L&L Hawaiian Barbecue
Monday, November 28, 2005 17:15
I tried a new spot for lunch today, L&L Hawaiian Barbecue in El Segundo. I hadn’t tried L&L before, but I do like Ono Hawaiian BBQ and figured that it was worth a shot.
L&L serves standard plate lunches, meat, rice and macaroni salad. I was having a bit of a hard time deciding on what to get, I usually just go for the BBQ chicken plate at Ono, but there were some other appetizing options with the short ribs and even some of the pork dishes looking tasty. Fortunately, a friend walked in while I was still deliberating and let me know that L&L is known for their Chicken Katsu. Chicken Katsu it is then.
The El Segundo L&L doesn’t have much seating, just a bar against the wall and then a waiting area with a large counter. I grabbed a bar stool and waited for my fried chicken goodness while listening to the Hawaiian tunes blaring from the speakers.
It did take a little while for my order, but I was ok with it when I figured out that my chicken had been fried to order. The chicken was cooked really well and sliced into traditional strips, I opted to pick them up and dip them in the Katsu sauce instead of pouring the sauce on top. The sauce was good, but not great, a bit light on flavor. Next time I will give the Katsu Curry a try and see if there is more of zing to it.
The portion size was HUGE. I opted for the regular order instead of the mini order, but next time I’m sure that I will go for the smaller size. I could barely finish half of my plate and I’m not one to save fried chicken. BBQ chicken yes, but not the fried stuff, it gets too soggy after a few hours.
Back to the chicken though, I was really impressed with how well it was cooked. The cutlet was pounded flat and lightly breaded with panko. It was cooked all the way through, but still very juicy. I have had much lower quality fried chicken (picatta, parmesean, etc) for three or even four times the price. L&L’s menu claims that they were awarded Hawaii’s Best Chicken Katsu and I’m inclined to believe them.
One thing I try to evaluate when eating around LAX is if the place would be good for airplane food. With the sorry state of airplane food these days, bringing your own has become essential. I wouldn’t recommend the Katsu to go, but I imagine that the Musubi would be a good snak for the flight. Finger food with some carbs and protein to carry you over.
There are L&L franchises spread out all over Southern California, you can find your local one here:
It’s not gourmet, but it’s not supposed to be. Hawaiian plate lunches are the working man’s meal and this working man left there stuffed without much of a dent in my wallet.
L&L Hawaiian Barbecue
954 N. Main Street
El Segundo, Ca 90245
(310) 414-9523
By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.
G. Matsuda says:
November 28th, 2005 at 5:23 pm
Yeah, L&L’s are popping up all over the place now. From what I’ve seen, each one has a slightly different menu. The other thing is…you can get much better “local” food (that’s how people from Hawaii refer to their local cuisine) at places like Shaka’s on Garfield near I-10 in Monterey Park, Aloha Kitchen on Atlantic Bl. in Monterey Park, The Loft in Gardena, Kings Hawaiian (both the restaurant on Sepulveda and the take-out place on Western).
IMHO, Ono Hawaiian Barbeque is horrible. Their kalua pork is way too salty and has no smoke flavor at all. All the other dishes I’ve tried there are definitely sub-par as well.
Shaka’s is the one I go to the most. They even bring in their lau-lau daily from Hawaii. And they authentic Hawaiian Shave (not shaved) ice…with Azuki beans, too (the whole beans not the sweet red bean paste [kintoki} that they used to have).
Jonah says:
November 28th, 2005 at 5:27 pm
I have heard that the Loft is the place to go, I’ll have to shoot over there and give it a try. I have heard pretty mixed things about King’s though.
Here’s a mixed review from Rate A Restaurant
G. Matsuda says:
November 28th, 2005 at 8:26 pm
Kings isn’t the best, but it’s definitely better than Ono Hawaiian Barbeque, and some of the L&L outlets.
Kristy says:
November 28th, 2005 at 10:02 pm
I like L&L’s chicken teri plate. King’s is good for desserts… chocolate dobash and hawaiian paradise cakes. Haven’t been to Bruddah’s in a long time, but used to go there for some good kalua pork and lau lau. I wonder if it’s still good…. heard it’s gone down hill over the past few years.
Dylan says:
November 29th, 2005 at 1:48 am
Jonah, i think the reason why these meals were made so big in hawaii was b/c of the working class. When the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Hawaiians worked on the sugar plantations, they’d congregate at night markets and trade their own food. Koreans introduced kalbi ribs. Japanese brought chicken katsu. etc. They’d bring their food for lunch, and save the rest for dinner.
