Loco Moco is the ultimate Hawaiian comfort food, rice served with a burger patty, smothered in a delicious brown gravy and topped with a fried egg. The dish originated at Lincoln Grill restaurant in Hilo, Hawaii around 1949 by Richard & Nancy Inouye. I’m curious to know if this dish was inspired by Japanese Hamburger Steak (Hambagu) since they’re very similar.
I’ve had this dish all over the islands, but my favorite version is actually from King’s Hawaiian in Torrance, CA. Now that I live thousands of miles away from King’s Hawaiian, I created this copycat of their Loco Moco and I think it comes pretty close to the original. I was planning on serving it with potato mac salad like they do at Kings Hawaiian, but I had a bunch of errands to run and didn’t have a lot of time left before lunch – so I’ll definitely make it for next time
Some people make the gravy from a roux + beef broth, but if you want it to taste like the restaurants, use the McCormick brown gravy packets, you can find this at any supermarket