I have a confession to make. Up until the last few months, I had never eaten raw fish. I enjoy ethnic cuisine, I’m a huge fan of cooked and vegetarian sushi, and I’ve lived in Japan. I tried a bite many years ago and didn’t jibe with the texture, and being a texture-oriented person I never felt the need to revisit. Until now.
You know when you’re going through a breakup and you do all the things your ex hated? Mine was allergic to seafood, so in the spirit of new beginnings I have gone all out – eating mountains of salmon, trying oysters everywhere and never refusing even the most strange-sounding sushi (uni, anyone?).
Still, something entirely new to me has been the concept of poke: raw fish salad bowls with inspiration hailing from Hawaii. I’d never heard of the stuff until it began popping up in Monterey recently, and I’m glad I did. With the taste of sushi, the health of salad and the convenience of customized Chipotle-style fast-casual, poke bowls are becoming a staple in my life.
Why a staple? Well, it’s really damn good. And different in a way I couldn’t have imagined before, and really delicious too. It’s also quick to pick up and healthfully packed with raw veggies.
Poke Time is the latest poke joint to arrive in the area, adding another cool spot to the row on Lighthouse Avenue. Poke Lab on Alvarado has made quite a splash since opening last year, and rightfully so with fresh, unique and Seafood Watch-compliant poke bowls. It’s now just a matter of seeing how new places stack up, and the lines are already forming at Poke Time.
Inside the modern little poke shop are inviting wooden walls with cute quotes like “May the Poke Time be with you,” “What happens in Poke Time stays in Poke Time” and “Don’t cheat on your wife except with Poke Time.” (Though not the most sensical sentences, the idea is fun.) There are plenty of tables, but each bowl comes in a plastic container regardless, making it easy to take them to-go, albeit not the most environmentally-friendly serving method. A fridge of drinks includes some middle-shelf beer (Blue Moon, Stella Artois, Modelo and 805), a couple Sapporo beer options and a Japanese green tea.
At the build-your-own counter, there is plenty to choose from. Start with your sushi rice, brown rice or lettuce and pick a size – regular (three scoops, $9.99) or large (four scoops, $11.50). Add any number of “mix-ins” including seaweed salad, crabmeat, japapeño and mango. Options for protein run with several types of tuna (ahi, yellowtail, albacore and spicy), salmon, octopus, cooked shrimp or scallops. Stir in a sauce like yuzu ponzu, mustard shoyu or eel sauce, and top it all off with more fixings like masago, crispy onion, ginger and corn.
Knowing I’d be back for seconds another day, I decided I’d try rice another time and go with the healthier greens my body was craving one night. With a foundation of spring mix, I went with the “everything” option for toppings and three different proteins: salmon, ahi tuna and scallops.
Even with such a large variety of items in one bowl, my salad was truly tasty. The house poke sauce sweetened and softened more intense bites of not-too-spicy jalapeño and refreshingly zingy ginger. Delectably thinly-sliced onions and cucumbers brought the highlights, crispy onions added more crunch, but small pieces of mango and very small pieces of scallop didn’t really taste like much at all. The ahi tuna didn’t have much flavor either, but the salmon offered up some buttery goodness that made me long for more.
On the second time around, I had to try the salmon again, just to make sure it was still as good. It was. I also tried the spicy tuna, which had a very soft texture but my friend, a more seasoned connoisseur of raw fish, said it was “excellent.” A more classic approach on round two, I went for brown rice as the base and was not disappointed: It was nicely cooked – firm yet tender – and a more hearty dish when compared with the spring mix. A few bites of sushi rice on my friend’s confirmed that the most traditional, unsurprisingly, tastes best.
I opted for a less-is-more approach when it came to complementing the basics. I added avocado ($1.50), but went more sparingly with just cucumber, onion, masago and ginger with a yummy spicy mayo. I also tried some eel sauce, which was sticky and sweet.
As it turns out, avocado is essential to bringing poke to a new level of deliciousness, and I wish it was included. At least at Poke Time, unlike some other poke establishments, the seaweed salad is included, though it’s not my favorite unless it’s absolutely fresh-out-of-the-ocean fresh (Poke Time’s was not).
Ups and tiny downs aside, this exotic meal at this contemporary spot is one I’ll be having again. Someday I hope to be sitting on a warm beach eating a poke bowl in Hawaii, but until then I’ll take the rush of raw fish in our backyard.
Poke Time 484 Lighthouse Ave. #100, Monterey •11am-3pm, 4:30-8:30pm Mon-Fri; 12-3pm Sat • (831) 655-1823.