I’ve talked about Uncle Joe’s ice cream sandwiches before and how delicious they are so when KOSC planned a trip to the factory to tour I jumped at the chance to skip out on work and go visit. The owners were so generous and humble. They started 9 years ago selling at one of the many markets in Hawaii and they went wholesale and make 5k sandwiches a week out of a small space on the North Shore. They are expanding to Las Vegas, so you may have a chance to try them in the states, but for now they are exclusive to Oahu. You can imagine shipping ice cream from Hawaii is very, very logistically difficult.
We were offered their mini ice cream sandwiches to try (which aren’t available widespread yet!) and some water; we didn’t even pay for the tour. It was pretty amazing to watch nearly everything be done by hand! The tours are done off-the-record; you can give them a call to set one up. The commissary (base grocery shopping) offers their sandwiches, so we are lucky! They said their best selling is cookies and cream, but their lilikoi (passion fruit) is the one most asked about.
This little plaza is a conglomerate of eclectic shops and includes the North Shore Soap factory. A few of us hopped in to check it out and the soaps smell SO good. I didn’t buy any.
Finally the food truck, Banyan’s, was there and I tried the chicken sandwich with grilled pineapple and onions on a taro bun… it was AMAZING. If I haven’t said this already, Hawaii is pretty famous for its food trucks because land/rent is so expensive. Taro is a very popular potato-esque vegetable that turns everything purple.
It was about an hour drive from my apartment, so it was an adventure that I made the most of. Will have to figure out a way to stock my freezer for when my family comes.
