A clear plastic bowl contains a mixed salad with tomatoes, leafy greens, sliced mango, and crunchy toppings, garnished with small orange fish roe.

Poke in the Bowl: Montrose is getting poked!


By Jim Ayres

I’ve been avoiding Poke, Houston’s biggest food trend this year.

I’d been turned off by memories of a ghastly “Sushi Salad†at the late Bowl on lower Richmond. The fish was a little past fresh, the salad elements didn’t quite gel and the miso dressing might as well have been syrup of ipecac. (Ironically, when Bowl closed, a proper Poke restaurant — Ono Poke — opened in its place.)

But on a recent Sunday evening, sitting by the window at Dolce Vita, I saw Poke in the Bowl in the strip center across the street. I thought to myself, “I’ve got to try it. Just once. For journalistic purposes.â€

Later that week, I visited for lunch.

According to Eater Houston’s Amy McCarthy, “poke restaurants generally follow a pretty similar formula. Diners choose a base (usually rice or salad), then add a few scoops of their protein of choice (ahi tuna, salmon, or even tofu) that has been tossed in a sauce like ponzu, soy, or spicy mayo. The bowl is finished with a variety of garnishes like a scoop of crab, furikake, masago, or avocado, among others.â€

Poke (pronounced poh-kay, rhymes with OK) uses Japanese ingredients, but hails from Hawaii. In “A Brief History of Poke in Hawaii†the Hawaii Ocean Project tells us “it’s believed that poke was first prepared by native Polynesians centuries before Western travelers arrived on the islands.â€

However, the essay continues, “Most historians agree that it wasn’t until the 1960s and ’70s that the name ‘poke’ was given to the dish we currently recognize.â€

Walking into clean, brightly lit Poke in a Bowl, I steeled myself for the experience. Décor is minimal, a subliminal message that poke is a quick, fresh meal. The setup is basic; as with Chipotle you go down the line with your server as your bowl is customized.

Start with a base of rice or salad. Two scoops or three. I got two scoops of sushi rice. Next choose two side items; mine were crabmeat and avocado. The protein station is the star, with several seafood and tofu options (chicken too, if you must). Tuna and salmon looked especially fresh that day.

After adding your vegetables (daikon radish, cucumber and cilantro for me) you enter the home stretch of sauces and toppings. The House Ponzu sauce was perfectly sweet and tangy. Mango upped the sweet factor, while a final dusting of tobiko (fish roe) lent crispy umami goodness.

I absolutely loved it. The fish was even fresher than it looked and mixing it all together in a bowl was flavor fusion magic. I left thoroughly satisfied, buoyed by the feeling that a meal this good could be so healthy.

Or so I thought. A typical poke bowl is about 1,000 calories (that damn rice) with nearly a day’s worth of sodium (soy, pickled this and that).

Oh well, it’s still better for me than a burger, right? I intend to keep exploring Houston’s many other poke options with gusto unabated.

 

Poke in the Bowl

515 Westheimer, Suite D

Houston, Texas 77006

713-714-8608

PokeInTheBowls.com

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