After a run at eating bougie small plates for under $10.50, this Starving Student has decided she is still hungry from last week. Thankfully, a new Hawaiian food place in town serves up mounds of food in the form of a classic Hawaiian plate for only $6.50.
Halo Hawaiian BBQ and Poke Bar opened up in the Safeway shopping center off of East Avenue about a month ago. Since then, the restaurant has had lines out the door. A warning sign even sits to the right of the cash register advising each customer there possibly could be a 25-minute wait for orders. That didn’t stop me from ordering and waiting.
Hawaiian food is known for its love for spam and so am I — well, my roommates can vouch for my love for spam. The menu has my favorite food from the Pacific Rim, Spam musubi.
Growing up, my best friend Tati’s mother would make these bricks of dense vinegared sushi rice, about the size of a deck of cards but at least five times heavier. It would have a thin coating of a sweet teriyaki sauce right under a slab of pink spam with a golden crust. And it would be wrapped together like a burrito with a dark-green nori seaweed sheet.
It was our favorite snack before we went out to play a game of field hockey. Her family was Chamorro, or from Guam, but their food also had a Pacific Rim influence. Unfortunately, they live in San Diego, which means I have been missing musubi for more than a year.
I ordered a single Spam musubi for $1.95 along with an order of a mini meal. It is half the size of a classic Hawaiian plate. I ordered the kalua pork option, which came with one neat scoop of macaroni salad that sat next to another neat scoop of white rice.
Other meat options included Hawaiian barbecue beef, chicken, short ribs, fried shrimp, chicken katsu and loco moco — which is made of hamburger patties, brown gravy and eggs.
Poke bowls are also an option for those who like raw fish. For $9.75, a poke bowl comes with rice or mixed greens, sides like avocado or crabmeat salad, three scoops of fish, a sauce and other toppings in the bar. It was a popular item.
I waited the 25 minutes until my foam box was served to me. To my surprise, it was stacked and worth the wait. The slow-roasted shredded kalua pork was truly succulent and smoky. Its flavor-packed shreds paired with the plain white rice and cold, creamy macaroni salad. It was best all mixed together, instead of eaten separately. And, even better with teriyaki sauce drizzled all over.
As for the Spam musubi, it didn’t disappoint. I took a bite and pictured sharing a sack lunch with my best friend on the sideline of the turf field we would compete on.
For the love of Spam, I will be back.
Bianca Quilantan is a Chico State University student and part-time E-R reporter. Each week she is asked to find a meal that costs no more than $10.50 (one hour at minimum wage), including tip, and then write about it. Reach her at 896-7758.
