Last month the Nonstop Honolulu team — including me — had the difficult job of judging 22 pork dishes at Eat The Street.
Yes, 22. It was painful.
But with a plate of succulent Okinawan-style shoyu pork and crispy chocolate-dipped bacon, Simply Ono (@simplyonowagons) stood out from the rest — and was crowned the Pig Out champs.
The veteran lunch wagon — serving gourmet plate lunches for 16 years — proved it could compete with the newest and trendiest trucks.
How? By offering lunch-wagon staples like garlic chicken, kalua pig and shoyu pork with more gourmet fare like seared ahi, furikake tofu steaks, veal patties with gravy and onions, and Monte Cristo sandwiches. The wagon has even served rack of lamb and beef Wellington.
It’s always about being better than the next guy, Harris said.
So we stopped by one of its three lunch wagons — this one on the campus of the University of Hawaii at Manoa — to chat with co-owner Harris Sukita about how Hawaii’s food truck scene has changed, what he’ll be serving at tomorrow’s Eat The Street Garlic, and why harassing his customers has helped business.
Here’s what he had to say:
Simply Ono (food truck), Green lunchwagon, Krauss Hall at the University of Hawaii-Manoa; white lunchwagons, Punchbowl Street between the State Capitol and Hawaii State Library, and 2337 N. King St. Phone: (808) 728-0441, @simplyonowagons
1 Comment
OK where is the jazzy intro music… love that intro… PUT IT BACK… please 🙂
I’d probably seek them out for the chocolate bacon alone. But I also have this thing that says if it looks like a dumpy old truck and it is still around the food must be pretty good over a time period. Sort of like seeing a hole in the wall restaurant somewhere that is full of people.
Pretty cool guy dis guy, when back home got to check ’em out.