Simple. Yet it has become a booming business in Las Vegas, sometimes called the Ninth Island because of the large number of Kama'aina who have moved to the desert city.
Aloha Kitchen was one of the first hot plate Hawaiian restaurants to open in Las Vegas 10 years ago. It currently has four locations across the valley.
"There was maybe one or two out here, like Aloha Specialties, when we first opened on Maryland Parkway," Aloha Kitchen general manager Maria Duarte said, mentioning the longtime Hawaiian barbecue eatery in the California Hotel that is spoken of fondly by local Hawaiian restaurant owners. "But with so many people moving here from Hawaii, and caucasians being exposed, (the growth in business) is just word of mouth."
And, of course, the food.
"People who've never even been to Hawaii love the plate lunches," Duarte said. "It's as popular now to the mainland as it is to the people back home."
Aloha Island Grill has operated in the Summerlin planned community on the west side of Las Vegas for nearly five years. It's run by the Kam family, sisters Evis and Cindy and father Enrique.
"There were, what, maybe half a dozen or so Hawaiian restaurants here when we opened?" Evis asked her sister Cindy as they served signature dishes such as fried rice omelete to longtime customers. "Now they're everywhere. There's got to be more than 20."
A regular since the opening of Aloha Island Grill, Leanne Dillon, agreed. "When my husband and I moved here in 1995, there were just a few out here," Dillon said. "Now there's definitely a lot more mom-and-pop places to go to."
And she's sampled the saimin in most of them. She said she prefers Aloha Grill for its willingness to bend to her picky tastes, as well as for the people.
"In here, everybody knows everybody," Dillon said, "even if you just met. It's like home."
Jack Magdesyan and his wife, Maria, found Aloha Island Grill when they moved to the area a few months ago. Although the nation may be in a recession, he and his small family eat at the restaurant twice a week.
"It's good quality, quick, tasty and big portions," he said. And his two young girls, Annie and Lily, love the chicken katsu. "The food is kid-friendly, and so are the people. Not a lot of places are like that anymore. This is more like a neighborhood place."
A taste of home, both figuratively and literally, seems to be the key to the growth of Hawaiian "fast food" in Las Vegas.
Shawn Santana, a businessman and a fixture on the local Hawaiian scene, had a hard time finding much in the way of food from home when he moved to Las Vegas from Hawaii in 1998.
"They didn't even have any L&L's then," he said. "On every corner there is a Hawaiian barbecue now."
Ah, L&L. It seems to always come back to this restaurant chain, which even has a MySpace fan page and a YouTube channel.
L&- Hawaiian Barbecue opened in Honolulu in 1976 and spread to Las Vegas in 2002 with its first valley location, with six more popping up since then. It was an easy decision to move to Las Vegas, said Brandon Dela Cruz, director of marketing for L&L.
"(We) decided to expand in Las Vegas because of the number of Hawaiian expats there," he said.
And there's room for more. "We are still looking to expand," Dela Cruz said.
Most Hawaiians know the L&- story, how owners Johnson Kam and Eddie Flores Jr. turned the original L&- Drive-Inn, which they purchased in 1976, into a thriving Hawaiian franchise serving fresh plate lunches in large portions. In 1999 they moved to the mainland, with their first store in California. They changed the name to L&- Hawaiian Barbecue for mainlanders. They now have 185 stores nationwide with a plan for a New Zealand store in 2009.
What does the big chain think of the mom-and-pop plate lunch places in Las Vegas?
"We have noticed, it's a phenomenon," Dela Cruz said. But, he added, "There are a lot of copycats."
He explained. "The reason I say copycats is they call themselves 'Hawaiian barbecue' but Eddie Flores created the term," Dela Cruz said.
Still not clear?
"It's the same basic food offerings, they took the plate lunch that was popular in Hawaii and took it to the mainland," he said. "But a lot of our chefs, and this is because of the way our food is prepared, know how to prepare different kinds of specials. You have a lot of ways to come up with different dishes easily."
So what delineates each restaurant, if it's all the same, at least in name?
"It's what you use, and what you don't use," Evis Kam said.
There are three items in each Hawaiian barbecue restaurant that must be behind the counter to make it truly authentic: Best Foods mayonnaise, Aloha Shoyu soy sauce and Spam.
"It's a particular taste," Kam said. "We're all a little different."
Aside from the ingredients, it's the way they are mixed and the care put into certain dishes.
"Hawaiians are big on food," said Austin Pan, co-owner of Ohanna Barbeque. "It's a big deal."
Pan and his family have been in Las Vegas for 20 years, and in the restaurant business for 18 years. Pan branched off to begin Ohanna five years ago and now has four locations.
"We noticed a lot of people from home missed Hawaiian food and we wanted to bring a bit of the culture to Vegas," Pan said.
Is there room for more restaurants? Possibly.
"You go to one place and have all these different cultures," Pan said. "From burgers, fries, to katsu and teriyaki. It's simple, it's good, it's fast and it's big portions. There's something for everyone."
Kelly Adler, a local barrista, agrees.
"I didn't know much about Hawaiian food, but I like barbecue," said Adler, a George native. "So I tried it."
And tried it, making stops at more than six Hawaiian restaurants in the valley. She's narrowed her favorites down to two locales, depending on her mood.
"For me, it's all about the chicken and the macaroni salad," she said. "And one place makes the best curry katsu you've ever had. At least to me."
That seems to be the reason for the restaurants existence and growth -- personal taste.
"I wish there was one on my corner," Adler said.
She may not have to wait long.
