On Saturday for a pre-Mother's Day request, Da Wife wanted to check out "Eat The Street" hosted at the Tony Group Autoplex in Waipio.

If you've nevah heard of "Eat The Street", it's basically a venue showcasing an evah growing - and popular - scene of food trucks that gather in a pre-determined location and setup shop. It's not your ordinary food trucks as well as each truck actually has their own "identity" - and loyal followers - serving up their unique specialties trying to win your opu ovah.

While the whole scene of "Eat The Street" promotes our local food trucks, they certainly don't discriminate if you don't have wheels as there were more than a handful dat "roughed" it out promoting their own grindz undah pop up tents.

Once in awhile "Eat The Street" also promotes "themed" nights as well showcasing things such as bacon, ethnic specific and tomato-fest nights to name a few so it's interesting to see who/wat comes ready to show off their creations. Dis particular night it was just a regulah night with only 30 vendors. Yeah, a regulah night.

Da Wife and I have NEVAH been to "Eat The Street" but we've always wanted to attend. We've heard great things about it and because it really helps our local economy, it's something we both have no reservations about supporting. Also adding to da mix was some awesome local entertainment by Kalaeloa, Nesian Nine and BET and best yet, da whole event was FREE to attend!

Keep dat in mind...... free to attend.

But most importantly, we live in Hawai'i and da one thing kama'aina peeps - especially me - LOVE is to do is pound some ono-licious grindz!

Check out some of da pics in between da times we were stuffing our face.

From WWD! Food

I was actually really surprised to see how many tables and seats were set up. They even had da standing bar type tables as well which I tink is cool at dis kine event. Granted there was no way in heck dat it would have sat everybody who attened but it was a great touch nonetheless.

From WWD! Food

Once inside, dis is wat it opened up to - food trucks as far as da eye can see. Sorry some of da pics are washed out. Da lolo dat I am didn't bother to check my camera settings but they get bettah, I promise.

From WWD! Food

It was a perfect day for ice cream! But I resisted for some real grindz first. I love dat da ice cream "truck" was old school.

From WWD! Food

We had to B-line it to a pot pie truck (sorry, didn't get da name) for Da Wife's co-workahs as they swear it's da best and because they sell out quick. Dis truck was next to it and I kinda wish we had tried dis one called "Simply Ono". It was on da pricey side but da food did look ono with pipikaula, spicy tuna and mac and cheese.

From WWD! Food

Aftah picking up da pies, we turned around to an evah growing mob.

From WWD! Food

Da Wife was in da mood for some authentic tacos so she decided on "Xtreme Tacos" by Ignacio.

From WWD! Food

We couldn't decide wat we wanted so we just did wat any hungry person would do.... we ordered da sampler!

From WWD! Food

Dis one is called Falaco which is a Mediterranean style falafel.... don't ask me wat da heck dat means.

From WWD! Food

I tink dis was da smoked chicken taco marinated in a chipotle sauce.

From WWD! Food

Dis was da shrimp ceviche with lime juice and guacamole. If you like a a little bit of bite, then dis taco is da one for you!

From WWD! Food

Da shredded beef taco with onions, garlic and chiles. I can't believe I didn't take da pic of da last taco which was of da bbq pulled pork taco with cilantro coleslaw.

From WWD! Food

Coming into da Autoplex took some time as da line stretched all da way down da on ramp. We went into da oddah entrance down by Goodyear and then behind Costco's loading dock saving us at least 15-20 minutes of waiting.

From WWD! Food

Wat really happens in da truck...... stays in da truck.

From WWD! Food

Still hungry, we were on da prowl and I didn't get a chance to check out dis burgah at "Local Stop" but it definitely sounds like a heart attack waiting to happen and I'm usually always in da mood for a heart attack.

From WWD! Food

"Triple J's" made an lumpia-like creation called goonz which he stuffed with your choice of spicy crab, buffalo dawg, ribeye steak or some bacon thingy but at $3 for ONE, uh, no tanks. He also had cheesesteaks which I thought looked ono but for $12, I expect to barely see da bun. I passed on dat too.

