Know Before You Go
Island Foods at the 3 'Local Grinds' Food Courts:
Mountainside (by Rio Salado), Lakeside East, and Lakeside West

The crossroads of the Pacific meet in Hawaii and island foods show the contributions of many cultures.
Sample these cuisines and other local favorites!

Picture of food plate called 'plate lunch'
Sample of 'plate lunch'

 Hawaii is famous for "plate lunch": 
a combination of rice, macaroni salad (with an island twist) and an "ono" (delicious) entree such as kalua pig or teriyaki chicken.

Chicken on rotisserie over charcoal
To turn ('huli' or 'vilo') over charcoal makes it tasty!

But there are a lot more favorites:
manapua (steamed pork-filled buns); haupia (a coconut pudding); Vilo Vilo chicken, turned over mesquite charcoal; or Spam musubi (a kind of rice-and-Spam sandwich where seaweed nori holds everything together!)

Picture
Fresh cooked just for you!

Or you can try:
Portugese sausage, Island beef stew over rice, pineapple curry, coconut shrimp, kalbi ribs, chicken katsu, yakisoba, or yakitori.

Maybe some palasami, lupulu, or gyoza, New Zealand meat pies, stir-fied noodles, or stuffed bao.

Menus change. so be sure to try a bite of everything...

Sample tropical fruit flavors like mango, pineapple and coconut in ice cream, smoothies, and refreshing fruit punches.

Toddler eating shave ice

Cap off your meal with a taste of shave ice: ice shaved fine as snow and flavored with a mind-boggling choice of syrups.
 
You can choose to embellish it with ice cream on the bottom or sweet cream over the top!

It does get crowded at noontime but there's so much to try!
Lots of choices - eat early and eat often!
Don't forget there are three Food Courts!
(Panoramic photo by Varian Johnson)

Panorama of Food Court by Bridge
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