IZ IT Fresh Grill

What iz it?
Hawaiian food truck or Chinese food truck? Fried chicken, tacos or strange hybrid sushi wraps?
Decided to skip the chicken and headed straight for the other two. Chicken «kicker» (aka) taco was the best. Full of flavor and didn’t last long.
Fried tofu inside rice and then wrapped in seaweed was different. Small dish with a subdued flavor. Not as good as sushi. Nor as good as a traditional wrap.
Iz It iz so so. Not overpriced. Quite unique. Execution falls a bit short.

The hopeful description, «The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,» unfortunately does not apply at IZ IT.
IZ IT’s hula platter combines fried chicken drumsticks that are expertly cooked, featuring paper-​thin crispy skin that is light and free from excess oil and sealed juicy interior, but indistinguishable from the comparably satisfying fried chicken found at countless boxed lunch Chinese takeout shops with double-​take-​worthy prices dotted across the City; a marinated slice of spam requiring the exact amount of culinary acumen as preparing cup noodle; a saucy pile of leathery tree bark masquerading as teriyaki chicken; and furikake-​topped mounds of white rice.
This ragtag collection of supposed Hawaiian cuisine can easily be concocted at a much lower price than what IZ IT offers.

When I think of great tasting fried chicken in the Bay Area, IZ IT comes to mind. It’s too bad they’re rarely in the South Bay.
Every time I have their iconic fried chicken drumstick that’s perfectly seasoned and crisp on the outside, meaty and juicy on the inside… I crave them even more. More than 99 Chicken and Bön Chon.

Was in Treasure Island this past weekend for the flea market. We got a free meal with our ticket so I decided to try Iz It’s fried chicken slider (normally $ 4). I thought it was alright. The chicken itself was pretty crunchy and tasty on the outside (I like) but it was dry. I don’t think I would pay $ 4 for an itty bitty slider with a so– so fried chicken if it weren’t for the free ticket.

YAY! Popped my OTG Fort Mason cherry with a kicker from Iz It! There were a few things on the menu that I wanted to try, but since I knew I wanted to eat at a few other trucks I decided to get the beef kicker.
The beef kicker, which we ordered spicy, was a lot bigger than I expected. On the bottom was a corn tortilla, then a huge piece of lettuce, then marinated beef with salsa on top. Initially you cannot pick this up and eat it, you have to eat a bunch of the meat with a fork before even attempting to pick it up and eat it.
I don’t know… this thing was good but it wasn’t great. I wanted to try more kickers but they’re $ 5! I honestly thought everything at this truck was a little expensive…$ 5 for spam masubi?! REALLY? I don’t think so.
Like the 3 stars say… just A-​OK.

A-​OK indeed, but not as great as I had hoped. It did not live up to the hype, sadly. The spam masubi was nice, but the tacos were not very good. Even «kicked up» they seemed to be lacking flavor.
The fried chicken, their specialty dish, was not all that great either. It was good fried chicken, I guess you could call it Hawaiin style because it’s just greasy. But it did not have any unique flavor that I noticed, nor was it very crispy in the way that I like my friend chicken.
Not horrible, but not as good as some other trucks I have had with similar food.

I got a chance to try out IZ IT at the Eat Real Festival in Oakland this past Sunday. I had been putting them off ever since I seen them at OTG events. I also noticed that the truck got a new face lift. Very cool and colorful design.
I got a chance to sample their famous fried chicken. For $ 5, I got two legs that were a pretty good portion. They were juicy and crispy. The thing that I was lacking was rice to go with the chicken.
The service was great and quick. I got to try other menu items next time. I’d definitely will go back!

I was at the event SJ Made and this food truck was there. I got the fried chicken with the side of rice (Note: It costs TWO dollars for ONE scoop of rice that in my opinion did not even taste fully cooked yet. They DO put a dash of seaweed on top of the rice so maybe that seaweed is made of gold or something).
I was not impressed with the fried chicken as many people comment on. It tasted like any other fried chicken you can buy at asian restaurants that was just mediocre quality. The pricing for the food was quite ridiculous for what the items were. I have not seen spam masubi priced so high at ANY hawaiin bbq yet they feel they can charge practically double for theirs.
There are many other food trucks out there, so don’t waste your time going here.

Was thrilled to see them again at Edgewood Eats and surprised they don’t get more love. They should!
Their fried chicken is fantastic. I find the skin crispy, flavorful and not the least bit oily. It’s not as crunchy as Southern fried chicken but I prefer the tastier Asian style fried chicken skin better.
As for the chicken drum stick meat, it’s always piping hot (freshly fried) and über juicy
I know some reviews state that fried drumsticks are easily available, but I personally am hard pressed to think of as large or as juicy a fried drumstick as offered here. 99 Chicken? Not even close! Sumika? 3x smaller and 2x as much.
Had the spam musubi again and while it was pretty good, it’s really the chicken drumsticks, based on their 50 year old recipe, that stands out.
From a pure marketing perspective, I can tell that many food truck newbies look at this truck and aren’t quite sure what they serve. If they get closer, they can see the menu, but I’d recommend big pictures of the Spammer and the Icon Fried Chicken. Those are your signature dishes and if people knew, I think more would line up.
The owners are very friendly and a Hawaiian food truck is always a welcome addition to the food truck scene. If they expand, maybe they’ll offer a poke bowl or even a chicken katsu/​spam musubi. Now that would be the bomb to go with their fried chicken. :)
IZ IT is cash only. Give them a try. Between them and Chairman Bao, they were my favorite vendors at Edgewood Eats.

