Bay Baseball Bites - Oakland Edition # 6
Every time that I have gone out to Championship Plaza at the Coliseum to check out the food trucks the iLava Hawaiian Barbecue truck has been sitting out on the plaza. I am someone that loves Hawaiian barbecue and I do not know why it has taken me so long to finally give this one a try. It is probably partly because Hawaiian barbecue is something that frequents my takeout food rotation (and always has - both in Washington and California) so when I crave it I have to get it immediately and those moments just haven’t happened while I have been at the Coliseum. Until now.
iLava Hawaiian Barbecue - Chicken Combo Plate
If you are as critical of your Hawaiian barbecue as I am, you know that the sides are very important and a key indicator of how good the meal will be. That is how I decided that I had to get a plate entrée versus a rice bowl from iLava. Also knowing good Hawaiian barbecue, you will get hearty portions so I knew that the rice bowl was going to be a more reasonably sized meal for me, but I had to get the plate because it critically had the macaroni salad for me to judge before I dug into my main. Then I had trouble deciding between barbecue chicken and chicken katsu, soI didn’t decide and went all in on the chicken combo plate so I could have them both (even though I knew it was going to be way too much food for me.)
iLava Hawaiian Barbecue Chicken Combo Plate (Chicken Katsu & Barbecue Chicken)
Now I usually am a barbecue chicken over chicken katsu person. I like them both, but I just usually tend to prefer the barbecue (and let my boyfriend order the katsu for himself so I can sneak a piece or two of it for myself.) But at the iLava food truck, I will say that the katsu takes the top spot. Since I knew that this was going to be way too much food for me, I decided to finish off the katsu for myself this time and let my boyfriend have what I didn’t finish from the barbecue chicken (which was still a lot of food after me giving it quite the sample). This is nothing against the barbecue chicken. That barbecue chicken was still very good, but the katsu was the best. And as you can see, they gave me so much of it (which no complaints from me.)
Earlier I emphasized that the sides are an important indicator on a plate of Hawaiian barbecue. The ones paired with my meal were exactly what they should have been to compliment the mains. Two large scoops of sticky white rice and one tasty scoop of macaroni salad. I don’t know how to articulate what makes Hawaiian-style macaroni salad the absolute best, but the macaroni salad that I got for this meal was on-point. Though I want to order a rice bowl the nice time I check out the iLava food truck, I will probably order a plate just so I can get the macaroni salad with my meal. That is how important it is to me in my Hawaiian meal experience.
Honestly, this was an absolutely spectacular Hawaiian plate “lunch” meal. iLava tops what is (now maybe was) my local spot get Hawaiian takeout since I will now be craving iLava the next time I want Hawaiian food. Luckily, I will just have to get myself down to the iLava storefront in Oakland if I am not visiting the truck on Championship Plaza.
#baybaseballbites