Ha! Well, despite the occasional professional obligation, I prefer not to dabble in bests. (And if I did, I feel like Sizzle's galbi might have something to say about it.) But yeah, this is absolutely one of my favorites, and Hapa Food Co. in general is probably my favorite Hawaiian joint in town right now.
You actually beat me to it. I've been sitting on all of the materials for a Hapa post for a while now.
- Hapa - Galbi and Chicken.jpg (665.92 KiB) Viewed 9997 times
Here's one of my photos of the kalbi, alongside one of my other favorites at Hapa, the garlic chicken. The garlic chicken is kind of ridiculous. It is everything I claim to hate. It is mega sweet. It is drenched in sauce. It is piled with a metric crapton of jarred garlic. And I love it all the same. It is the most beautiful kind of excess and I can't go without getting some.
- Hapa - Poke.jpg (480.39 KiB) Viewed 9997 times
The poke is a total sleeper. This is suuuuuuper no-frills traditional Hawaiian poke. Lots of sesame oil going on, some furikake, scallions, a touch of spice. Extremely satisfying and so, so good with plain old white rice.
- Hapa - Poke Nachos.jpg (630.36 KiB) Viewed 9997 times
But, I mean, if you have to gild the lily, you could do worse than the poke nachos. It's basically the same thing over super crispy fried wontons drizzled with spicy mayo. Again, it's kind of like the garlic chicken — good excess. I think they might not be on the menu, but it's sort of a known secret menu item. They'll make it anytime, AFAIK.
- Hapa - Meat Jun.jpg (536.49 KiB) Viewed 9997 times
They have some good rotating specials as well. The meat jun is probably my favorite. It's super thin marinated slices of beef wrapped in gently scrambled egg with a sweet soy dip. They don't seem to make it very often, so definitely nab it if you have the opportunity. You can come back for the regular menu items anytime.
- Hapa - Malasada.jpg (540.22 KiB) Viewed 9997 times
And the malasadas, yeah. I prefer the ube, but both are just awesome. It's all about getting them fresh. Don't take a box home. I mean, do that too, but make sure you eat some piping hot. That's when they shine.
The only thing that drives me nuts here is I
SO wish they did potato mac rather than a pure creamy mac. But this is purely a matter of personal preference. Everything here is so good I shouldn't even be mentioning it.
--and I drive across town to Hapa for my Kalbi fix.