Had their Chinese home style Kwong Shing Chicken Drumstick at various street food festival. I have no idea what Kwong Shing means. The drumstick was well seasoned. Skin was super crispy (maybe even too crispy if there’s such a thing). Tender and juicy inside like all good chicken drumstick.

Your musubi and chicken is DELICIOUS!
I was able to get both fresh off the truck at the YEE last Sunday and it was amazing

Best food stand at the Unilocal Sunset Showdown. Hawaiian food truck!
Even during the Elite Only hour, there was a fattie line here, so I’m glad we stuck with our instincts and just stood in line too, despite the Fear of Missing Out on other food.
We stayed for the rumors of ridiculously amazing fried chicken, but the first load out of the truck fryer was fried tofu musubi. Your inner carnivore may be thinking bad hunter thoughts, but this musubi was so tasty. Seasoned sushi rice sandwiching a freshly fried dice of firm tofu (the kind with the red skin). With a burst of sriracha and some furikake, I definitely could have had one or two more.
We hung out for the chicken which took another few minutes. I’m chalking it up to the fact that this was one our last stops, but the chicken was a little underwhelming. Really nicely marinated since the chicken itself was perfectly seasoned and cooked and tender, but the fried skin was mediocre and most of us resorted to peeling it off to get to the good meaty bits. Will check ‘em out again!

Seen this a few times, gave it a try at the 2^nd SJ Eats. Was a huge day of eating so I only ordered the Icon which is 2 pieces of their «Special» Chinese style fried chicken. I grew up with a lot of «Aloha» if you catch my drift so the spam musubi and other dishes weren’t anything new to me so I passed on them.
The guy who help me was very friendly and quick about the food. He even hooked me up with an extra drumstick because he dug my CUKUI Locals Only tank top. SCORE! I will accept fried food any day!
The chicken itself had been cooked a little bit before and clearly been sitting for just a little bit. The crust was just like your standard Chinese or Korean style fried chicken. Crunchy thin crust, a little sweet/​salty in flavor, not as hot and juicy as I would have liked but it still hit the spot.
Overall not bad, I do prefer Bön Chon spicy garlic fried chicken over this, but Bön Chon doesn’t come to me and other food festivals… and they don’t hook me up with extra food cause they dig my clothes.

A Hawaiinese Food Truck? IZ IT???
On numerous occasions I’ve seen this bright yellow and orange truck at the various Off The Grid Events but with the non-​descriptive name of IZ IT Fresh Grill, I had no idea what it was nor was the name appealing enough to entice me to look at the menu. However, while Unilocaling one day I found out that IZ IT is known for their icon Fried Chicken that was born out of the Kwong Shing Chinese Deli in SF’s Richmond which is now closed.
On Saturday, 5.21.11, IZ IT was at the Asian Heritage Street Celebration. Though there were other enticing aromas permeating into the air from other vendors, I’ve been on a food truck hiatus lately and thought I give IZ IT a shot.
I’ve been trying to eat more healthy, so I didn’t order the icon Fried Chicken and instead ordered the Chicken Kicker Taco and Spammer (Spam Masubi). Like Spam is any healthier right? :X
THE SPAMMER ($ 4): GOOD — 4 STARS!
What differentiates IZ IT’s Spam Masubi is the spam is caramelized creating a slightly crisp texture with a layer of sweetness. Also, the sprinkle of slivered roasted nori added a small burst of saltiness while the toasted sesame seeds gave it a subtle nuttiness. The rice was sticky and soft with an al-​dente bite to it. The nori wrapper, however, was soggy and chewy. All in all, it was quite tasty but seriously how can you mess up spam? And, for $ 4, the slice of spam could have been thicker.
CHICKEN KICKER TACO ($ 4): EEEECK — 0 STARS!
At first I thought the Chicken Kicker Taco was a lo-​carb taco since the diced chicken and tomatoes were ladled over two romaine lettuce leaves but when I tried to pick it up, I noticed there was a small corn tortilla hiding underneath. The taco was very messy to eat. The corn tortilla became drenched with the juices and fell apart upon trying to pick up the taco. I can tell the tortilla was stale as it crumbled into pieces. The diced chicken was dry and bland. And the kicker? Although the taco was suppose to be spicy like its namesake, there was no heat whatsoever. It was basically like eating unseasoned chicken with salt-​free salsa.
Maybe it was because I didn’t get the icon Kwong Shing’s Fried Chicken, but IZ was NOT good.

