The food of Hawai’i is considered the Bay Area’s comfort food. The cuisine was brought by immigrants from the islands and melded with the flavors of the Bay Area. When you think of Hawaiian food, you think of fresh seafood, macadamia nuts, seaweed, and rice plates. California is one of Hawaii’s closest neighbors, but we’ve compiled a list of great Hawaiian food here in the bay for those days you don’t feel like taking a five-hour flight.
Our Favorite Hawaiian Food at Off the Grid Events
Miss Subi offers traditional Hawaiian dishes like huli huli chicken coated with a sweet and savory sauce; crispy mochiko pork; and loco moco (an egg and meat patty loaded with gravy). Their musubi creations are available in traditional renditions like spam and egg, but they’re also cooking up something new by introducing flavors from across Asia. The shrimp “ha gao” draws inspiration from Cantonese dumplings and the miso tofu and sweet potato draws inspiration from Japan. There’s also a Vietnamese-style pork musubi. Don’t miss out on the POG lemonade, a popular drink in Hawaii made from passionfruit, orange, and guava juice.
Fresh Catch Poke excels at making great poke by focusing on only two varieties — shoyu or spicy. The poke is paired with seaweed salad and imitation crab salad for a light, refreshing meal perfect for a summer picnic. They also offer a tofu poke bowl dressed in a bright house ponzu dressing. Aside from poke, you can find kalua pork, a traditional slow-cooked pork dish. They also offer cajun fries, pork lumpia shanghai, and spam musubi.
Tokachi Musubi was started by Chef Erika Yokoyama Sanchez to bring the flavors of her hometown (Tokachi, Japan) to the Bay Area. While this menu is more Japanese than Hawaiian, it does offer spam musubi which originated in Hawaii. The musubi here are balls of rice wrapped in nori and sliced open to stuff with karaage, roe, or tropical fruit.
Our Favorite Hawaiian Food across the Bay Area
Diamond Head General Store (San Bruno) offers giant poke bowls in four great varieties — shoyu, spicy, Hawaiian, and chili garlic. The Hawaiian-style ahi poke is topped with chili flakes, sesame, onion, kukui nut, and ogo. Their fried mochiko chicken is one of the crunchiest fried chicken dishes in the entire Bay Area. For a unique creation, order the Japataters which are crack fries topped with kewpie mayo, okonomi sauce, katsuobushi, shoga, and furikake.
Ocean Malasada Co. (San Francisco) is a newcomer to the Ferry Building. They serve Hawaiian-style donuts stuffed with coconut pudding and tropical fruit. Current flavors include nutella, lilikoi, guava, haupia, and ube. You can also opt for the traditional which is just lightly dusted in cinnamon and sugar.
Takahashi Market (San Mateo) is a small grocery store that’s most popular for its prepared food items. Their most popular item is their poke which is made fresh daily. You can choose between ahi, salmon, or tako poke. From Friday to Sunday, they also offer hamachi poke. Their musubi variety is unmatched with over 14 options including unagi, crawfish, salmon belly, Portuguese sausage, and flank kalbi — you can place an order if you would like to buy a whole tray.
Santo Market (San Jose) started as a grocery store in Japantown, but switched to a pickup window during the pandemic. Their poke is made with tuna, octopus, or vegetables and each is available coated in shoyu or spicy sauce. They offer lunch plates with garlic shrimp, kalua pork, and teriyaki. If you’re eating on the go you can also get any of these meat options in sandwich form.
