October 25, 2022 – The great fried chicken sandwich debate is over. You won’t find the tenderest, juiciest, most flavorful version at Popeyes or Chick-fil-A, but rather sold fresh and hot from the Hapa Bros. food truck, owned and operated by Aaron and Jason Ricketts and headquartered in San Juan Bautista. Their take on the classic sandwich is the star item on a menu that features American foods with an Asian twist.
“There is no really great fried chicken anywhere in the county,” says Aaron, “and who doesn’t like fried chicken? It’s a tough thing to do well—there’s a process of butchering it, brining it, and marinating it in buttermilk. There are three different sauces on there that we make from scratch that kind of all come together to make what I call an umami bomb.”
“Hapa” is a Hawaiian word meaning “of mixed parentage,” like the Ricketts, who are of half-Japanese and half-Norwegian. And that combination of cultures is apparent across the entire menu.
“We’re taking those bold Asian flavors and then adding them to American-style dishes,” Jason says. “It is really just how we were brought up. We’re so used to being in this culture, like American Southern food, but we were also regularly exposed to Asian flavors. Why can’t we marry the two? It’s been done before, but we think we’re taking a different and enjoyable approach to it.”
Aaron graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and has worked in several high-end restaurants, including Mourad, a Michelin-starred Moroccan restaurant in San Francisco. “I’ve cooked every cuisine under the sun,” he says, “but naturally, because of our heritage, I lean towards Asian flavors. I think Asian flavors pack a real punch, but then sometimes you have to think about your customer biases. And they don’t always want hardcore Asian flavors like traditional Thai or Chinese.”
He turned to the idea of having his own food truck during the pandemic when, he says, COVID made running a restaurant an absolute nightmare.
“You could not hire anyone to save your life, and cash flow was not enough to sustain a business for anyone,” Aaron says. “I was fed up because it became too stressful. At the end of the day, the restaurant still has to operate, but you don’t have the staff or the money to do it.”
He spoke with his family about opening his own business and drew from the experience of fellow chefs he knew who had started their own trucks.
“A restaurant has always been a long-term goal for me,” he says. “But I was getting these thoughts of ‘Hey, I want to get this started, and I can do a restaurant next year. So we found the truck, decided on our branding, and opened on August 14. And it has been incredible how fast it has grown, much quicker than we expected.”
Unlike Aaron, Jason has very little experience with making food, other than from watching the cooks in his family and now works side-by-side in the cramped truck with his brother. “He’s really done an amazing job,” says Aaron. “He has hopped to it. He’s made it his baby and is truly harnessing the restaurant business.”
One of the family dishes that made it to the menu is their grandmother’s bacon fried rice, a dish that was once legendary in San Juan.
Having been open for only three months, the Hapa Bros. have gotten a great reception from the locals as they show up at places like Vertigo Coffee in San Juan (a regular Friday night stop), Swank Farms, and the Hollister Farmers Market.
“When we were younger, we would come out here for the holidays,” Aaron says. “Everyone would stay at my Nana Jackie’s home, probably 15 people sleeping on the couches. And every morning, we would wake up to the smell of bacon rice cooking. It was a huge part of our growing up, and I think ours tastes just the way our grandmother’s tasted.”
Other dishes, like the bulgogi egg rolls, made with thin-sliced steak, result from experiments gone wrong.
“I took carne asada and added bulgogi, which is a Korean marinade,” he says. “I wanted to do Korean/Mexican fusion tacos. But on the first day, I found out that limited movements in the truck is a big thing, and it was too much to handle because you want to get food out faster, so customers aren’t waiting a long time. So that evolved into the egg rolls.”
And not to be missed is the rice flour Mochi Waffle with fresh strawberries and homemade whipped cream.
“It’s not your traditional waffle, and it’s gluten-free, which people don’t expect in a waffle,” Aaron says. “But we found that as it cools, it actually starts to get crispier, which is kind of cool because that’s the other struggle with waffles is making sure they kind of go out crispy. I love the texture, and I love the sweetness– it’s a really nice little bite.”
Hapa Bros. also offers the Scallion Pancake Taco, which Aaron says is his take on a vegan dish. “It is kind of a burrito with crispy tofu, peanut sauce, and cucumbers wrapped in a scallion pancake,” he says. “I don’t want to do just sautéed veggies as a vegan thing. I want to elevate it—I want our vegan option to be just as exciting as our chicken sandwich.”
“We are not trying to step on the toes of any of the local restaurants,” he said. “We just want to provide a unique outlet for people who do not want to drive to Gilroy or Morgan Hill for something different. Everyone has been super supportive, and right now, we have so many catering requests, events, and wineries that want us to be there that it is like fitting pieces into a puzzle. But right now, our focus is in satisfying the community, and we can’t thank everyone enough for their support.”
About the author
Robert Eliason is a documentary photographer and photojournalist and has been based in San Juan Bautista for the last 12 years. Recently he has been doing extensive reporting on the wineries, breweries and specialty food companies of San Benito County, and is documenting the history of the Cienega Valley wine region.
