By one count, Southern California has more than 100 purveyors of the Hawaiian plate lunch, renowned on the islands for its inexpensive yet generous portions of fried seafood, barbecued meats, steamed rice, macaroni salad and loco moco, an island favorite that consists of steamed rice topped with hamburger patties, fried eggs and gravy.
The biggest plate-lunch company to have washed ashore so far is Honolulu-based L&L Franchise Inc. It has 46 L&L Hawaiian Barbecue outlets in California, nearly as many as in Hawaii, where the chain operates under the misnomer L&L Drive-Inn. Dozens of copycats are dishing up plate-lunch specials, which enjoy cult-like status among Hawaiian expatriates who are willing to drive hours for a taste of the islands.
Stepping into an L&L momentarily feels like I'm back in the islands -- many of the locations even have copies of the Honolulu Advertiser or Star-Bulletin available for reading. And now there's a location in Pasadena -- not a good development for my waistline.
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