Ohio is sorta like the Hawaii of the Midwest, right?
I mean, both locales have… uh… okay… never mind.
All the same, you can still score Loco Moco here in Columbus. While you don’t see the Hawaiian comfort food every day, there are at least a couple of joints that have it on the menu on a regular basis. For the uninitiated, Loco Moco is a semi-classical Hawaiian dish that features layers of rice, a ground beef patty, gravy and a fried egg. According to the internet, it dates back to the 1940s, so it’s old, but not ancient.
Heavy with protein and fat, Moco Loco also boasts legendary hangover curative properties.
The most obvious spot to search for Loco Moco would be Aloha Hawaiian BBQ & Asian Bistro on West Fifth Avenue. It’s the beneficiary of glowing critic reviews, especially when it comes to the eatery’s Asian fare, laden with fresh-cooked vegetables.
Of course, Loco Moco isn’t really about fresh-cooked vegetables. It’s about down n’ dirty comfort food. And at Aloha, you get Loco Moco in classic form: a few crunches of lettuce, topped with two heavily processed beef (beef-ish) patties, a glossy, industrial gravy and two runny eggs, sunny side up.
There’s rice on the side, and a bonus scoop of macaroni salad that would make Ernest Matthew Mickler proud. It’s probably comforting for some people, but one table-mate took a bite, put the fork down, and said, “I’m not putting that in my mouth again.”
The Aloha version is, perhaps, an acquired taste.
More accessible is the version served by Little Palace, Downtown. The conventional, plate-lickable offering features coarse-ground grilled beef patties, nested in clumpy rice and topped with the requisite fried eggs and a savory beef gravy. The crowning glory is its thick, succulent slices of bacon.
While it’s hearty, the components at Little Palace suggest a more artisanal accent, and that makes it easy on the palate.
For more information, visit www.alohahawaiianbbqasianbistro.com and www.littlepalacerestaurant.com.