Da Lu'au Hawaiian Grill
41 Auto Center Drive Ste. #101
Foothill Ranch, CA 92610
One food that doesn't get enough love is Hawaiian cuisine. A quick search of Urbanspoon shows that there are only 43 Hawaiian restaurants in OC, and some of those are fusion restaurants that just happen to have a few items from the islands on their menu. Almost every time I have had Hawaiian, I've left the restaurant enjoying my meal. I hoped that would happen when we left Da Lu'au in Foothill Ranch.
Da Lu'au gets a lot of love from the OC Weekly. They named this one of the top 10 spots for breakfast, gave a pretty glowing full review of the food here, and Gustavo wrote them up in his always entertaining "Hole In the Wall" column last year. Besides all that, I had this place written down in my notes because a blog reader, Missy, had commented that I needed to try this place. Not one to let a tip go un-followed, we headed up to Foothill Ranch on a recent Saturday night.
This Hawaiian restaurant is located in an out-of-the-way shopping center that people would only come to if they made a wrong turn or had a specific reason for coming. The shopping center is home to Jersey Mike's, Cinnamon Productions, and Mustard Cafe, a restaurant we reviewed back in 2011. We were hoping for a more positive experience at Da Lu'au than there.
Da Lu'au had a good flow of business on this Saturday night. There were lots of takeout orders, and half of the fifteen or so tables in the small dining room were filled at least once during our stay. Ordering was a little confusing. There was a register near the front, where we ordered, but everyone else dining here was served by a waitress. After ordering at the counter, we selected a table, got our drinks at the fountain, and waited for our food to arrive.
I didn't know this when I started dating Katie five and a half years ago, but she's a poke fiend. It's almost always assured that she will order poke anytime she sees it on a menu. That was the case at Da Lu'au as well. This Ahi Poke ($8.95) came seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil, and sea salt, then was served on top of mixed greens, sliced avocado, green onion, lettuce, sliced cucumber, and a few tortilla chips scattered about. This was more like an ahi salad than I had imagined getting. The ahi was fresh and seasoned simply to allow the fish's natural flavor to come through. It came with a soy-sesame ginger dressing that was rather boring. The spicier dressing they provided us with was a much better option for me. We wish there was more of the ahi and less of the greens, but it was a good cure for Katie's ahi cravings.
When considering Hawaiian food, Katie selected what many people probably think about a Two Item Combo Plate ($9.95). At Da Lu'au, you can pick two of their fifteen entrees to complete your combo meal. Katie had the BBQ Chicken and the Kalua Pork. The BBQ chicken was the better of these two. It was tender, with a nice char to it. The pork was a little dry and only made better when the sauce was added. This was far from the pork we had at Hapa J's, which was the best kalua pork we have had on this side of the Pacific. She went with White Rice and Potato Macaroni Salad for her two sides. The rice went well with the chicken, but the clear winner was the potato macaroni salad. I'm not a big fan of macaroni salad, but this was excellent. It had equal parts of potato and macaroni, the right amount of moisture, and the flavor was spot on. An excellent side.
When it came time for my order, I decided to recreate the same two-item combo meal the guys from OC Weekly had when they ate here. That meant I would be having the Meat Jun and Mochiko Chicken. Two items were brand new to me and rarely seen on Hawaiian menus on the mainland. The Meat Jun could best be described as a flat slice of rib eye, egg dipped, then grilled. It's like a meat version of French toast. It had a sweetness that went with it, but neither of the sauces that came with this was the right fit for the meat jun. The mochiko is deep-fried chicken thighs with ginger and battered in sweet rice powder. These fried chicken nuggets were a winner. They were not overly greasy, tender chicken and made even better with their hot and spicy sauce. Along with the potato macaroni salad, I opted for the Asian Coleslaw. If you are not a fan of cilantro, forgo this side item. The overpowering cilantro gave this an almost minty quality. Refreshing, but only for some.
We're glad reader Missy and the group over at OC Weekly steered us towards Da Lu'au. It's not the best Hawaiian food we have had, but it's not the worst by a long shot. In fact, it's pretty good for a fast-casual place. Prices were not crazy, with only a few items reaching the double-digit mark. It's maybe not destination dining, but if you're in the area and jonesing for Hawaiian food, this could be the spot for you.
Out of five outrigger canoes (which happen to be the official team sport of Hawaii), five being best to zero being worst, Da Lu'au gets 3 outrigger canoes.
For more information about Da Lu'au Hawaiian Grill, go to their website here: https://daluaulakeforest.wixsite.com/1234
No comments:
Post a Comment