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Locals may call it plate lunch but to us it was a luau: an enormous amount of Hawaiian food—with names like lomi lomi salmon and haupia—packed into the small Styrofoam box. Our favorites, kalua pig and taro-leaf-wrapped pork lau lau had been slow-cooked for hours to melt-in-your-mouth perfection, the same way it was done when Ono Hawaiian Foods opened a near half-century ago.

This feast was from one of Honolulu’s hometown hangouts, the small one-of-a-kind, off-the-beaten-tourist-track places that have, for decades, served up inexpensive, delicious foods, or ono grindz, to generations of diners.

We found several such places just blocks from Waikiki Beach; others scattered about Oahu:

Behind its modest storefront, Ono Hawaiian Foods, (726 Kapahulu Ave., 808-737-2275) hasn’t varied its cooking methods since opening in 1961. Their Hawaiian dishes are so popular that a hand-printed sign asks diners to “be cool” and “no get mad” while waiting on the sidewalk for their turn in the tiny dining room.

For 48 years, plates piled high with meat, fish, Spam, or Portuguese sausage, mounds of rice and macaroni salad have brought fans to Rainbow Drive-in, (www.rainbowdrivein.com, 3308 Kanaina Ave., 808-737-0177). A favorite, Loco Moco, features hamburger steak and egg over rice, smothered in gravy.

We redefined ambrosia at Leonard’s Bakery, (www.leonardshawaii.com, 933 Kapahulu Ave., 808-737-5591) when the still-warm malasada’s crispy sugar-coated crust gave way to its creamy filling inside.  Little has changed since 1957 when the then-five-year-old bakery moved to this location, especially the popularity of this Portuguese pastry—think donut-without-the-hole.

A favorite at the decade-old Waiola Bakery and Shave Ice (525 Kapahulu Ave., 808-735-8886) is shave ice with strawberry syrup and vanilla ice cream.  The original location at 2135 Waiola St. opened nearly three decades ago. 

In the North Shore’s Haleiwa, the 58-year-old M. Matsumoto’s Grocery Store (www.matsumotoshaveice.com, 66-087 Kamehameha Highway, 808-637-4827) mainly serves up shave ice and T-shirts these days. The store is housed in a small 1920’s wood frame building that once housed the town’s post office. Our Rainbow, a mounded cone of ice shaved to snowflake consistency, lived up to its name when syrups—yellow lemon, fuchsia strawberry and blue pineapple—transformed it into a rainbow of colors and flavors.

Just beyond Haleiwa, a half dozen shrimp trucks, or mobile kitchens, serve up steaming lunches along the highway near Kahuku, a prawn aquaculture area. We chose the graffiti-decorated Giovanni’s Original Shrimp Truck (56-505 Kamehameha Highway, 808-293-1839) for our $12 lunch—12 large shrimp with two scoops of rice, served from the truck’s side window and then dined communally at nearby picnic tables.

The family-owned and operated Buzz’s Original Steakhouse (www.buzzssteakhouse.com, 413 Kawailoa Rd., Kailua, 808-261-4661) opened in Lanikai in 1962. With a patio overlooking the Kailua Beach Park and a centerpiece Koa wood bar with10 rattan stools, the place exudes tropical ambiance. A trip to an old-style salad bar comes with fish and Kiawe-broiled steak dinners at this eatery where reservations are a must and credit cards aren’t accepted, though debit and ATM cards are.

Hungry? Book your Oahu getaway with AAA Travel.