Back Home in Lahaina
916 N. Sepulveda Blvd (between 9th & 10th; in Manhattan Beach)

For someone who is occasionally home-sick for Hawai’i, this is as good as getting back to Honolulu. As there is quite a nice sized Hawai’ian population in Southern California, there ought to be restaurants to cater to them. I found Back Home in Lahaina last year, and drop by for lunch often. It’s not great and not totally genuine, but I miss a good grind.

As usual, I have the kalua plate. The thing I miss about Hawai’i most is kalua and the plate lunch. I hated the weather and the way-too-relaxed attitude, I disliked the beach and sun, and I hated the distance to everything, but this I couldn’t get out of my blood.

However, today – being Memorial Day Sunday – the kalua was awful. Rare, as this place is usually totally dependable. It was stiff, like a combination of too little cooking time (they were shutting down for Monday, so maybe they had too little) and a bad piece of pork. Ugh…

Nevertheless, I miss the flavour and I totally wish there was something in NYC for my kalua cravings… This place has some Hawai’ian décor and flavours, not totally genuine, but it’s as good as it gets before getting on that 5-hour flight west…

Food: C
Atmosphere: C
For Lone Diners: B