There’s a special place in our hearts for okazuya, an old-school Japanese delicatessen that serves ready-to-eat and takeout dishes. The concept of okazuya has been around for decades and is steeped in history and tradition. Hefty portions of fried chicken, thick noodles full of flavor, carefully packed cone sushi and handmade musubi often line the […]
Food and travel go hand-in-hand. That’s why it was so easy for me, a former food editor and longtime food writer, to make the transition to editor of HAWAIʻI Magazine several years ago. (I’m now the editor at large.) To me, there’s no better way to experience a new place than through its cuisine—and Oʻahu
It’s 5:30 a.m. on a Wednesday morning in Hilo. First light is just beginning to break through the clouds in hues of amber and apricot. A traffic light turns green for no one along this quiet street. I’m still wiping the sleep from my eyes, but already a dozen employees have been hard at work
Not all that long ago, in a city far, far away (from Honolulu), there were many people who swore Hilo had the best okazuya in Hawaii. So what if most of those people lived in Hilo? It was true. The breed of take-out lunch shop known as okazuya—a Hawaii-born amalgam of the Japanese words “okazu”
