Wanderlust’s co-founder and Shrimp Sherlock Jeff Krasno investigates O’ahu’s best local grub and reports back! Check his recommendations:
If you’re coming to Wanderlust O’ahu and want to take a trip to an off-campus jaunt, I highly suggest an excursion to Kahuku’s local shrimp trucks. Take a left out of Turtle Bay and head east. 5 minutes down the road, you’ll run into Fumi’s, the first of a dozen shrimp stops.
I met Fumi last year and tried to convince him to drive his truck down to Wanderlust. He wasn’t too confident it was going to make it that far. Fumi doesn’t have to go far to farm his shrimp.
The Butter Garlic Shrimp is the staple. And it’s damn good.
You know you’ve picked well when the locals eat there. And this dude is about as local as a pineapple. I asked him where he got his beer. Kahuku is a Mormon dry town but that’s another story. Long’s Pharmacy, about 5 miles east, is apparently the spot for Advil and Sierra Nevada.
My next stop was Romy’s, infamous on the North Shore. For me, it’s notoriety is due to closing before 6pm. If you want to get your shrimp on, go for lunch or a mid-afternoon snack.
Another mile past Romy’s and you enter the town of Kahuku. Downtown Kahuku hosts an entire food truck ghetto. Giovanni’s went big on advertising.
They parked their truck off of Kamehameha highway in 1996 and must have lost the keys because it hasn’t moved since
In 2010, Giovanni’s bought the land next to the truck and built this sweet pavilion.
The pavilion serves as a mess hall for a host of trucks and pop-up tents serving more than just shrimp.
Even Green Juice.
For comparison, we ordered the lemon better shrimp. Sadly, it didn’t compare to Fumi’s.
But the Korean BBQ steak was EXCELLENT. It came with a side of noodles and … ummm … a side of noodles.
To finish it off: the best damn frozen yogurt I’ve ever had. No joke.
And then we hit Long’s Pharmacy.