A Fresh Take on Poke

The Hawaiian dish. Poke — which means “to slice” or “cut crosswise into pieces” — has been one of the latest food crazes to sweep across the United States. The traditional form of the dish consisted of gutted, skinned and deboned fish that had condiments added on such as sea salt, candle-nut and limn.

Now more commonly called and known as “poke bowls” in America, there are numerous variations and combinations to make and choose of this dish from restaurants all over the country. Having a Japanese influence, ingredients for poke bowls often include sesame seeds, soy sauce, green onions, sesame oil, sushi rice, seaweed, raw tuna and octopus, among other customary Japanese elements.

To get my helping of this unique dish. I visited Poke Geaur, located at 1753 Martin Luther King Blvd. Houma,

A fast, down-the-line-style restaurant (similar to Your Pie or Subway) my turn to order quickly approached, even though mere there was sizeable lunch crowd As I always do. I chose to build my own bowl in lieu of choosing one of their “signature geauxs”. (I would suggest choosing a signature if it is your first time in a poke restaurant or at least look at the menu A hand of time.)

There is a countless amount of combinations you can make with choices of a roll, salad (fresh spring mix or romaine) or bowl base (sushi, coconut or brown rice); 10 different proteins; 10 different mix-ins; eight different sauces’, nine different toppings; and six different “crunches”.

I ordered a three protein bowl with chicken, spicy salmon and shrimp tempura on a coconut rice base. I then added corn, edamame. romaine lettuce, purple onions, cilantro, avocado, green onions, cream cheese, crab salad, wasabi aioli and eel sauce for my mix-ins, toppings and sauce.

After returning to the office with my food, I opened the lid of the bowl and admired its aesthetics — all the proteins and add-ons combined to make a visually appealing assortment of colors.

I then went in for a first bite— going straight for the first piece of shrimp tempura I could find, since it was my first tune ordering their shrimp tempura. The shrimp tempura was crisp and extremely tasty. The chicken and spicy salmon were both fresh, and my three proteins worked well together.

In feet all of my mix-ins and toppings ware fresh AND reinforced all the flavors of my dish The eel sauce and coconut rice brought in a much needed sweetness to the poke bowl, AND the wasabi aioli save it a nice kick.

Although. Poke Geaux is a fairly new restaurant to our area (opened earlier this year) —with delicious, fresh food like this— I have no doubt this establishment won’t be ‘geauxing’ away anytime soon.

A Fresh Take on Poke