It was worth the trip.

Actually, it was worth two trips. After the first time, I had to make a second North Shore trek from my home in Kapahulu to get more of Da Bald Guy’s next-level plate lunchery; it’s that good. And, while I was out there, I thought, why not check out how things are going at a couple of landmarks I’d never visited before? Word is the wait times at Romy’s and Matsumoto’s are a lot shorter than before COVID-19.

First things first, though.

His menu is not extensive, but even with combos in play it takes more than one visit to sample the best of Da Bald Guy, whose real name is James Martin, and is actually Da Bald Guy II. (His dad, Leonard Nombris, opened the food truck among a cluster of them at the site of the old Kahuku Sugar Mill about five years ago).

Many townies learned that Da Bald Guy is da bomb via social media during the summer of 2019. Compared to other plate lunches, his are tantalizing works of art, and their taste is well worth the quarter tank of gas it takes me to get there and back.

Business was already good, but now it’s better, despite — or maybe because of — the pandemic.

As Martin notes, COVID-19 didn’t hurt his revenue the way it did restaurants, because overhead for food trucks is less, and they are pretty much to-go operations by default. (Two little tables are out front, but a sign emphasizes takeout.)

“People tell people. And the Instagram,” says Donna Cuvio, who works both at Da Bald Guy and at Giovanni’s shrimp truck just a few feet away. “But even before that, it was crackin’.”

And crackin’ is one secret to his success, Martin says. “A lot of places use eggs from a carton now days,” he says. “We get ours from Cackle Fresh, right down the road (in Laie).”

What he does after cracking those eggs makes a difference, too. The Surimi Crab Egg Fu Yung ($10) is silky, like chawanmushi at a good sushi bar. “A light scramble. If you over-beat it, it becomes flat,” Martin says. “That’s the key. I learned that from Japanese guys I worked with.”

The surimi (doesn’t that sound a lot better than imitation crab?) contributes to this open-face omelet’s chawanmushi vibe. And there’s a strong okonomiyaki resemblance, too; white and green onions, and just the right amount of unagi sauce on top help deliver that effect, visually and taste-wise.

Da Bald Guy’s signature item is a thick kalbi ($12) that’s unlike any I’d ever had. It’s marinated an entire day, then slow-cooked to a flavorful tenderness not normally associated with Korean-style short ribs. The spice combination in the sauce is unique, too, reminiscent of Japanese teriyaki and Chinese short ribs.

I was somewhat hesitant about another top item — fried poke ($12), which makes me think “old fish.” But that is definitely not the case here. Cubes of today’s fresh catch, nairagi (striped marlin), are flash-fried, and you can tell that yes, it was caught today (or yesterday, at the latest).

Martin gets the fish from another neighbor: Kenny Broad of Ken’s Fresh Fish, also in Laie.

Nombris, who started Da Bald Guy after 35 years in the culinary field, has been content to let his son take the spotlight the past three years and run the show mostly himself.

Martin, 30, has spent more than half his life working in kitchens, sometimes with his dad at Big City Diner in Kailua, and most recently at the Asia Pacific International School in Hauula. That’s where he learned to make up to 300 meals a day, and why he is in demand for catering.

This is not fast food. It’s all prepared to order, but quickly — even when the line is long, which is often.

“Most of our customers don’t want to wait around,” he says. “We have a lot of construction workers and other people who only have a limited time for breakfast or lunch. We built our menu for speed and efficiency.”

Regular customer Pat Yalimaiwai is a retired Kahuku Elementary School teacher, right across the street.

“You gotta come early,” she said.

DA BALD GUY FOOD TRUCK

56-565 Kamehameha Highway in Kahuku

Open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. (or “until we sell out”) Mondays to Saturdays;call 394-7804

Note: Orders can be made via Instagram (@dabaldguy_foodtruck) or Da Bald Guy on Facebook, but no phone orders.

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MORE NORTH SHORE OPTIONS:

>> Romy’s Kahuku Prawns & Shrimp: 56-781 Kamehameha Highway; 232-2202. Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Cash only; phone orders recommended.

The joke for a long time has been that people make a special trip to the North Shore to pay a lot of money for shrimp from somewhere else.

