L&L Hawaiian Barbecue on El Cajon Boulevard in College Area brings Hawaiian plate lunches to San Diego's densest international dining corridor, serving a counter-style menu to a crowd split between SDSU students and east-side commuters. The chain traces its roots to a single drive-in on O'ahu in 1952, and this location at 6353 El Cajon Blvd carries the original format: two scoops of white rice, one scoop of macaroni salad, and a protein that ranges from BBQ chicken and chicken katsu with house gravy to kalbi short ribs and Spam musubi hand-pressed to order. The same El Cajon Boulevard block hosts CoCoCurry — Thai Curry Cafe and a string of Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, and Mexican storefronts that make the 92115 stretch one of the most cuisine-diverse corridors near SDSU. The restaurant's loco moco stacks a beef patty, fried egg, and brown gravy over rice in a single plate that functions as both breakfast crossover and comfort-food staple. Mini-plate options let students order a smaller portion at a lower price point without losing the two-scoop rice foundation that defines the Hawaiian plate-lunch format. Katsu preparations arrive with a panko crust that holds its crunch under the gravy ladle, a consistency this location has maintained across years of high-volume service near San Diego State University. The quick-service cluster on this section of El Cajon Boulevard also includes Smashburger and other fast-casual formats serving the College Area student population. The dining room seats roughly two dozen inside a strip-mall suite, with a fast-turnover counter format that clears the lunch rush for the campus crowd. Catering trays scale the menu for office meetings and campus events, and delivery runs through DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats for the surrounding residential blocks.