Lotu & Lita's Polynesian Restaurant - East Palo Alto, CA

Discovery! – Lotu and Lita’s Polynesian Restaurant – East Palo Alto

I finally understand how the great explorers must have felt when they discovered a Pacific island unknown to the mandarins of the West. Driving down University Avenue in East Palo Alto (the scruffy, ethnically vibrant sibling of what has been called Shallow Alto), I spotted what appeared to be a Polynesian restaurant. It turned out that two restaurants shared the same space. One restaurant, EPA Restaurant (East Palo Alto Restaurant) serves fried chicken and fish, and has been described – favorably - on Yelp. But in the front of the storefront was Lotu and Lita’s Polynesian Restaurant, which serves Tongan, Fijian, and Samoan food. As best I know the restaurant has not been described on Yelp or Chowhound or anywhere else, if a Google search can be trusted. What greater pleasure can any foodie have than to discover a new cuisine?


Lotu and Lita's Polynesian Restaurant - East Palo Alto, CA by garyalanfine, on Flickr

Lotu and Lita’s is delightfully basic, a chowhound’s dream, and like many restaurants of the type (Ghanaian, Filipino, or Guyanan) food is kept in a steam table facing a room with a few tables (only one other take-out customer was present during the time that I was present at noon on Saturday).


Lotu and Lita's Polynesian Restaurant - East Palo Alto, CA by garyalanfine, on Flickr

My knowledge of Polynesian food is pretty much limited to Poi and Spam, neither of which were in evidence. In contrast about half a dozen dishes are prepared each day, including Island Lamb Curry (fragrant but mild), Taro Leaves with Lamb (lupulu) which is very flavorable and worth driving for, Mussels with Coconut Milk, Fai-ai la (tuna with coconut), Taro (a potato-textured starch, which Lita described as the Polynesian rice), Beef Chop Suey, Fried Fish (apparently related to mackerel, a species that appears to be a Bay Area fish du jour: it was served at the French Laundry and Saison as well), Turkey Tail Teriyaki, and cooked banana (which had the taste and texture of potato – I was assured that it was not a plantain, but a banana), and Samoan Sausage. Dessert was an excellent Pineapple Pie.

Like many ethnic restaurants, the meat was more gristly than that found in upscale boites. (This is my problem with lovely Nigerian restaurants as well). Trader Vic’s it is not. No pu-pu platters or drinks with little umbrellas. This is not our imaginaries of the islands, but sturdy island food for Pacific immigrant communities. But the dishes were filled with flavor. And Lita, the Samoan owner, was congenial, who, after some skepticism, let me take her photo as documentation.


Lotu and Lita's Polynesian Restaurant - East Palo Alto, CA - Lita by garyalanfine, on Flickr

I understand that there are a few ethnic Polynesian restaurants in East Palo Alto, and I hope to explore several of them. But for now Lotu and Lita’s has my strong recommendation. It should be on the bucket list of every chowhound.

Lotu and Lita’s Polynesian Restaurant
2150 University Avenue
East Palo Alto, CA
650-473-1404
Monday-Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Sunday 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

GAF, very cool find. When people ask me what type of cuisine we need more of in Chicago, I usually say "Samoan." Not a lot of veggies (aside from tubers) on these Polynesian platters, are there?

Thanks. Keep them coming. I'm in "Silicon Valley" at least a few times a year and Palo Alto proper has a depressingly crappy food scene that, despite its mall-like eateries, takes itself pretty seriously. East PA is where it's at.

You do get a baked banana. One of the lamb dishes has taro leaves, and the lamb curry comes with carrots and potatoes, and then there is the pineapple pie, but Lotu and Lita's is protein-and-starch-centric.