Dining Review: Poke is better than OK

Build-your-own bowls are a big trend right now. There are Mexican bowls, Southeast Asian bowls, Mediterranean bowls, health food bowls and more. They’re great because you can build them according to what you want or don’t want to eat (such as no fat, no gluten, no meat). Until this week I’d never heard of build-your-own poke bowls. It’s an idea whose time has come and we’ve got one of the first incarnations right here in Glendale. It’s called Poke N Roll.

For those that don’t know, poke (rhymes with “OK”) is a Hawaiian delicacy, a raw-fish salad often made with ahi tuna. At Poke N Roll, they put a Japanese spin on it, allowing patrons to choose from a variety of sushi fish pieces, Japanese vegetable toppings, crispy bits and dressings. The result, no matter how you build it, is a zingy, fresh-tasting bowl of uncommon and satisfying flavors.

We built our bowls three different ways. They were as dissimilar (or as similar, depending on your perspective) as three different sushi rolls, deconstructed. First off, you choose your base — Romaine lettuce or brown or white rice. I like a combination of lettuce and rice. It comes with a scoop of delicious crab salad, not too heavy on the mayonnaise. Then you choose two types of fish. There’s fresh salmon, a couple of tunas, scallops, escolar (fabulous), salmon skin and more. The serving area is chilled and kept covered until patrons come in. Chefs are slicing whole fresh fish and refilling canisters throughout the day. So you can rest assured the fish is fresh and safe. It’s easy to taste its freshness as well. However, for 50 cents extra, patrons can have their fish baked before being put on the salad or bowl.

After choosing your fish, you move along to the toppings area. I wish one could choose more than three because these are so beautiful and unique (one actually can for 60 cents extra each). Choose from mountain carrot, asparagus, seaweed salad, chopped jalapenos, cucumber, fried garlic slices, avocado, green onion, seaweed flakes, smelt eggs, furikake (dry seasoning mix), sprouts, and interestingly, Parmesan cheese. Once your creation is built, they ask if you’d like sesame seeds on top and wasabi and ginger on the side. I recommend yes to all three however, a word of warning. You’ll find at some point you want to mix everything together. This places large chunks of wasabi in unknown places, surprising (no, shocking) the unsuspecting diner.

Finally you choose from nine dressings. You don’t even need the dressing because the ingredients are so flavorful and the crab salad already has mayo. But the ponzu, the yuzu and the soy mustard were all wonderful.

At a fine sushi restaurant, all this fish might cost you $20 or $30. These bowls are $10 including tax. The Poke N Roll space is on the small side. There’s one long table and a bar against the wall (with a complimentary phone charger). It’s a good choice for takeout too. They offer out-of-the-ordinary drinks in their refrigerator case. Parking is easy in the minimall lot it shares with Tres Hermanas Taqueria. Finally, their hours are very convenient, open till 9 p.m., seven days a week.

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What: Poke N Roll

Where: 413 S. Central Ave., Glendale

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday

Prices: Poke salads, sushi bowls and rolled sushi, $9.17

Contact: (818) 265-3839
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LISA DUPUY welcomes comments at LDupuy@aol.com.