Aloha Haoles
Aloha! MKMT is in Hawaii for a few days. Yesterday found us speeding up the King Kamehameha Highway in the Jeep Wrangler convertible to the North Shore of Oahu in search of big waves – hello Bonzai Pipeline – and local eats. I had heard that there were shrimp trucks, shave ice and Huli Huli chicken not to be missed.
First stop, Giovanni’s Shrimp truck in Hale’iwa. We pulled the jeep off road and into the dirt lot where three food trucks and a kiosk to get a lomilomi massage were set up. Upon approach we realized that our lunch companions were ten big tattooed Samoan dudes riding shiny Harley’s. We bellied up to the heavily graffitied truck and browsed the menu. It featured shrimp in 3 ways – all extremely garlicky in varying degrees of spiciness over rice with additional garlic sauce and a garlic hot dog – served over rice or in a bun. I had a flash back of college days and Killer Shrimp in Venice Beach although eating shrimp in a dirt parking lot out of a truck is a bit different – and more of an adventure than eating shrimp out of a bowl in a strip mall in LA…..
We opted for the shrimp and rice, most popular style, which included 12 succulent shrimp with 2 scoops of rice and the garlic hot dog on a bun vs. rice which was served with crunchy toasted garlic sprinkled on the top.
Next on the stop was Aoki’s Shave Ice where we attempted to remove the garlic flavor from our mouths. I had the Hawaiian Local Favorite – how’s that for an original name, which was a combo of banana, pineapple, and guava. The banana was overpowering. I will try another flavor the next time. Our timing was perfect because we were able to walk right up and order. 30 minutes later when we passed by again the line was out the door and down the street.
Next stop… big waves…. until we drove by the daily Hale’iwa farmers market and did a big U-turn so we could go see the local flowers – orchids to die for, Plumeria, Bromeliads, Birds of Paradise, and on and on with stunning tropical flora. After the flora fascination and realization that buying everything in site was not a good idea we poked around the produce stalls and saw avocadoes the size of nurf footballs, little gem pineapples that smelled so sweet we were tempted to bite right in. We bought one for later and it was gobbled up in no time – core and all. All forms of imaginable produce – tropical and not were found in the stalls and everything was big, luscious, and healthy. It sure put the current production of my garden back home to shame.
The highlight of the market were the two Hawaiian guys sitting on a long plank of wood making poi the old fashioned way – rolling it out on the wood. Apparently due to health codes this technique is no longer used or legal (no photos allowed), but these guys still maintain the practice to preserve their heritage and tradition.
We finally made it to the big waves. They were BIG. In addition to the waves and surfers along the coast there was a surf competition that was taking place and the shore was full of onlookers.
Classic Hawaiian surfer girl image… she was jay-walking across the highway tanned skin, teeny bikini, a little dog under her arm and guitar across her shoulder on the way to cheer on her surfer sweetie and play some music in the sand….Aloha!
On the way out of the North Shore we saw billows of smoke off to the left and identified the smell as bbq… The Wrangler took a sharp left into another dirt parking lot where we found a line queued up for the Huli-Huli Chicken – slow roasted, over a bbq rotisserie style. This was my first experience with the Huli Huli chicken and it was entertaining to watch the production of preparing the birds, rotating them on top of the flat bead full of hot briquettes then chopping them up to serve.
We ordered the half chicken and pineapple slaw – the chicken was moist and slightly spicy and the slaw, while good in concept was runny and could have used some more pineapple chunks. By the time we sat down, the line was another 20 people deep – this place is a machine.
More photos to come, but here are a few from the iphone and a recipe I found for the shrimp. I haven’t personally tried it yet, but the reviews were good….
Shrimp Shack Garlic Shrimp
Add a scoop of rice to serve one as a meal.
• 1/4 c. olive oil (sub. butter for extra artery clogging power)
• juice of one lemon
• 2 tablespoons white wine
• 8-10 or more good sized cloves of garlic, minced. You can never have too much.
• 1 T paprika
• a dozen shrimp, the biggest buggers you can find
• sticky plastic tables, stray cats, graffitti (optional)
• lemon wedges (optional)
Sautee everything but the shrimp over medium-low heat until the garlic is a nice golden brown. While shrimp is cooking, spill soda on the plastic table to create authentic stickiness. Crank the sautee heat to turbo and add the shrimp. Keep stirring until the shrimp are just barely done. Remove immediately to prevent them going all rubbery and flavorless.
Serve shrimp over rice, scraping all the little garlic bits onto the rice. By now the stray cats will have been drawn by the aroma and your shrimp truck experience is complete!
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