RESTAURANT REVIEW:

One of my constant complaints is the lack of quality food available after 10 or 11 p.m. in not only Huntington Beach/Fountain Valley, but all of Orange County.

While most of the county is apparently fast asleep at 9 p.m., some of us are creatures of the night and like to stay up past the evening news.

We are a minority, this I realize, but try and find a decent meal at that hour. You are pretty much left to food that comes in a Styrofoam box or cheap diners.

During the week, I will concede the limited dining choices. If I am up at midnight on a Tuesday then I will fend for myself, probably by heading to Long Beach or another city that has more night crawlers and caters to them.

But on the weekend, I would like to see more establishments wake up and keep the stoves fired up.

Aloha Grill has made a concession. The restaurant owners realized that when people walk around Main Street at night and after midnight, they get a little hungry.

So while the Harley boutique store and Jack’s is closed tightly, Aloha Grill is not.

They have made their appetizer menu available until 1 a.m.

The Hawaiian-themed restaurant, which is up top in the same set of stores as Luigi’s Restaurant, has 12 appetizers and each one is distinctive.

The easiest way to sample many of the appetizers is to get the pupu platter. For $14.95 you get half orders of calamari, Surf City roll, Maui Wowie rolls, Hawaiian drummettes and chicken satay.

All of these are offered separately, but it is a great option for those who can’t decide.

We did that, and it was perfect. The amount of food is ideal for two people and will definitely keep you happy until breakfast.

The calamari is a thick steak Panko breaded and flashed fried in peanut oil. The cooking method is great; there is no hint of greasiness and the flavor of the calamari is preserved.

My friend and I were looking forward to the Surf City roll. The imitation crab is rolled with avocados, cucumbers and Chinese mustard-mayonnaise and then held in place with sticky Japanese rice wrapped in seaweed.

The sushi rolls looked fantastic, but when we took a first bite they were ice cold.

No problem, we just let them sit at room temperature for a while and they were fine after that.

My favorite of the platter was probably the Maui Wowie rolls. The Ahi is prepared with Cajun spices and seared with blended roasted macadamia nuts, sweet Maui onions, green onions, cabbage and carrots wrapped in an egg roll and cut diagonally.

The mixture of ingredients was great and the egg roll was not heavy at all. It also appeared as if it was flash-fried because the texture was so light and without any hint of grease.

The marinated drummettes had a nice smoked teriyaki flavor and were baked rather than deep fried.

About the only item that was disappointing was the chicken satay. Well, it wasn’t even really disappointing, just bland. Still edible though, just compared to the others it doesn’t measure up.

Other appetizers include smoked albacore platter, Kahlua pork quesadilla, Asian pot stickers and Ahi sashimi.

It is nice to have some options later in the evening. It is a trend I hope more restaurants follow.

JOHN REGER reviews restaurants for the Independent.