But I’m assured by Kaylene Arneson that is not the case here. When asked where their product comes from, she tilts her head toward the back of the distinctive dark red building that is Romy’s, reminding me there is a pond out back filled with live shellfish.

The thing is, though, you put enough butter and garlic on something and it will taste good (case in point: escargot). So, just to be sure of the quality here, I get the No. 5: steamed prawns, with garlic butter and cocktail sauce on the side ($27.17 for 1 pound, including two scoops of rice; 1/2-pound shrimp plates are $16.49).

Arneson explains the difference between a prawn and a shrimp. “The prawns are a lot bigger, and they have more of a lobster flavor,” she says.

I won’t go as far as to say the prawns taste like lobster, but the ones served here are really good. I’m glad I didn’t drown them in sauce. The clean, fresh taste is best with nothing, or just a dab of garlic butter or cocktail sauce, plus a light squeeze of lemon (plain lemon is great, too).

I’ve had North Shore shellfish before, but this is my first time at Romy’s. In the past, the line was always way too long. Now, with tourism just beginning to recover, there’s no line, but that’s deceiving. After placing their orders, customers wait in their cars until they’re informed via loudspeaker that their food is ready.

For me on this first day of December, the wait is a not- irritating-at-all 20 minutes. But — and this is another good reason to go the apply-your-own-sauce route — you can’t stay there. Romy’s red picnic tables are off limits now.

That doesn’t stop Joe and Gerry Tabladillo and Travis Williams of Tabla Mechanical from doing Romy’s for lunch on a fairly regular basis. It helps that they’re working a contracting job in the area.

“The way they cook the shrimp is great,” says Williams. “It’s the best.”

“Yeah, but the only thing is take long time,” Gerry Tabladillo adds.

On this day, though, even though the waves are up, the wait isn’t nearly as long as it used to be.

Dream Seumanutafa, Arneson’s co-worker, is happy to be working and serving customers. “It’s slow, but it’s steady,” she says.

>> Matsumoto Shave Ice: Haleiwa Store Lots, 66-111 Kamehameha Highway; 637-4827; matsumotoshaveice.com. Open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

If you thought you’d never see the day when there’d be no line at the world- famous Matsumoto’s, here’s visual proof.

Consider it a COVID-19 consolation prize for locals, like the uncrowded beaches.

“For us, it’s really nice. No traffic,” says Earl Fernandes, who came from Pearl City with his friend Sai Yamura. “The beaches are empty and you can go fishing without people getting in the way.”

The two breezed through Matsumoto’s to get a cold treat on a hot day. A rare, lineless day. “If it was really crowded, we wouldn’t be here,” Yamura says. “We would just turn around.”

Although I’ve gone through Haleiwa at least a hundred times, I’d never stopped here. That line was always way too long to even consider it.

There is a sporadic stream of customers, before and after me. But we are all quickly processed, cafeteria-style, by four young workers, all properly masked and situated behind a see-through plastic shield. It seems a bit impersonal, but the workers are unfailingly pleasant and unstressed.

“Yes, it’s different, but at least we’re still open,” Justine Sison, the employee at the end of the line, says with smiling eyes, as she slides my order under the shield.

Since this could be my one and only chance at Matsumoto’s, and since I don’t have time to ponder from among 40 flavors while waiting in a long, slow line, I make a firm, quick decision: the Ichiban ($6; regular shave ice is $3 for small or $3.50 for large). This is the fully loaded, deluxe shave ice with azuki beans, condensed milk, mochi balls, ice cream, garlic butter, cocktail sauce …

There’s a point to that last bit of silliness. The Ichiban is delicious and refreshing, but as soon as I start eating it, I realize I’ve made a mistake. I’ve just done what I managed to avoid at Romy’s: upstage the star with extras. The Ichiban, which comes in an edible waffle bowl nearly the size of the Titanic, does have shave ice, but it’s somewhere down in steerage, hard to find.

Plus, I had deprived myself of an important element of the experience. With a normal shave ice, you must carefully but quickly sip and nibble equally around the edges, the sweet, melting, icy treat in one hand and a little spoon in the other. Even if there is no line to wait in for a replacement, you certainly don’t want to drop it.

If there is a next time for me, three-flavor Rainbow it is.