Poly Grill & Bakery

SAMOA 🇼🇸

EDITOR'S NOTE: An updated version of this article (13 December 2024) is available as part of the Historical section of our Substack page. Check that out here:

https://eattheworldla.substack.com/p/poly-grill-and-bakery-samoan-carson

While many Samoan spots in the South Bay or down by the harbor will have the flags of that island nation flying in the front, Poly Grill & Bakery takes a different approach. Their logo also chooses to include Hawai'i, Tonga, Fiji, Tahiti, and the Marquesas on it, and every time they advertise or post on social media it is addressed to the entire "Poly Fam."

While there is a pocket of Marshall Islands folks in Arkansas, Southern California has long been home to more Polynesian-born peoples than anywhere else on the mainland. Besides an abundance of Hawaiian restaurants and a smattering of Samoan operations, this has not necessarily translated to food businesses open for the public, but look close on the steam tables here and you might find Fijian taro or mamoe tao, a favorite on Niue as well as Samoa.

Poly Grill & Bakery is tucked into the corner of a small strip mall on Carson Blvd. east of the 405 and the Dominguez Channel before it empties into the harbor, and is a small square room which lets customers focus on their steam table offerings. There has been a business here with the same name for quite some time, but the current owners upgraded the space and reopened in November of 2019.

There are two parts to the small space, a steam table dominates the left half of the room and most everything that is available on any given day will be on display. The case and area behind the register on the right are usually filled with breads, sweet raisin rolls and German buns, wildly popular fried dough balls filled with jams or other sweet goodies. A loaf of the cinnamon bread ($8, above) is great for making French toast or just for a sweet treat.

When approaching the steam table, you do need to consider the weight of everything. The price for most foods is $8.99/pound and can add up pretty quickly because of the natural heaviness of Samoan and Polynesian foods, which focus more on meats, oils, and gravies than leaves. On a couple different visits, there was a noticeable level of surprise sticker shock from some customers that had went for it with big orders.

The steam table is full of options though, and this is probably why most customers end up with big orders. The shop closes at 3pm but come well before that because as lunch hours go on the choices do get smaller. The baked goods are made fresh daily and the desserts go quickly. Staples like turkey tail and sapasui, a Samoan chop suey with thick vermicelli noodles, are available on most days (above).

As is quite popular you can throw in some corned beef with your sapasui or have the former more traditionally paired with taro in coconut milk. For even more coconut milk, they also sometimes have fa'alifu ulu, a Samoan breadfruit that is cooked in it.

Samoan sausages called sosisi can be eaten with a thick, rich gravy as can chicken thighs and legs as seen above. Both of these benefit from a side of rice, which can be added to any order and helps cut the intense richness.

You can also get drumsticks baked with spices without gravy, fish casseroles with more coconut (above, top right), and at this point you would have only started to scratch the surface.

The people that work here are very friendly and happy to answer questions and make recommendations. This makes gathering takeout meals easier for those that are less familiar with the foods of Polynesia.

📍 1329 E. Carson Street, Carson, Harbor

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Poasa Imports

🇼🇸 SAMOA

 

EDITOR'S NOTE: An updated version of this article (26 April 2024) is available as part of the Historical section of our Substack page. Check that out here:

https://eattheworldla.substack.com/p/poasa-imports

 

On the many shelves of Carson's tiny Poasa Imports, the theme, as it is on an island that must import much of its food, is canned goods. Selections of mackerel in tomato sauce, Thai coconut milk, and corned beef all ready to go. But let your nose take you to the back of the shop for the foods prepared fresh here.

At the steam table on any given day you will see some rotating items but always the favorite Samoan combination of corned beef and coconut taro, both of which are expertly made in the kitchen. If you have questions or want to ask about any of the items, hospitality is very sweet and unhurried and they will make sure you get just the right amount (and probably more).

 

Do not wait too long after noon to go because some of the prepared foods will run out during the lunch rush. At 13:00 on the latest visit, the lady behind the counter was sad it was not 30 minutes earlier because she had just run out of a few things. Regardless of what you end up with, it is all sold by weight at $6.99/lb.

