CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hannah Jung serves a plate of hot and spicy garlic shrimp at Andy's Kahuku Shrimp around the corner from Likelike Drive-Inn at Keeaumoku and Rycroft.
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Andy’s takes the shrimp off the truck
Ever since the shrimp trucks began dotting the North Shore landscape -- gosh, has it been 20 years? -- I've wondered how long it would take for them to ditch the wheels and settle down or move to town.
People are already willing to drive 45 miles for the trucks' magical combination of garlic or spicy shrimp and rice, so I don't see why anyone would stop making a run for the plates if it didn't involve a long drive and hours in the sun. Unless you like that sort of thing.
I suppose that for some the reward seems so much better after planning, anticipation and working up an appetite. And when one's got out-of-towners in tow, the trucks represent one Hawaii attraction kamaaina don't mind revisiting again and again.
The idea of bringing Kahuku shrimp to town seemed like such a no-brainer, I even thought of doing it myself. I mean, short of perfecting the recipe, how hard could it be to stock the basic ingredients and put shrimp and rice on a plate?
No shrimp recipe I ever saw called for a white truck as a primary ingredient, though the vehicle does figure prominently in the myth-making process. To any local, just mentioning the words "shrimp truck" conjures up a mental image followed by memories of shared plates and sauce-drenched fingers.
Those who found Giovanni's too crowded might have ventured over to Andy's Kahuku Shrimp outside the Kahuku Sugar Mill, the first to break ranks -- upon customers' requests -- and move into Honolulu. Without having operated a shrimp truck, Andy's Kahuku Shrimp might have become just one of many Korean restaurants, but its history carries instant cachet that now draws patrons to its stationary residence at Keeaumoku and Rycroft streets, around the corner from Likelike Drive-Inn. It's a small mom-and-pop where the most outstanding feature is -- just like the truck -- its grafitti-covered walls. Naturally, the lower reaches are well covered, so unless you're tall or willing to do a little climbing, you might find it difficult to add your nom de plume to the work in progress.
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Grafitti adorns the walls at Andy's, just as it covered the sides of Andy's Kahuku Shrimp truck on the North Shore.
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THERE IS MORE to Andy's menu than shrimp, in the form of Korean and local entrees, but of course just about every plate that passes by en route to various diners features garlic-coated or sweet-spicy Korean-style shrimp. For those who like it hot, a "911" version is described with a twinge of alarm by staffers as being "fire hot!" I was too afraid to try it. Plates ($12.95) feature about 10 pieces of black tiger shrimp, butterflied so as to coat every nook and cranny with dense sauce -- paste, really. Shoyu garlic and coconut fried shrimp are also offered, but the first two are the main attractions.
For the price, two people would get about five dishes of namul, the appetizers that typically accompany a meal. These might include sweetened potatoes, kim chee, bean sprouts and cabbage, nothing fancy. This is fast food, after all.
For those who want to mix it up, five pieces of shrimp can be combined ($11.95) with popular kalbi, barbecue chicken, a credible if somewhat dry pork adobo, bulgogi and meat jun. Avoid the dried-out mahimahi.
If you look up from the menu, you'll also see a board listing other specialties of shrimp fried rice ($7.95), soft tofu soup ($6.95) and green tea noodles ($8.95), the latter especially nice on cool evenings. The thick, toothsome noodles are handmade on site, incorporating a touch of green tea powder. The noodles are pleasantly chewy, served in a briny dashi with onions, zucchini and one piece each of mussel, shrimp and oyster.
The variety is nice, but even nicer is the option of staying closer to home.
