At Last, a Steak Plate With Local Beef

Photo: Martha Cheng

These days, you’ll find steak plates all around the island, but where can you get one with local beef? The Local General Store, of course. Honolulu’s all-local butcher debuted steak plates a few weeks ago with New York strip steak, one scoop ‘ulu-mac salad, one scoop rice.

When I buy beef from Local General Store, I usually pick specialty cuts like the Denver or flatiron, but this steak plate ($19) gave me new appreciation for the strip steak—because look at that fat cap! It was crispy, salty and flavorful in the way that only grass-fed beef can be. Each bite doused with the au jus, sticky and rich, and paired with that dill-flecked ‘ulu-mac salad made for a perfect summer lunch.

It turns out it’s because of people like me that Local General Store introduced Steak Plate Saturdays. “It’s really cool that people order all these non-conventional cuts [from us],” butcher Jason Chow says. “It’s a testament to what we do—utilizing the entire animal and educating people on the different cuts. But one of the things that we have the hardest time selling are actually the cuts that everybody is accustomed to, like the New Yorks, filet mignon and ribeye.” So the steak plates are a way to re-introduce old favorites—the irony being that come the holiday season (which Chow’s already starting to plan for), the primal cuts will be all people will want. 

SEE ALSO: The Local General Store Brings Meats and Sweets Under One Roof

The new specials are also a throwback to Chow’s memories of getting steak plates from Times Kāhala, its parking lot wafting all those meaty smells from the grills set up outside. Local General Store roasts the beef rather than grilling it, so it’s not quite the same experience. But steak plates from the local butcher? Sounds like a new tradition in the making.

Available starting 11 a.m. on Saturdays. Preorders are also available online.

3458 Wai‘alae Ave., (808) 777-2431, thelocalgeneralstorehi.com, @thelocalgeneralstorehi