Rylie Horrall | Lifestyle Editor
Lonney’s Lunch Wagon is a food truck located at 152 Main St W in Monmouth. Opening at the tail end of 2018, Lonney’s serves Hawaiian-Asian style cuisine that comes in both smaller and larger sizes.
Lonney’s initially started out with owners Donney Ito and Leon Abrew selling lunch plates out of their houses as a way to earn money while attending Western. Eventually the two expanded and thought it would be a good idea to start a food truck business in town.
“(The) love and support we got from everyone here was too hard to leave,” the two explained over Instagram. Ito and Abrew wanted to provide a solid food option for the people in Monmouth and for the Western football team that supported the pair from the beginning.
The idea to sell Hawaiian food came from the fact that Abrew and Ito are both from Hawaii. However, according to Lonney’s, “We actually only have one ‘Hawaiian’ dish, (which) is our Kalua pig.”
Their menu consists of many different mixtures of Hawaiian, Japanese, Korean, and some Fillipino dishes, but just stick with the label “Hawaiian food” for simplicity.
The menu rotates every other day, with chicken, beef and pork options available daily, and seafood available on Saturdays. Lonney’s does not have a secret menu, but allows their customers to customise their meals with different sauce options they have for the day. If the Loco Moco is on the menu, any dish on the menu can become a “moco,” meaning that they will add over-easy eggs and gravy to your plate.
Abrew and Ito say their signature dishes are the Hurricane Katsu or Hurricane Chicken. Both dishes are drizzled with a mild spicy mayo, a sweet sushi sauce and are sprinkled with furikake on top. However, the dishes they recommend to first-time customers are the Loco Moco or Bulgogi.
“(We) recommend the Loco Moco or Bulgogi because so many people order the Hurricane every time that they don’t get a chance to try (them),” the two explained over Instagram. “Loco Moco is probably the most underrated plate that we have.”
The Loco Moco is homemade Hawaiian style hamburger patties with an over-easy egg and brown beef gravy, and the Bulgogi is homemade Korean teri-marinated beef.
Along with food, Lonney’s sells pop sockets and, in the past, t-shirts. They’re currently in the process of bringing more t-shirts in.
Lonney’s also advertises for customers to “leave their mark” on the back of their wagon by putting a sticker on it that represents home.
When asked if they wanted to add anything else, Ito and Abrew had this to say.
“Thank you so much to EVERYONE for supporting us and welcoming us with open arms. There’s a lot of sacrifices we make to be able to run this business, but getting to provide good people with good food makes it all worth it.”
Lonney’s Lunch Wagon can be found on Instagram with the handle @lonneyslunchwagon and on Facebook. The business is open Monday–Friday from 11 a.m.–3 p.m., and on Saturday from 12 p.m.–3 p.m. Occasionally, Lonney’s holds “drunchies” hours, which usually occur from 11 pm–1:30 am.
Contact the author at rhorrall17@wou.edu
Photo by Hannah Greene
