“Two scoops rice and one scoop mac salad” has always been a standard of Hawaii’s trademark plate lunch, but instead of the two starches, what if you could have fried saimin instead of rice and get a veggie option in place of the classic macaroni salad?

Now the health-conscious or picky foodie can have more of a choice at L & L Hawaiian Barbecue’s new “Mixplate,” opening this week at L & L’s longtime Airport Trade Center spot.

Warning: There is NO standard mac salad! But there are six sides to choose from, including a new curry-flavored macaroni salad, garlic edamame or bean sprouts.

“Nothing on the menu is the same as L & L,” says Chief Financial Officer Elisia Flores, who took on the mantle of the prolific restaurant chain from her dad, founder Eddie Flores, three years ago.

Everything will be “a little healthier” and have bolder flavors, she said. Local favorites will be cooked from scratch, but these go beyond the usual teriyaki and katsu basics. Everything will have a new twist, like their new curry mac salad, “but I’m really confident the die-hards are going to like this version as well,” Flores added.

She’s calling Mixplate an “elevated and more customized plate lunch” concept. The food will be displayed cafeteria style so customers can see all the choices and even get a sample before ordering.

“And it will just be more elegant,” she said, with a nicer presentation of food in finer cookware instead of stainless-steel pans. A two-choice entree plate will run about $10, but prices aren’t finalized yet.

Mixplate will work out of the airport restaurant temporarily, where L & L has been for at least 20 years and new kitchen equipment has just been installed. The plan is to open a separate Mixplate restaurant next year once another site is selected. It will have a more modern and simple decor, and with the additional space, the menu may be expanded to include desserts and appetizers.

It was Eddie Flores’ vision several years ago that inspired the Mixplate concept to offer the customization popular in food service, and to plan for future expansion. He realized that Hawaii was already saturated with L & Ls, which number 60 in Hawaii and 200 across the mainland. The senior Flores, now 70, still keeps his hand on stirring the pot. He has more energy than his daughter and head chef Karl Aoki put together, the duo agreed.

While the chain has also done well on the West Coast, they found people outside the area were unfamiliar with the plate lunch. She recalled a customer in Chicago who saw a picture of a plate lunch and asked, “What are those white lumps?”

“For us it’s obviously rice,” she said, laughing, but the customer “didn’t grow up in Hawaii where rice is served with ice cream scoopers! I hate to say it, but a picture of a laulau is pretty scary, or kalua pork cabbage. They may not know what the food is, but once they try it they’re really, really happy.”

It’s why spooning out samples pays off, she added.

“The concept where people can see the food and people can customize their plate, we really think that has more potential for acceptance and growth on the mainland.”

Mixplate’s new dishes have been tested on customers at the airport restaurant, then tweaked and refined. By far the favorite has been the twice-fried garlic chicken, crisp and succulent. Aoki said this chicken recipe goes particularly well with the new curry mac salad, his personal favorite combination.

The biggest challenge, he said, is finding a happy medium between what people expect to taste and a bolder version.

“From the consumer’s side it should be more fun, and they can eat something that they might not have had in a long time, like the pastele stew and chicken guisantes,” said Flores, discussing ethnic dishes that will be on both the regular menu and rotating as specials.

The company worked with a local branding company to develop the name “Mixplate.”

“I love it because I think it completely captures what our concept is — the diverse food and cultures of Hawaii,” she said. “And I think the one word versus two (Mix Plate) has that pidgin feel, which is more fun!”