Shark’s Cove is home to a blooming food market, with owners who say they want to provide a sense of love and aloha to all who pass through.
“We want this place to be somewhere people can come and relax,” said Angel Gonzales, head chef at the North Shore Shrimp Truck. “I’d rather see your face two or three times a week than a different face every 10 minutes. I would rather make a $1,000 selling to the community than a million dollars selling only to tourists I’ll never see again.”
This feeling of oneness with the community was found with the owners of the food stands scattered throughout Pupukea.
While driving from Laie, the first food stand one will encounter is the easy-to-miss Sandy’s Sandwiches, with a rating of five stars on Yelp, on the right side of the road, just before beach parking.
Owner Ryan Dack said his stand is named after his mother who had the nickname “Sandy” when she played baseball in his hometown of Santa Barbara, Calif. Dack’s menu consists of Italian-style sandwiches made from gourmet breads and fresh salads.
When asked what his key to success was, Dack said, “My business motto is super simple. It’s ‘constantly chasing quality.’ With every day, I want to make sure that I did better than yesterday. I want to make sure every sandwich or salad is the very best one I’ve ever made up until that point.”
“I once asked a friend of mine who had a boat what he would do if his boat started sinking,” Dack continued, “He told me he would tie himself to the mast and go to the bottom of the ocean with it. That’s how I feel about my business.”
About a quarter mile south of Sandy’s is a food marketplace in Shark’s Cove, home to establishments such as the North Shore Tacos truck, Kau Kau Barbecue, and The North Shore Shrimp Truck.
North Shore Tacos has its brick-and-mortar headquarters in Hauula, and parks a bright red truck at the southernmost point of the outdoor food court around Shark’s Cove.
Its owner, Joseph Fullmer, first opened his restaurant in Hauula seven years ago and eventually decided to expand his reach with the food truck that now sits just a stone’s throw away from Shark’s Cove. Fullmer moved to Hawaii 10 years ago as the single father of three with a burning desire to have his own restaurant. After being on island for three years, he decided to use the skills he had as a stone mason to build his own restaurant from the ground up.
Fullmer said he created his own recipes using traditional Mexican ingredients and even grows his own peppers to use in his sauces.
A goal of Fullmer’s is “to be one of the first franchises to originate in Hawaii and expand to the mainland,” claiming there are a lot of mainland businesses that make their way to Hawaii, but there aren’t many to start here and get to California’s shores or beyond.
His truck in Pupukea is one of the first steps in his plan to expand in the next five years.
Just over a fence to the left of the North Shore Tacos truck is the 7-month-old North Shore Shrimp Truck. Owned by Liam McNamara, the North Shore Shrimp Truck is wrapped in vinyl with a beach wood print on it, giving the truck an old school, classic Hawaiian feel. The truck makes fresh meals every day and customers can sit in a courtyard complete with umbrella-shaded picnic tables.
The Shrimp Truck’s head cook, Gonzales, said, “We try to make sure our food is as fresh as it can be. If we have salsa left over by the end of the day, we throw it out and make a fresh batch in the morning.
“With most shrimp trucks, they season their shrimp with spices and dry seasonings, but I went to culinary school for quite a few years and I believe in doing everything from scratch.”
Because McNamara grew up in the North Shore surf community, he wants to take care of his hometown and create a family feel for those who eat at the Shrimp Truck, according to Gonzales.
Nestled directly behind the North Shore Shrimp Truck is Kau Kau Barbecue, owned and operated by Lindsey Yasui and Max Uhlmann, who promised they have some of the best smoked brisket and kalua pork on the island.
Kau Kau is one of the newest additions to the marketplace, having only been open for a few months, but the duo is very optimistic about their future.
Uhlmann said he looks forward to seeing what the marketplace and surrounding area becomes, because “it’s really been kinda run down for years, so we look forward to trying to help beautify and upgrade the area.”
The four restaurants listed are just the tip of the iceberg as far as this multicultural community is concerned. Pupukea has food for all tastes, including Thai, Japanese and Peruvian.
In the same marketplace is a surf/snorkel rental shop, a shaved ice stand, a jewelry boutique, and more.
One last business that complements the food trucks is Nate Leclair’s “Dude, Where’s My Food?”
Leclair is a one-man delivery service who, for $4.99, will deliver food from several of his North Shore associates to anyone within seven miles of his point of departure.
“Where I’m from in New Hampshire, people like to be lazy and have their food delivered to them. There isn’t another food delivery service here on the North Shore so I take full advantage of that,” Leclair said. “People get really happy when they have food brought to them, and I love to make people happy.”
Leclair has seen a significant increase in business lately and is even considering bringing on a second driver to help with deliveries. Leclair said, “Love being my own boss and that I get to live in Hawaii. I love that I can enjoy the beautiful weather on my scooter every day and make people happy.”