CHEF SAMBRANO: ICHIBAN OKAZUYA WAILUKU MAUI

Ichiban Okazuya in Wailuku town on 2133 Kaohu Street, Phone: 808-244-7276 always has a line out the door, and for good reason. The food is cooked fresh, a mostly all female crew of cooks and counter help, this little old school mom and pop eatery is a must stop if you are looking for what we locals on Maui or Hawaii in general love to eat for lunch. Because it is Japanese, you'll find the all of the favorites here, like katsu, and the pickled veggies for the sides besides the typical white medium grain rice. Ichiban's has been a Maui staple for decades, as they say some of the best tasting foods is out of the way. For moi, it is out of the way but well worth it, I live in Lahaina like almost 30 miles out. But stopping by today was well worth it, for the crew fed me Breaded Mahi, with rice, and salted cabbage with Nishime for the sides. Awesome, totally filling. I was sitting on the bench tables with another local fellow and we just inhaled the food! Haha! This was my plate in the photos below, that's right SUCKAZ!

And the place was filled with office girls picking up grines for the staff back at their offices, and just seniors spending a day with their kids, I ran into a local brother with his dad, spending time together with some ono kine grinez... that's Hawaii for you, simple life, simple food...it's genius while everyone else is making things difficult, we keep it simple and easy. Easy life, no stress, and Ichiban Okazuya. That's the ticket folks.