North Shore Tacos boasts some of the best fish tacos in all of Hawaii. Located at 54-296 Kamehameha Highway in Hau‘ula, North Shore Tacos blends Mexican food with Oahu surf culture, and is open seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The founding of North Shore Tacos began with Joseph “Joey” Fullmer, who said he came to Hawaii from Utah to visit his sisters who had married into Polynesian families. In 2008, Fullmer said he moved to the island permanently and started his own construction company, “Fullmer Brothers Construction.” Eventually, he said he decided to open up a restaurant as well. “I grew up cooking. I have a big family, 12 brothers and sisters. So I was cooking a lot with my mom,” said Fullmer. “I’ve always loved cooking. As a single dad with three kids, I was always doing the cooking for them. I woke up one day and said ‘I think I’d like to start a restaurant’ and that’s what we did.” In 2010, Fullmer converted the old Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Hau‘ula to North Shore Tacos, and said he did many of the renovations himself, including a stonework mosaic of the Hawaiian Islands on the front desk. As co-owner, he runs the Hau‘ula location, as well as its expansion, a food truck at Shark’s Cove, with his girlfriend Elen Atlas from Brazil. “We make everything very fresh and we make some of the best fish tacos in Hawaii,” said Fullmer. Its fish tacos have been named #1 by Sunset Magazine according to the North Shore Tacos website. “Our fish is definitely very fresh. We get our fish from a local fisherman,” said Silvia De Oliveira, a manager at North Shore Tacos and BYU-Hawaii alumna from Brazil. Oliveira said all the fish they serve comes from Ken’s Fresh Fish in Hau‘ula. “Everything is home-cooked. We make everything from scratch. Our salsas are from scratch, our beans are from scratch, rice, meat—everything is from scratch. That sets a nice high bar.” Ryan Hagen, North Shore Tacos cashier from California, said, “I don’t think that there’s any other fish taco that competes.” Additionally, the restaurant is known for its sweet pork quesadillas, pineapple salsa and nachos, caramel coconut flan, and a pineapple tiki drink. Hagen, slated to return to BYU-Hawaii in the Fall Semester to continue studying business management as a sophomore, said, “Joey is a great, great boss. He’s hilarious. He’s really cool. He doesn’t really micromanage, which I like. He lets the managers run the roost. My job is nothing fancy,” Hagen continued. “I’m a cashier. I don’t cook. I do cold side: the lettuce, the pico de gallo, the sauce. But I love the people here. It’s like a big family. We all watch out for each other. When someone gets sick, we take care of each other.”
Writer: Daxon Levine
