On August 8th, owner Michael Kervin invited the people of Smyrna to join in on a Hawaiian tradition in celebrating the 5th annual National Spam Musubi Day hosted by L&L Hawaiian BBQ.
Spam musubi, a beloved Hawaiian snack, consists of a bed of rice stacked with a slice of fried spam and barbecue sauce wrapped in a piece of nori.
Spam musubi (pronounced “moo-soo-bee”) is one of their best sellers, but Mike admits that most people pronounce it wrong. “That's always a good talking point,” says Mike, “Learning is part of the deal.”
While Mike loves to teach about the culture, it wasn’t always second nature. He had his first traditional Hawaiian dish, L&L’s Loco Moco, on his honeymoon in Hawaii with his wife Ruth, a native of Oahu.
“L&L Hawaiian BBQ has always just been a part of our childhood,” says Ruth. “I remember having lunch on a field trip with a spam musubi and a Hawaiian Sun, so it’s been such a blessing and honor to be the spokespeople for something that's so meaningful to us.”
Ruth and Mike met in Smyrna and are raising their family here. Mike spent his career teasing his entrepreneurial spirit launching new brands into retail, but always knew he wanted to do his own thing.
“One thing that it always kind of came back to was food.”
Raised by a Korean mother and Alabamian father, Hawaiian food reminded him of home.
Ruth explains that the plate lunch, L&L’s signature dish, is “very much an amalgamation of multiple cultures.”
The story goes back to the pineapple and sugarcane farm workers in the fields of Hawaii, who came from across the world and shared food that ended up all on one plate, like L&L’s barbecue mix plate that features short rib, beef, and chicken.
“It's much more than just a barbecue plate. You're honoring the cultures of your ancestors,” says Ruth. “That's part of the magic that comes from being from Hawaii.”
While most of the restaurant's clientele consists of newcomers, a good bit are former islanders who say the food makes them feel at home.
“I want people to feel like everybody's family,” says Mike, “to keep that "Ohana" feel about it.”