Aloha Eats

Aloha Eats is Chicagos original plate lunch restaurant since 2004! Plate Lunch is the term we use for local Hawaiian-style plates. These plates are the result of a mix of cultures. What started with workers sharing their lunches, has developed into lunch wagons, drive-ins, and hole-in-the-wall restaurants based around the concept. Plates typically include 2 scoops of white rice and 1 scoop of creamy, mayo-based macaroni salad. Dating back to the 1880s when fruit and sugar plantations were booming, companies desperate for plantation workers brought in labor from China, Portugal, the Philippines, and other areas. Workers brought in their own lunch, which usually included whatever meat was leftover from dinner the night before paired with hearty portions of rice to round out the meal. As the days of the plantation-era reached its end, lunch wagons began serving plate lunch to construction workers and day laborers. Lunch wagons evolved into brick-and-mortar drive-ins and hole-in-the-walls.