G.Matsuda says:
November 29th, 2005 at 12:32 pm
There’s no question about the effect of the plantation economy had on how the workers prepared their food/ate. It happened in the sugar cane and pineapple industries in Hawaii.
John Carlyle says:
March 22nd, 2006 at 7:19 pm
L&L is by far the best Hawaiian plate lunch. They have the credibility and background that all these other imitating copycats don’t have.
Jeffrey C. says:
March 24th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
Here in PHoenix, we have a surprising number of Hawaiian transplants and they all have there favorites for the Hawaiian “local” food. I would have to side with L and L simply because they are the most consistent with the food. The ramen is OK, the Spam musubi is typical of musubi anywhere. What I have to say is the best is the Katsu chicken. The panko is done right and flaky, no heavy day old grease flavor. The curry is OK, though usually not served piping hot. Overall the L and L’s are a dependable spot to get Local flava without shelling out a lot of money.
Aloha Kama’ina
PC says:
April 17th, 2006 at 9:26 pm
I agree that Ono Hawaiian BBQ is horrible. Calling the food Ono is false advertising.
Ed Steven says:
April 20th, 2006 at 9:57 pm
YOU GUYS REALLY SHOULD TRY SHAKAS HAWAIIAN BBQ IN PACIFIC BEACH. THE FOOD IS AWESOME !!!. I TRIED THEIR KATSU, BBQ CHICKEN AND RIBS, IT’S THE BEST I’VE HAD ANYWHERE. I KNOW THEY JUST OPENED ANOTHER LOCATION IN THE GROSSMONT SHOPPING CENTER IN LA MESA TOO.
Tina says:
April 25th, 2006 at 10:05 am
Note that NOT ALL L&L’s are created equal. I’ve tried the one in Irvine and it was fairly decent for what you pay, but I also tried the one in Carson which was GOD AWFUL-cold, overcooked, tasteless food. So if you have one you like, stick w/ it. I don’t think this chain follows the same recipe.
Roxy says:
April 30th, 2006 at 3:43 pm
L&L is really good. Ono’s is just a copycat restaurant, so is Shakas. I do think though that it depends on the L&L…cuz i know that a lot of there restuarants don’t like to follow the recipes. the ones where i live here in San Diego are the best. Nothing compares. The restaurants are suppose to follow the same recipes but a lot like to make there own. It’s a growing business..so hopefully soon everyone will be on the same page. These Ono’s and Shaka’s, so many former L&L emoployees are working there now, using the same recipes.. i hate copycats
Ka'eo says:
June 23rd, 2006 at 3:06 pm
I personally love Shakas. Their food is good and their shave ice is delicious. I never had such great service and coming from hawaii i think they are the closes to the local food back in hawaii.
A says:
July 11th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
I love L&L. I was wondering what you all think if L&L was to change their menu to cater to the tastebuds of the locals of the area. I’ve noticed that fast food restaurants like McDonald’s have been changing their menus for their customers such as in Hawaii we have the portuguese sausage breakfast, spam breakfast, and taro pie which I know you won’t find on the mainland. It would be interesting. What do you think?
Eddie says:
January 11th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
The Loft in Gardena on Redondo Beach Blvd., has the best chicken katsu and island style fried chicken. Most other Hawaiian food places that I’ve been to aren’t consistent - sometimes good and other times to soggy with oil.
bulavinaka says:
January 13th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Does anyone remember Kenny’s Cafe in Mar Vista… alot like the old places from my childhood in Hawaii that were small, family-run places with great food that were adjacent to the factories and wharfs around the islands… Used to go almost every day while hanging out at Fujiya Senbei and Mochi factory with my relatives… Kenny’s was like that… Unfortunately it’s gone as Kenny is now
living the good life in retirement…
Ellice says:
October 10th, 2007 at 9:12 am
Aloha!
Thanking for writing a review on our restaurant. We just recently started a blog and would like for you to check it out. Make sure to leave comments to let us know what you think: http://hawaiianbarbecue.com/talkstory
Also, make sure to add us on MySpace: http://myspace.com/hawaiianbarbecue
Mahalo!
Mary L. Cabrera says:
June 30th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
How can we get a recipe for
macoroni salda