No one would ever accuse a plate lunch of being fancy, but as compliments go, calling one a filling meal is the highest of praise.
They are the undisputed main course of Hawai'i lunchtime fare, with each plate heaped to overflowing and accompanied by the ever-present "two scoops rice and mac salad." Anything less is a poser.
Deep thinkers have called plate lunches a metaphor for Hawai'i's ethnic diversity and it's easy to see why. Every plate lunch menu offers a multiethnic array of choices.
Lau lau or kalua pig. Teriyaki beef. Pork cutlet. Chicken katsu. Pork adobo. Chow mein.
Order a mixed plate — always a popular choice — and you can get some of each.
And of course, the gut-busting loco moco: Fried eggs over hamburger patties on a bed of rice, with everything slathered with brown gravy.
Some say the plate lunch has its roots in the bento lunches that Japanese plantation workers carried with them into the cane fields. The practice supposedly was adapted by lunch-wagon owners during World War II. They offered heated versions instead of the traditional cold bento.
Little has changed since then, except for the price: Expect to pay $5 to $7.
And if you've found a really good plate lunch, you can also expect to feel sleepy when you're finished eating.