Quite a few Pacific Islanders have made their way to this general latitude of Los Angeles County, from here in Carson towards the east through North Long Beach and even into Southwest Anaheim. For this reason you can always expect the few small grocery stores and steam tables offering the foods to be full of folks all week long.

 

The plate above was a combination of some common items you will often find, in addition to the hunks of corned beef and coconut taro. One link of pork sausage (sosisi pua'a), a couple lamb ribs and some lamb stir fry with bok choy (mamoe kapisi). There is often banana with coconut milk, turkey tail, and chop suey available to round out your low fat meal.

 

As you bring your prize over to the register to pay, there are hats behind from Samoa, American Samoa, Manu'a, Tongo, and other islands to purchase, as well as many other gifts from back home. The lady who helped us gave us the palusami dessert (above, top left) for free. These can be spotted in the hot container looking like a baseball-sized round foil ball, but open it at home to find steamed taro leaves wrapped around coconut cream. Smooth and delicious!

 

Sometimes you may also find the homemade treats brought in by various vendors like Kuki Samoa by Sifua, but make sure to learn those schedules for the best shot at scoring her cookies.

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CARSON The Harbor

23744 S. Main Street

Boutique Samoa Market

SAMOA 🇼🇸

🇼🇸 SAMOA

EDITOR'S NOTE: An updated version of this article (08 December 2023) is available as part of the Historical section of our Substack page. Check that out here:

https://eattheworldla.substack.com/p/boutique-samoa-market

 

Samoa is the birthplace of the second largest amount of people of Pacific Islander origin in the United States after only Hawai'i, with Los Angeles being the largest community of them on the mainland (Honolulu has more). If that sentence did not have enough fun facts in it for you, it is also worth noting that more Samoans now live in the US than in Samoa. Despite this, they leave a fairly small footprint in our area and it takes some tracking down as some restaurants and steam tables have closed over the years.

One place to find food prepared daily is at the back of a very nondescript strip mall on Western Avenue in Anaheim, once again proving the point that driving too fast is not only dangerous but a good way to miss the good stuff.

I do not drive that tank.

At the time of this visit, the parking lot was pretty deserted. It is unclear if the other businesses have closed or just were inactive on the middle of a weekday, but parking was plentiful. The interior of the shop was equally quiet except for the television, which was the focus of the three people working inside. They must often get stragglers who wander in and leave without buying anything because they left us to our own devices without a greeting.

The shop sells colorful printed shirts, bags of chips and candy from Australia and New Zealand that must be available in Samoa, some fresh produce, and flags and other memorabilia. The main focus for us of course was the steam table and prepared foods, of which they have three sizes of meals depending on how hungry you are.

The already gigantic lunch ($11.99, below) is technically the smallest but feeds three (non-islander noobs) and consists of taro and banana under a sausage (sosisi) on one half with lamb over a base of sapasui, or Samoan-style chow mein on the other.

When we were ready to place an order, the lady behind the lunch counter snapped to attention and was very friendly about answering all the questions posed to her by a complete beginner.

I forgot to ask what was in this particular sosisi, which seems to be just a generic word for sausage and can have other words added to be more descriptive, but it is plump and good. The lamb has the feeling of just having been cooked out back, no parts are removed and it is not processed. It feels soft and silky to bite into the layers of skin, fat, and meat all together.

Chow mein has found its way in various forms to most places around the globe, including the Pacific Islands and Samoa. Here it is called sapasui and uses bean-based clear vermicelli noodles, although the familiar taste of the stir fry is universal.

The other two meal options are built around the lunch version with other additions. The words "Matai" and "Ali'i" are used to describe these and speak about family structures and the system of chiefs. Needless to say this is complicated, but fascinating for anyone who is interested to learn more. As can be imagined, the largest meal is the Ali'i ($19.99, not pictured), or high chief.

One interesting addition to that meal is turkey tail, wildly popular in Samoa and somewhat unhealthy. For this reason, the country tried to ban their import from the United States.

If you end up liking the food well enough, the family can also cater as a big banner advertises inside. If that ends up happening, please invite me.

As we left with our meal and smiles, one man asked if we were from Australia or New Zealand. I suppose a few people come in from those countries and grab some items which might be hard to find in the rest of Los Angeles that were readily available back home.

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ANAHEIM Orange County

1217 S. Western Avenue