THE NO. 37Combination Plate at Hula Boy Charbroil includes brown rice, teriyaki beef, chicken and Kal-Bi (Korean style beef ribs) and fried coconut shrimp. It’s shown here with macaroni salad, marinated veggies, and house-made kimchee, with extra side dishes of kalua pork, Filipino lumpia, and fried teriyaki Spam slices. Photo courtesy of FH Browne.
THE SUZY Q sandwich at Hula Boy Charbroil is top round marinated in teriyaki sauce, grilled and served on your choice of onion or sesame bun, with cheddar cheese, pineapple, lettuce and mayo and French fries. Photo courtesy of FH Browne.
THE INTERIOR AT Hula Boy Charbroil is decorated with Hawaiian photos, posters, artwork and memorabilia, including a 38-foot long outrigger on the ceiling. Photo courtesy of FH Browne
To call Hula Boy Charbroil a hidden gem may only be half correct. It might not be completely hidden, but it’s certainly a gem.
Signage for Hula Boy Charbroil is minimal and the restaurant has a tiny frontage in a strip mall on NE Fourth Plain near the intersection with SR 500 (117th Ave.) in Vancouver. The small restaurant sits sandwiched between a Bi-Mart store and a Rent-A-Center furniture rental store.
Hard to find, maybe, but well worth the trouble of coming to enjoy one of Chef/Co-Owner Herb Pacheco’s Hawaiian Style meals. Hula Boy is known for their “island friendly” service, home-cooked goodness right from Hawaii, and tropical cocktails that will take you (almost) to the shores of Maui.
Owners Herb and Margo closed their downtown restaurant in October, Herb explaining, “It was just too much, with all the catering we do, we decided to put all of our energy into one place, and we’re delighted that most of our old downtown customers still come here for their favorite dishes.”
And, having been open for 8-plus years they have a lot of loyal customers.
“We make everything from scratch,” he says, “even our own kimchee, which we make every two days. Then there’s our teriyaki sauce, which people like so much we decided to bottle it, and can barely keep up with demand.”
This reporter liked the sauce so much he bought a bottle to take home.
For teriyaki lovers, there is a lot of teriyaki on the menu offering beef, chicken, Spam, bentos, shrimp, coconut shrimp, burgers, Korean style beef ribs, noodles and rice all cooked with the restaurant’s house-made tangy-sweet sauce. But the menu, for the size of the restaurant, offers so many choices that it’s reported that people spend 5-10 minutes deciding on what to order.
A favorite dish, served all day, is the very Hawaiian Loco Motion, a plate of brown or white rice, a large beef patty covered with gravy, and topped with “as many eggs as you want.” You can also add mushrooms and onions if you wish.
There are 10 different kinds of Bentos, including chicken, beef, veggies, shrimp, or their smoked, slow-cooked Kalua pulled pork. The Bentos are all served with brown or white rice, with a choice of kimchee, corn or marinated veggies as side dishes – Japanese noodle soups with dumplings – various “Plates” featuring chicken, beef, pork, hamburger, salmon, sausage, hot dogs, steamed veggies and noodles, shrimp, and Hawaii’s ubiquitous Spam.
Brought to the islands during World War II, Spam has found a warm place in the hearts of Hawaiian’s and at Hula Boy you can get it grilled, fried or on a mixed plate with sausage and hot dogs. All of which, of course, you can flavor with teriyaki, sweet chili or hot sauce.
Their large crispy outside, tender inside coconut shrimp are fantastic, as is their Suzy Q sandwich, thin slices of grilled top round of beef with cheddar cheese, pineapple, lettuce and mayo. Other “burgers” include a, you guessed it, Spam burger and a Kalua pork burger. You can add a fried egg to any of these as well.
One of the favorite dishes at Hula Boy is menu item No. 37 – a combination plate featuring teriyaki beef and chicken and their Kal-Bi ribs, along with several of their generously-sized fried coconut shrimp, that use real coconut as the coating, not the overly-sweet flakes you often find on this dish.
Every dish comes with the choice of rice, Herb adding brown rice after customers at the former downtown store came in from a health club next door and suggested he add this healthier variety, and include a scoop of their delicious macaroni salad or fresh fruit, and the same sides as the bento dishes.
While the menu is described as “Hawaiian style,” Hula Boy actually features an internationally-inspired cuisine with items from Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Korea as well as the Hawaiian islands.
The walls of the restaurant are covered with Hawaiian posters, paintings, and memorabilia but it’s the 38-foot outrigger canoe that is mounted on the ceiling, which draws the most comments. Seating around 48 people, the restaurant is open from 10:30 a.m. until 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and does a lot of take-out as well as offering catering for individual parties and business events.
Hula Boy Charbroil is located at 11820 NE Fourth Plain Rd., Suite G. To reach by phone, call (360) 896-3355 or fax (360) 896-3771 for to go orders. On the internet, got to www.hulaboycharbroil.com for more information and a look at the menu.
