50).

Looks good doesn’t it? I’ve never had anything much like it before and it was so delicious!

Here’s a closer look:

The kim chi must’ve been homemade. It wasn’t the type of kim chi you would see at the stores and it tasted so fresh. It was drier, crispier, and the chili peppers tasted fresh with a nice kick. There was also a yellowy mayonnaise type of sauce smothered on the soft bun. Both the kim chi and the yellow sauce complimented the burger perfectly. The burger was a premade type of burger, but it was very tender, moist and tasty. I’m usually not a fan of this type of burger, but for some reason, this unique combination worked perfectly for my taste buds.

The loco moco ($2.50) was a bit of a different story. I was already uneasy about ordering one when my friend told me how they prepare it: they use a microwave to cook the egg! I guess since they don’t have a grill on hand, that’s the only way they can do it.

Here’s what it looks like:

Unfortunately, the gravy and burger couldn’t save this one. The egg was completely rubbery and tasteless (1 out of 15pts). The gravy was bland as well (15 out of 35pts). The burger was the same type of burger as the one in the Kim Chi Burger, which was not that bad for a premade burger (20 out of 35pts), but when tasting it with all of the other elements, it still tasted bland. Rice was normal (14 out of 15pts).

50%

The wonderful Kim Chi Burger made this visit still worth it. Also be sure to try their plate lunches. Just stay away from the loco mocos!

Itsu’s Fishing Supplies Inc
810 Piilani St Hilo
(808) 935-8082