rev:text
| - if there is a silver lining to the sad fact that too much of the best sashimi grade fish in the pacific gets sucked up by casinos to shove down the throats of gluttonous fat cats from dubai and nyc and hong kong, poke express deserves the honor.
i wouldn't have known to visit this joint except that it got a perfect 5 star rating on yelp. you can imagine how disappointed i was to find a storefront appointed with a exactly a deli case, a few hawaii travel posters and a couple strapping something-teen young dudes working the counter. they leisurely interrupted the conversation they were having in a lazy pidgin with a couple other islanders, one of whom was the size of a volkswagen and who couldn't stop smiling if his life depended on it.
"you like poke bruh? it's raw fish ya know."
i told them i did in fact love poke but that i had no idea there were so many kinds (they offer about 8). they let me try the lot of them. the limu and the chili water were the clear winners, so i grabbed a half a pound of each for less than hat i'd expect to pay for a custard dish full at a sit down joint in SoCal.
the hiyashi wakame was a steal at $5 a pound, so i grabbed a bunch of that too. the raw wasabi tako is one of the most delightful things i have ever had the pleasure to taste. needless to say, the wasabi was real and not this green horseradish paste that virtually every sushi place gobs on your plate.
they had no tables, no plates, no rice, nothing. they did kindly refer me to the teriyaki joint next door who were virtually empty and only to happy to sell me a plate of rice and veggies, thus giving me a place to scarf down my ahi and octopus. that's good neighbors
how good was it? let me just say that before my visit to the poke express, i had no idea i could come in my own mouth. now i know i don't need to take my clothes off to do it.
like the sign on the wall say:
"IF CAN, CAN. IF NO CAN, NO CAN"
poke express definitely found a way, carry on island dudes. carry on.
|