J & J Hawaiian Barbecue’s atmosphere is endearingly informal, cozy and warm, with soft lighting from cone lights dangling over the cashier and an out-of-place surfboard against the restaurant’s back wall — mismatched, faded neon yellow and red, almost an afterthought. The small restaurant is mostly empty of patrons and would be quiet but for three parties and the speaker tuned in to a pop radio station. A couple settles on a cushioned seat, Ariana Grande sings of fierce, scandalous passion and an Aloha sticker welcomes passersby and wanderers.
J & J Hawaiian Barbecue also offers a patio along Stevens Creek Blvd, with four circular tables scattered throughout — which somehow succeed at looking forlorn, untidy and dejected. The patio is disorganized, though well maintained.
Dishes are served in rapid succession upon five to 10 minutes; service, too, is unremarkable — adequate enough — as the waitress is neither brusque nor exceedingly courteous. Pricing, however, certainly leans toward the reasonable, cheaper end of informal, family-owned restaurants: courses range from $1.85 for a sushi-like side to $9.99 for specials and large, barbecued meat dishes.
Presentation of food is not lovely or elegant but simplistic, practical, as fits the style of fast food.
The Kalau & Lau Lau
The Kalau & Lau Lau is a native Hawaiian cuisine dish with meat, usually beef, pork or chicken, wrapped in either luau or taro leaves. It is eaten at lunch and served with macaroni salad and rice.
On the surface, the Kalau & Lau Lau does not look too different from the standard. The main course is steamed pork wrapped in taro leaves which also comes along with two large scoops of rice, steamed cabbage, macaroni and even more steamed pulled pork.
At first taste, the pulled pork tasted a bit too salty and the cabbage too bland. However, when all three were eaten at exactly the same time, the blandness and saltiness came together quite nicely to make a flavorful taste.
Then comes the pork wrapped in the leaves. The pork, which is supposed to be white, was surrounded by mushy, dark green residue which looked rather displeasing. The taste, however, was surprisingly not too bad, but the look was enough to make me lose my appetite.
The Katsu
The chicken Katsu — the restaurant’s most popular choice — is an amply heaped dish of chicken covered in bread crumbs, two scoops of steamed jasmine rice and cold macaroni in a creamy, Ranch-like sauce decorated with freshly diced carrot. The chicken was not the best pickings of meat, as it was coated in a fatty layer — though it tasted as it ought to: average fried, boneless chicken. It was, however, overly seasoned with salt.
The Spam Musubi
The spam Musubi is constituted of steamed jasmine rice and grilled spam drizzled in thick, rich teriyaki sauce and wrapped in seaweed, as though dressed in a taco-like kimono. However, the grilled spam was cooked for perhaps too long: it was a layer of harsh black and a softer, less crunchy inside. The teriyaki sauce and spam, an inherently salty meat, made for a dish with salty overtones, yet the steamed rice compensated for it.
The Musubi is also offered with chicken — Katsu-style or barbecued — or sausage as a substitute for spam.
Potstickers
Though excessively oily, the potstickers were sufficiently soft and flavored in tones of cabbage and tender pork. The appetizer was served with soy sauce with thinly cut slices of ginger soaked in the dark sauce.
Verdict
“Unremarkable” best limns J & J Hawaiian Barbecue. Though perhaps remarkable in its affordability and the authenticity of its Hawaiian cuisine — a rare find in Cupertino — the food is greasy and the restaurant itself small and untidy. It’s worth a try if you enjoy fried, grilled fast food and Hawaiian cuisine; otherwise, skip it for any of the more delectable foods on Stevens Creek.
Co-reported by Kingsley Wang.
