Great Hawaiian Lunch Wagon Festival

So what to do on a Saturday?  We decided to go to the "Great Hawaiian Lunch Wagon Festival" at Kaka'ako Park.  :D  I was so happy that the Husby suggested this... we got there and immediately did the rounds so that we'd know what each wagon had to offer.  And these are the ones that we chose... 

We decided to start with Joe Aloha's wagon... The Husby went ahead
and got their "Smoked Ribs with their very own BBQ sauce".  It came
with a scoop of rice sprinkled with furikake and a small helping of salad.  We were both happy and unhappy with this... the BBQ sauce is definitely what made the ribs awesome, but the ribs themselves were hard on the outside, but super soft and juicy on the inside.  :(  But that didn't stop us from devouring our plate.

Most times you can find Joe Aloha's lunch wagon on the corner of Kamakee and Kawaihao in front of Ala Moana Self-Storage M-F 10am - 1pm.  

Also, you can friend them on Facebook or even follow them on Twitter.  

We then saw that our friends from Popcorn Express were present with their sweet & salty kettle corn!!!  They offer their kettle corn in a variety of colors (yep, you can get them to match your event!) and in the standard white also.

Popcorn Express can be found at 2478 South Beretania St.  (the parking lot across the old Star Market near University) on most Saturdays.

The Husby and I LOVE their kettle corn... so much so that we had to have it at our wedding reception!  *more on that in another blog entry*

We were surprised and happy to see that they remembered us... and gave us a bag of their yummy popcorn to take home and munch on!

Thanks Duane for the popcorn!!!  And yep, if we have a kid... you know we'll be contacting you guys for the baby's first birthday!

I knew that I wanted to try Manaia's Lobster Wagon after seeing their interview with Steve Uyehara from Sunrise on Hawaii News Now.  Man, their food looked DELICIOUS!!!  They had 4 different lobster dishes on their menu... most for $5 each, except the HALF lobster plate.  Well, I opted for the lobster spaghetti... chunks of lobster meat that were dripping with garlic butter served on a bed of spaghetti, with a grilled piece of bread to help you sop up all that butter!!  And when I say that the lobster was dripping... I think I meant SWIMMING in butter.  It was a messy but very tasty dish!  My poor bread though was drenched by the end of the meal... and it had to be tossed.

Manaia's Lobster Wagon can be found in Kahuku near Kahuku High School across from Tita's Grill.  It was a very popular wagon... the man in front of me in line asked if I'd ever had their food before,  I told him "no, but I had watched their interview and their food looked so GOOD!!!"  He said that he had watched the same interview and that's also what prompted him to stand in line.  *laugh*  Like I said, they  had a HUGE line, which moved fairly quickly... it was the wait for your food to be cooked that was the downer!  I personally waited for about 20 - 30 minutes AFTER I had placed my order... which gave the Husby enough time to get the samplings from the 2 other trucks listed.  Thankfully the food didn't disappoint!

Up Close Picture of my Lobster Spaghetti

 We also got a plate from Kazu's lunch wagon... their Kazu Special!!  It was packed with a full size Spam Musubi, Furikake Fried Chicken, Teri Beef and Chow Fun!  It was awesome!  The spam musubi had that "shoyu" taste that we can't seem to replicate when we make ours at home, so it was devoured selfishly by the Husby... while he complained about the "furikake" fried chicken being devoid of furikake... whatever, it was crispy on the outside and the meat wasn't dry at all - a winner in my book!  The teri beef was soft and full of flavor - as was the chow fun, brimming with spam, bean sprouts and green onions!  *sigh*  I'm getting that "full" feeling just looking at this picture.


Our first lunch wagon festival!!!  I can only hope that we'll be better prepared (Starved) for the next one, so that we can eat more than just 3 plates.  *sigh*  The cool thing about this festival is that all the proceeds went towards the Hawaii Children's Discovery Center, an interactive environment that encourages kids to play and learn!!!  What a great cause!