How much poke can one person eat? For me, the answer is never enough. Seriously, the whole city could be filled with poke places on every corner and I still wouldn't ever get sick of it. I had been reading about this place for a while since it was started by Top Chef alum Lee Anne Wong - she prides this place on being more authentic and traditional. The original concept of this place was to have you order by the pound instead of the mix and match bowl style. It sounds like they must have adjusted their business model because when I was there this afternoon, the very nice guy at the counter explained to the Chipotle style ordering to me - nowhere was there any mention of ordering by the pound (which I know is more traditional in Hawaii).
The ordering is similar to all the other places: you order a base of white or brown rice (I got brown), kale or mixed greens (I got kale), and then you choose from a variety of already mixed poke combinations (I got the garlic black pepper). They had several great sounding combinations - there was of course the classic style, a firecracker version which had a creamy spicy sauce, and an aloha version which had coconut sauce in it, plus a variety of others. Then you pick 3 toppings and I got the seaweed salad, edamame, and kelp noodles (which was pretty much like a seaweed salad again). It's all packed in a very deep plastic bowl for $13.95.
I was a bit surprised when I read a few Yelp reviews when they said the portions weren't very big because I felt like it was a TON of food and very filling. My only complaint with how it was packed - it was all layered on top of each other, so my first couple of bites were all seaweed salad. I had to really eat my way down before I could get a bite of both rice, poke and toppings mixed together. As for the poke itself, it was tasty and did taste closer to the kind I had in Hawaii. The fish was fresh and of high quality and it was marinated well with a LOT of flavor to it. I was afraid the garlic black pepper sauce would be overwhelming but it wasn't really. The only thing I would change is that the chunks of onion were way too big, they need to be smaller and thinner. Another downside is the location - it's in freakin Midtown East. The only reason I even went there was because I was already on the 6 train and it was only a 10 minute ride up there. Unfortunately, the two other locations they are looking to open are also in Midtown which is kind of a bummer. If they opened one downtown, I would definitely be here a lot more often. Total bill: $13.95
Photo Credit: Yelp
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