Hawaiianese for lunch at the Marina in Brisbane!
I felt there was a lot of value in this food truck. For $ 8, I got their «fantastic trio plate» which came with:
— Spam musubi
— Beef or chicken taco — I got beef and it was overfilled with meat that I needed a fork to finish it off
— Chinese style fried chicken drum stick — Pterodactyl sized and I could tell it was freshly made since it was super hot and juicy!
(
)

Their scampi plate $ 6, came w/​3 shrimp in this garlic oil sauce and toasted garlic bits. (
) Pretty good.
3.5 but rounding up since the food was solid and I left more than satisfied. It would be cool if they made a waffle to go with their fried chicken.

Average food to me…
When I think «Icon» Fried Chicken, I was expecting some BOMB ASS friend chicken. but that was not the case. Nothing was wrong with it but I honestly think, KFC’s fried chicken stood out more to me as I bite into the chicken at Iz It… Spam musubi was average. Nothing beats spam. FTW… the steak kicker was probably the best thing that I had with loads of flavor with a side of garlic rice. The garlic rice was mainly «garlic:» with the garlic sprinkles over the rice… It was not infused garlic rice and was a bit too oily for my taste… For the trio combo + rice = $ 11
Damnnn pricy and I didn’t think much of their food… another disappointment.

Worth the stop for the fried chicken, but probably best to get the rest of your meal at a neighboring food truck. Doesn’t really scream Hawaiian except for the spam musubi and joins the bandwagon of the now cliché Asian taco. Would be awesome if they sold the fried chicken by the buckets rather than two pieces at a time.
Icon Chicken: Not sure what is Hawaiian about this, but it’s sure tasty. A batter that is more like tempura than the Colonel’s hides what I swear is the traditional Chinese 5-​spice and then some. Comes in drumsticks to maximize batter-​to-​dark ratio like those Korean fried chicken places in NYC. Not saucy at all like wings, but still packed with flavor.
Beef Kicker: A Pan-​Asian taco with way too big a leaf of lettuce. It’s like they were making one of those lettuce wraps and then decided haphazardly to stick a small corn tortilla on the outside. This results in an awkward structure whose tortilla quickly breaks apart. That aside, the beef is packed with flavor like a slow cooked carne asada and topped super spicy Asian-​inspired salsa. Lettuce leaf or taco shell — pick one!
Spam Musubi: Not much innovation, just the standard Hawaiian treat of Spam sandwiched between sushi rice and wrapped in seaweed. I’m guess these were premade because the rice and Spam weren’t warm and the seaweed was soggy. Not a repeat for me. If they are premaking to save on preparation time then at least try to differentiate on innovation. Why not fill the musubi with poke, kulua pork or macaroni salad?

With Lent finally being over, I decided that today to finally be the day that I would try IZ IT and their Icon Fried Chicken. That didn’t happen today unfortunately since I didn’t have time to wait for his fryer to get hot enough for it. No harm, I’ll have to tackle it at Off The Grid.
What I did end up getting were the Steak and Chicken Kickers ($ 3.50 each) and the Spam ($ 3.50) and Doan-​Fu ($ 4.00) Musubi Rolls.
The Kickers were pretty good (
). They definitely didn’t skimp on the meat. Every bite was packed with Steak or Chicken. They were ‘Kicked Up” but the spice wasn’t that intense, which was fine for me because I could actually taste the food without burning my mouth.
My favorites of the bunch were definitely the Musubi rolls (
). Most satisfying was Doan-​Fu. I don’t usually get Tofu items from trucks, but this one really surprised me. The fact that it was Deep Fried most likely contributed to its awesomeness.
I think next time I try IZ IT, I’m definitely going to order their Icon Fried Chicken along with a Musubi roll. Good stuff!

My primal greedy instincts for fried, crispy, deliciousness took over the moment I saw folks eating these large fried chicken drummies. (
) «Hmmmm … never heard of Iz It Fresh Grill before,» I thought to myself but how bad could it be if you dump poultry into a vat of hot oil?
Well the back story for the fried chicken goes like this … Famous Chinese recipe from now defunct Richmond store so it’s a limited find.
Truth be told however, it’s alright but really nothing special. Throw a rock anywhere in Chinatown (or Clement St) and you’ll probably find similar fried delights. It’s not bad… just not fantastic. Who am I kidding though? The fact that it’s chicken and fried meant that I somewhat liked it to begin with.
It’s tough to pick IZ IT if there are other choices around but if you happen to have a fried, crispy, deliciousness craving, it’s not a total miss either.

The food is okay. Service is excellent, very friendly. No complaints. But since u can easily buy fried chicken drumsticks ($ 2, served with sriracha chili sauce
) at numerous places in SF, I can only give it 3 stars.
Update: I recently tried the new Hawaiian steak taco ($ 3) at the OTG event. Flavor was good, but the single layer tortilla (most other taco trucks use double tortillas) can break easily so u have to be more careful when eating it.