I’m just a Jewish mainlander so take my 2 cents with a grain of kosher salt but this was easily the best poke I’ve had in Southern CA to date. Head and shoulders above the poke shops proliferating these past few years.
I am extremely particular but thought appropriate CV precautions were taken by staff and patrons. Im not ready yet but a few tables were available to sit at outside to eat.
Well preparation and quality are not mutually inclusive. Also, my statement is subjective (as just about everything here is) and also takes context into consideration.
By “real deal” I mean it’s not the typical (mainland) “poke/poki” set-up; for which I coined the term “Chi-poke”, which is fast casual bowls that typically uses about 2 ounces or less of cubed fish; often not seasoned at all and tops it with “stuff”. “Real-deal” in terms of where I’m from would mean more traditional version of poke (i.e. Ala’e and Limu/Shoyu) and there are places here in San Diego that do this.
Then there’s quality; here in San Diego, places like Poke, etc uses lower quality Ahi - though they have had Ahi Limu, etc. But based on my gauge
1 - Color/Translucency
2 - Fat Content
3 - Texture (due in part to fat content)
4 - Cut (i.e. too much “sugi” - connective tissue/“Chi-ai” - the blood line/blood saturated meat)
5 - Whether the fish looks like it’s been treated to preserve (here in San Diego, you can treat fish with carbon monoxide to preserve color and prevent oxidation)
That said - even places “back home”, even many of those I grew up getting poke from - like Tamashiro Market and Young’s Fishmarket sometimes use fish that I deem lesser quality. And though Poke, etc serves up traditionally prepared poke - I didn’t like the quality of the fish on some visits.
I get it. There are maybe 8 ‘poke’ places near me in South OC. Every one of them serves quite generous portions of fish but all of the fish is unseasoned with sauces added as you order. ‘Stuff’ varies by place and I lean towards favoring where I can get good seaweed salad. If I recall correctly though, Kawamata Seafood (in San Clemente) serves your ‘real deal’ fish. A few supermarkets sell seasoned poke from their seafood counters but it usually looks like it’s been sitting half the day.
I like Kawamata better than most of the other poke places I’ve tried because their fish is of decent quality but it is the same model as what Kirk calls the “chi-poke” places, meaning not the poke you’d find in Hawaii. Still good though.
