901 N. 1st St., Phoenix AZ 85004
In the Hawaiian Islands, the word pidgin is used to describe the language that has emerged as an informal blend of indigenous, Asian,and European tongues. Since usage has persisted across multiple generations, linguists would generally consider it a creole rather than a true pidgin. No matter what the scholars of language consider Hawaiian Pidgin, the everyday vocabulary of Hawaii can be as multifarious as the state's food. Three thousand miles from Honolulu, Loco Style Grindz celebrates the linguistic and culinary variety of Hawaii in Phoenix.
teriyaki chicken
Grindz is a distinctly Hawaiian term for food, especially food considered to be hearty and comforting. Loco should be familiar to anyone living in Phoenix due to its origins in Spanish. Combine them, and the result might be interpreted as crazy good food. After moving around a few times, Loco Style Grindz now serves its crazy good food within the confines of the Churchill at the north end of downtown Phoenix. The Churchill is two blocks from the Roosevelt/Central light rail station and has numerous bike racks along both Garfield and First streets.
katsu
Loco Style Grindz specializes in plate lunches, the Hawaiian specialty of meals made of a generous serving of meat, rice, macaroni ("mac") salad, and nary a vegetable in sight. These are served in foam containers designed to be eaten at any of the Churchill's tables, which are shared among all the tenants, or taken to go. A printed menu by the counter lists the choices, which generally include six or seven different meats, available individually with the two starch sides of rice and macaroni or in combinations of up to four different meats all on one plate.
garlic chicken
The menu starts in familiar territory with teriyaki, available with both chicken and ribeye steak. Both are quite good, but the dark meat poultry seems to absorb more of the marinade, resulting in greater depth of flavor. Chicken is also the emphasis in the katsu, with breast meat breaded with panko bread crumbs, fried, sliced, and served with a side of tonkatsu sauce. While the katsu is subtle and understated, the garlic chicken is distinctive with a semi-sweet aromatic sauce coating slightly chewy pieces of fried bird in a style vaguely reminiscent of karaage.
kalua pork
In terms of red meat, loco moco, a Hawaiian meal of hamburger patties topped with brown gravy and fried egg, is listed on the menu but often unavailable. A more consistent offering is kalua pork, a Hawaiian indulgence that is juicy, salty, smoky, and tender in all the right proportions. Loco Style Grindz tops theirs with a drizzle of "action sauce," a fun name for a slightly spicy aioli that adds extra flavor and moisture. A splurge on the menu is the kalbi, beef short ribs sliced horizontally, marinated in a Korean-influenced style, and then grilled.
kalbi
Of course, plate lunches are not just about the meat. The carbohydrate sides are equally important, and Loco Style Grindz does justice to both its rice and its mac salad. The former is consistently fluffy and never dry. The latter is gently seasoned and avoids the mushiness of overcooked pasta. If there's one time when those sides can be foregone, it's on Tuesday. Since the Churchill is closed on Mondays, serving tacos is a smart way for the restaurant to reboot for the week ahead with a simple menu of teriyaki tacos made with either chicken or beef.
teriyaki tacos
On taco Tuesday, tortillas are topped with a choice of minced meat and then augmented with onions, cilantro, and a drizzle of the same sauce used with the kalua pork. A few wedges of lime are provided to add an extra note to the tacos. With these hearty plate lunches or tacos, Loco Style Grindz does not offer dessert and is limited in its drink selection. The one signature drink is a mixture of fruit juices known as P.O.G., which stands for the trio of passion fruit, orange, and guava. It's a satisfying mixture, although perhaps too sweet for everyday consumption.
P.O.G.
Other beverage options include the Churchill's two bars, as well the iced tea, lemonade, and smoothies from Infruition, which is just a few shipping containers away within the Churchill. Other vendors offer cookies for dessert. By sticking to its core strengths of plate lunches and teriyaki tacos, Loco Style Grindz fit nicely into the Churchill, a place where specialized tenants create a whole greater than the sum of the parts. Appropriately, that concept is similar to the way in which each island contributes to the culture, both linguistic and culinary, of Hawaii.
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