Roll With It is Frolic’s new collection about new food items vehicles we’ve seen out and about. We’re tracking them down and seeking dishes to bring you the 4-1-1.
Picture: Kelli Shiroma Braiotta
A food truck serving up Italian fare like cacio e pepe and ravioli with property-produced pastas and sauces? It sounded like all my carb desires came true.
Joja Hawai‘i rolled onto the Kaka‘ako scene a couple of weeks in the past with a bold assert: “We received the most effective noods in town.” I went looking for the truck a few times—once lacking them by only 15 minutes—before lastly scoring lunch. It was value the multiple hunts.
Joja is owned by the husband-and-wife staff of Jason and Joslyn Lee, for this reason its identify. The Lees applied to personal an Italian cafe in the Bay area and visited O‘ahu each year. When the pandemic strike, they had sold the restaurant and had been about to indication a new lease on an more mature cafe they were renovating. The pandemic sent them in a diverse direction—literally.
“We finished up building a tailor made foods truck in San Diego and experienced it delivered to O‘ahu, then we sold our property and moved listed here,” Joslyn states. “Jason manufactured all the noodles and sauces at the Italian restaurant, and now he’s accomplishing individuals identical recipes in our foodstuff truck.”
Immediately after listening to that, I only have one thing to say: “Mangia!”
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The Menu
Photo: Kelli Shiroma Braiotta
At a look:
Joja has a big pasta part, but you can also get tiny plates, entrées with rice and desserts. Weekly specials all through my visit involved a cioppino made with shrimp, smoked Kamuela tomato broth and the fish of the working day (Atlantic salmon). Besides the gnocchi mushroom dish, Joja receives excitement for its fettucine shrimp with creamy white sauce designed from garlic confit which is pureed to obtain a nuttier, richer flavor.
The truffle poke is well worth a mention: pretty much a half pound of ‘ahi, 50 % a Hass avocado, scallions, ginger and sesame seeds mixed with the truck’s dwelling-manufactured ponzu sauce. It is a twist on sweet shoyu poke, with ginger notes and a lingering ponzu tartness.
Image: Kelli Shiroma Braiotta
We endorse:
- Gnocchi mushroom, $16. Joja’s very best-seller attributes light, fluffy potato gnocchi in a white mushroom sauce with portobello, infant portobello and button mushrooms, topped with balsamic reduction, basil and shaved Parmesan.
- Tiramisu, $5.
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How It Rolls
Picture: Kelli Shiroma Braiotta
- The place: 725 Kapi‘olani Blvd., Kaka‘ako (in front of Mari’s City Backyard) Kaiser Farmers Market place Kailua Farmers Industry
- When: Wednesday to Saturday from 11:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Kaiser Farmers Current market Sunday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Kailua City Farmers Market place
- Preorders: Wander-ups only for now
- Payment: Income or credit rating card
- Observe: @joja.hawaii