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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Long-distance diners
drive L&L successCommercial actors used to state a willingness to walk a mile for a particular brand of cigarette, before cigarette ads were banned from television.
Former Gov. John Waihee once said he'd walk an equal distance for a Spam musubi, when the island snack first gained popularity. His office was soon inundated with gifts of the munchables.
Now that L&L Hawaiian Barbecue has expanded to more than 60 locations on the mainland people are driving, never mind miles, but hours for a plate lunch. The growing list of locations is on the L&L Web site, www.hawaiianbarbecue.com.
Mona and Leroy Kealoha live on Kitsap Peninsula in Washington state. They moved from Waimanalo 16 years ago and have grown children and increasing numbers of grandchildren on the mainland; there are five and one more on the way.
They drive for 35 minutes, take a 35-minute ferry ride and drive another half-hour to get to the Lynnwood L&L. They did it twice in one week recently. "But it was well worth it," said Kailua-grad Mona in an e-mail to L&L. "The staff there is great. On Saturday it was jam-packed but they kept their cool and just kept the food coming."
Kahuku-grad Leroy "makes his monthly trips to Seattle to buy poi from Uwajimaya (a large Asian market)," she told TheBuzz. "That's an all-day trip and it's like going to Longs in Hawaii, you never leave with just one bag."
Wow, a married couple from rival schools Kailua and Kahuku. No wonder they had to move away.
Northern California resident Vincent Mendoza is not from Hawaii but has vacationed here enough to leave him jonesing for mahimahi when he's home.
"Mahimahi is very difficult to find in California and if you do they are very expensive; once I bought a pound of mahimahi for $8.99 a pound. When I heard that L&L Hawaiian Barbecue was opening restaurants I jumped at the chance to taste what they had," he said.
He drove 35 miles to the Daly City store and said the mahimahi and barbecue combo was worth it.
"I also had the chance to visit another L&L restaurant in Hercules, Calif., which is about 20 to 25 miles in the other direction from where I live. I just couldn't get enough," Mendoza said in an e-mail. "I am still waiting on the Hayward location to open up because it's a lot closer to where I live, it's only about two miles and a 10-minute drive."
Being at L&L reminds him of the islands where he'll be vacationing yet again next week.
Punahou graduate and Washington, D.C., resident Shannon Ibara is planning an eight-hour trip to the Connecticut L&L next month with her Hawaii-tied friends.
"We're planning to take a cooler and stock up. How funny is that?" she said.
"Hawaii's in our blood! There's such a strong bond that we have to Hawaii -- much more than any of my mainland friends have with their hometowns," she said via e-mail.
"They don't miss (home) as much as we miss Hawaii. Probably because it's easier for them to go home for visits -- just drive. Their parents don't send them monthly care packages like ours do, that's for sure!"
Ibara and about 20 Hawaii ex-pat friends have formed a "Hawaii Gourmand Group" that meets monthly for lunch. They had dim sum this month and plan to gather for sushi May 17.
L&L Drive-Inn and L&L Hawaiian Barbecue co-founder Eddie Flores predicts that the plate lunch concept will become popular all over the mainland.
"What has happened is a lot of the people on the mainland are trying to copy our concept. It's ridiculous. They have no concept of what a plate lunch is," he said.
They're mostly "katonks" he said, or Japanese Americans from California.
Some others do have a good understanding of plate lunch and L&L operations, such as the former L&L employees who set up shop in St. Louis, Mo., using the L&L name.
"I'm taking legal action," Flores said. "I can't let people do that, even former employees. We registered the trade name everywhere," he said. "I've gotta protect my turf."
Flores' turf will soon expand to a second location in Connecticut, two more in San Diego and three more around Las Vegas, one of them near the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.
"Vegas is a hot market," he said. There may also be others. Flores and partner Johnson Kam have recently made an offer for a location in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and the company is scouting locations in Chicago and New York City.
"It's just like I found a new toy," Flores said. "It's fun to play with a new toy, especially when the toy generates money."
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com