The poke proliferation continues. Yet another poke shop has opened. This time it's in Buena Park in what used to be, you guessed it, a generic teriyaki and California roll joint. It's called Poki Yaki and if you're judging just by its operating model, it can be argued that it's copying Pokinometry, OC's poke pioneer, nearly down to the letter.
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From the website, it appears that you build your poke bowl in steps, by choosing the size (a small has two scoops of fish; a medium, three; a large, five); the base (white rice, brown rice, chips, or salad); the proteins (spicy tuna, salmon, tuna, albacore, shrimp, and octopus); the sauce (ponzu, creamy Hawaiian, spicy mayo, spicy, or one with green tomato, jalapeño, and onions); and finally toppings such as green onions, wasabi, masago, and sesame seeds.
And just like Pokinometry, the crab meat, seaweed salad, cucumber, onions and masago comes free.
Other than the name, what seems to be unique about the place is that green-tomato-jalapeno-and-onion option of flavor they call “oma' oma' o”, which I've not seen anywhere…and oh yeah, they also seem to serve teriyaki. But who's going to want teriyaki these days when poke is available?
7855 La Palma Ave. Ste 4, Buena Park, CA 90620, (714) 739-0146; http://pokiyaki.wix.com/pokiyaki
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Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.