In 2010, Hailewa native Mike Fuse launched a yellow truck on a well-traveled road that connects Kailua with the North Shore, specializing in kiawe-roasted meats he grew up with as a kid. Fuse sells Kalua Pig, Pulehu Steak, and Garlic & Spicy Shrimp, but chicken is the star. Huli huli translates from Hawaiian as “turn turn.” Butterflied birds roast on rotating spits over local kiawe wood, which imparts beautiful smoky flavor. A whole bird costs only $11 and comes cut, served with containers of tangy, spicy sauce that the person manning the truck said was similar to Buffalo sauce. Sit at shaded picnic tables.

This Hawaiian plate lunch specialist is located on a Waimanalo side street. I experienced Ono Steak & Shrimp after hiking to nearby Makapu’u Lighthouse Trail for views of distant sailboats and rock formations. The space features pastel orange concrete walls with green accents, marble tables and folding chairs, and an outdoor patio with red tables and palapa-like umbrellas. I was particularly enamored with their seafood, including potent garlic shrimp and furikake-crusted ahi fillets served with wasabi aioli and sweet chile sauce. Smoked Meat, a mountain of thin-sliced kiawe-smoked pork tossed with caramelized onions, is also wonderful.

This freeway friendly roast meat emporium is located atop an Aiea strip mall. An overhead yellow sign greets guests at this counter, where meats hang from hooks in a glass case. The sun-soaked concrete patio hosts a single picnic table, so most people take their orders to go. Most meat sells by the pound, including roast duck with bronzed skins, roast pork with crispy cracklings, and grainy char siu. Orders come with gau gee, crispy wontons filled with a savory pork forcemeat. Ask for thick soy sauce or mustard sauce for dipping.

Ted Nakamura’s bare bones bakery features a surf mural on the front wall, tables out front, and a pleasant gravel patio with blue tables and built-in benches and umbrellas. Ted’s sells Danishes, Dobash cake, cookies, Portuguese sausage rolls and plate lunches. For first time visitors, it’s all about haupia, which is a cross between jello and pudding. Chocolate Haupia Pie features soft crust and layers of chocolate pudding, firm coconut haupia and whipped cream that resembles choppy sea, fitting given the notorious North Shore waves. Better yet, Chocolate Macadamia Nut Pie contains chopped mac nuts folded into chocolate custard. Ted’s also sells tasty raised donuts that are chewy and lightly glazed.