From WWD! Food

We followed our noses - and da crowd - to "Guava Smoked" wea we really couldn't decide wat to get cause any kine of smoked bbq is winnahs.

From WWD! Food

We ended up getting da smoked pork and fried rice. Da pork was pretty ono and it had a sweet and distinct smokey flavah which I liked. It actually tasted like kal-bi because of da sweet/smoke combination but wasn't ovah done. Da fried rice was a little bland and could have used a "sauce" or something but still carried their smoked flavah. You like da rubbah slippah doilies?

From WWD! Food

Da Wife had heard about da "Everything Tastes Better Fried" truck so we made it our last stop of da evening even though da line snaked out like we were waiting to ride Thunder Mountain in Disneyland.

From WWD! Food

Tell me dat doesn't look ono! Da fan favorite was already sold out and it wasn't even dark yet.

From WWD! Food

Da wait was so frickin' long to place an order and then even longah to get it (for a musubi mind you) dat we decided to get some ice cream while they harvested da rice in Japan. Like I said, it was a terrific day for ice cream as it wasn't overwhelmingly hot and steady trade winds made it bearable. "OnoPops" showcased some really funky flavahs which caught our eye but we settled on Mexican chocolate so da Da Baby could enjoy some.

From WWD! Food

Don't take our word for it if it was ono or not but das da look of kanack attack waiting to happen.

From WWD! Food

Can you tell braddah was going to enjoy his grindz? I didn't even realize till aftah I was looking through da pics at home dat he was eating da fried musubi and it must have been really good cause his two oddah friends had 'em as well.

From WWD! Food

We ended getting da Spicy "Bomb" Musubi (since da spam ran out) which came with three chicken wings as well. Da spicy tuna was pretty ono but they could have put more than a teaspoon considering it was nearly $10 AND they only gave you HALF da musubi! It wasn't even da whole thing.... Wassup Wit Dat!. No way da three chicken wings made up da diffeence but it was pretty tasty as well.




"Eat The Street" is a terrific concept and wat a great avenue to showcase creative food fusion by our own local talent! It's a hoolaulea of grindz but don't expect to get full at any one truck and definitely don't expect your wallet to be on Jenny Craig as it'll be coming out of liposuction in about an hour.

It almost seemed like the vendors were price gouging and I'm not even 1% certain but I don't think they pay rent if they're in a food truck but even if they do, it can't be a damaging amount which makes me a bit confused to the above average menu pricing.

Oddah than not being able to kanack and hoping for da next pay check to come sooner, "Eat The Street" is a wonderful event which I hope will continue for as long as it's able. The food is fresh, interesting and really different. It's an event to be shared with either ohana or friends as its atmosphere promotes an open, relaxing and festive mood.

If there are a couple of suggestions I can make is one, bring a small cooler with water/soda to save - then spend - on da grindz. You can also use it to store leftovahs or take home food. Two, change your mindset to enjoy da multitude of food rather than going to get stuffed and you'll enjoy your time there immensely.

For future "Eat The Street" dates and information, check out www.streetgrindz.com as well as www.nonstophonolulu.com for events - especially food - happening in Hawaii.

So hea's da breakdown:

ATMOSPHERE

Five Shakas and a Howzit!

Da weather couldn't have been bettah and da vibe was just right for a fun night out. If you enjoy "good" crowds then you won't mind da "Eat The Street" crowd. If you enjoy people watching as well then dis is an EXCELLENT event to attend.

KANACK VALUE

Two Shakas and Go Figgah

Like I mentioned earlier, unless you got a fat wallet, you ain't getting fat for da amount of dough you'd be dropping. You'd have to go to several trucks to get your fill. Da Wife and I dropped close to $50 for da both of us and you saw wat we got: 5 mini tacos, fried rice, some smoked pork, HALF a musubi, three chicken wings and a popsicle.

OVERALL

Four Shakas and an Au'right!

You gotta check out "Eat The Street" at least once before it's too late. Go with a bunch of friends and spend some time talking story and checking things out. Dare each oddah to try something different but most of all, have fun. They say nothing brings people together more than food, then "Eat The Street" has got you covered.