Say hello — or ‘Hafa Adai’ — to Guam Grub at Everett Mall

EVERETT — There’s a new taste in town.

Say hello, or Hafa Adai (pronounced “hoffa day”), to Guam Grub at Everett Mall, the only place with authentic Chamorro food for miles.

What’s up with that?

Guam is a narrow, 30-mile long U.S. territory in Micronesia in the western Pacific Ocean. Chamorros are the largest ethnic group on the island of 155,000 residents and about 20,000 military members and their families.

Mainland Americans often associate Guam with military bases. They don’t know enough about the food.

Pumpkin buchi buchi. Fina’denne’ dipping sauce. Red rice. King Car Lemon Tea, a popular cold drink in Guam.

“It is sharing the culture, one dish at a time,” Guam Grub owner Julita Atoigue-Javier said. “We have influences from Japan, the Spaniards, and also from the Philippines, it’s about a three-hour plane ride. This is a melting pot of different influences. We have our own spin on the different foods.”

Guam Grub is in the mall food court space vacated by Panda Express. Look for the Guam flag that is blue with a palm tree, beach and sailboat. It is open mall hours, but closed on Monday.

Come early, pre-order or call to confirm (425-308-9997). The food often sells out before closing time.

“People are driving up from Puyallup and Port Orchard and Olympia,” Atoigue-Javier said. “Someone on Saturday came from Portland.”

A fiesta plate at Guam Grub has ribs, chicken, red rice, pancit noodles, lumpia spring roll, shrimp patty, cucumber salad or kimchi, potato salad and chicken kelaguen.

For real, all of the above, for $18.

Portions are big.

“Our culture, we are very nurturing. We like to serve and be hospitable, and that spills out into our food,” said Atoigue-Javier, 43. “Opening a restaurant was one of my dreams as far back as I can remember. Growing up on the island it was part of our culture. We would have these massive parties.”

After moving to California from Guam, she found comfort in cooking.

“It brought me back home when I was missing home. The more that I missed home, the more I cooked,” she said. “I started cooking for people and it became a passion.”

Later, in Washington, she catered Chamorro food for celebrations as a side job.

“The demand was so high. I was really busy, working full time and then catering,” she said. “My friend told me there was an opening at Everett Mall. I took a chance, shot my shot, and submitted my application.”

She tried to open by July 21, the annual Liberation Day celebration in Guam, but missed it by a day.

It’s a family business.

“My brother, my husband, my sons, nephews, my in-laws,” she said. “Everybody chips in.”

Before Guam Grub, the go-to source in The Daily Herald newsroom for Chamorro cuisine was Jacqueray Smith, a multimedia sales consultant who loves to feed us and share her pride in Guam. For special occasions or no occasion, she brings in platters of food and invites all to dig in.

This time, long overdue, The Herald took Smith out to lunch. She’d been to Guam Grub the day before and was ready to go back.

“I used to have to travel to Bremerton two hours away to get some Chamorro food made by my familia,” she said. “The food is just like home.”

The ribs are marinated in a soy sauce-vinegar base before grilling.

“We don’t make it where it falls off the bone. We want you to chew it,” Smith said.

Red rice is a staple in Chamorro cooking. The key is annatto powder from achiote seeds.

“That’s the ingredient that turns it red and gives it the flavor,” Smith said. “It’s really orange, but we call it red rice.”

Dessert items include latiya, a vanilla-coconut custard atop pound cake, and buchi buchi, a fried pumpkin turnover with a burst of cinnamon.

The Guam Grub outing was the first Chamorro food experience for Brenda Mann Harrison, The Herald’s journalism development director.

“My favorites: the shrimp cake and the kimchi. Oh, and the potato salad. Yum,” she said.

We were in a happy food coma halfway into the heaping plates.

People don’t chow down like this daily, Atoigue-Javier said.

“What I’m serving here is party food,” she said.

Guam is a long plane ride from the mainland.

Guam Grub, on the other hand, is 10 minutes by car from downtown Everett.

Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown.