Poke used to be a quirky fish dish we’d eat on family trips to Hawaii. It was like plate lunch, or Loco Moco, or any of the other regional dishes that told culinary travelers they had gone someplace new and wondrous.
You also could find it at the sundry Hawaiian restaurants in the South Bay. And then, at seafood restaurants of all sorts — especially those that also offered ceviche.
As nigiri sushi began to wane as the dish of the moment, over-the-top sushi rolls turned into convoluted edible events, packed with avocado and tempura and, yes, cream cheese — poke was a very tasty alternative — sashimi with zip, fish moved to the next generation of flavors.
And it went from mini-mall Hawaiian restaurants to more upscale Pan Asian/Mega Fusion destinations. Which is not how it is (mostly) in Hawaii, where poke is a dish often purchased from counters in supermarkets. Come Christmas, there are lines stretching out the front door. Poke is an obsessive object of desire.
Which brings me to Poke & More on Carson Street, where the selection of pokes in the front counter is probably as good as any in town. I counted salmon “poke’d” 10 ways. And tuna “poke’d” 14 ways. We’re told that “poke is Hawaiian for ‘to slice or cut crosswise into pieces’ … diced raw fish served either as an appetizer or a main course … one of the main dishes of native Hawaiian cuisine.”
We further learn that the traditional fish to use is aku (oily tuna) and he’e (octopus). And that hugely popular ahi poke is made with yellowfin.
There are several varieties of tuna and salmon available at Poke & More in Long Beach. (Photo by Merrill Shindler)
Poke & More on Carson Street in Long Beach is a casual restaurant serving salmon and tuna “poke’d” a variety of ways for bowls and burritos — plus more, including a half-dozen loco moco breakfasts. (Photo by Merrill Shindler)
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At Poke & More, you begin at the poke counter, considering the virtues of the many poke options — and the many ways of getting the poke from the counter to your mouth. It can definitely take a while. For the pokes are so … tempting. If it’s salmon you crave, do you get it with oyster sauce, or with fresh mango? Sweet and spicy, or with spicy mayo?
If it’s tuna, the options extend to kimchee sauce, awapuhi (wild ginger) sauce, California sauce and crunchy garlic. There’s no option to get all 24 pokes, which would be some sort of definite poke overdose … too much of a good thing.
But you can get three pokes in several of the Poke Bowl Specials (drinks included!). In the three flavors options, you can get a very substantial 12-ounce hit of poke chosen from the tuna or the salmon. Which should be enough poke for just about anyone — that’s three quarters of a pound of fish after all. The menu also mentions the options of crabmeat, shrimp and tofu poke. This is a poke lover’s dream, without having to fly six hours west.
You can have your poke in a burrito as well. But not in a taco. And not in any of the numerous Loco Mocos — there are six options, which is five more than there usually are. There are sundry other dishes that give the “More” in Poke & More its moniker.
There’s chicken and pork katsu. Four teriyakis. Three curries. Sizzling pork and tuna sisig, and Huli Huli chicken leg. But mostly, there’s the perfectly named Loco Moco — the very essence of messy cuisine. It smacks of a very tasty use of leftovers. It was created on the big island of Hawaii, a dish first mixed up for hungry teenagers after school.
The story is that Richard Inouye and his wife Nancy got the idea for the dish from a bunch of teenagers back in 1949, at their Lincoln Grill in Hilo.
The teens were members of something called the Lincoln Wreckers Sports Club. And they wanted something that was cheap, tasty, could be prepared quickly … and wasn’t a sandwich. It was their idea to put a hamburger patty over some white rice, and top it with gravy. They took the name Loco Moco from a Sports Club member named George Okimoto, whose nickname was “Crazy” (“Loco” in Spanish). It rhymed with “moco.” And an iconic Hawaiian dish was born.
At Poke & More it’s made with beef patties, Spam, Spam and beef, pork and beef meatballs, Portuguese sausage and beef, and Spam and meatballs. In a way, the messiness of Loco Moco is the anti-dish of poke. Poke is so clean, and focused on finite flavors. Loco Moco is all over the map.
In Hawaii, it’s fun to laze on the beach. And it’s tasty to fill your lunch plate with flavors. This is an American cuisine like few others. In this case, it’s Loco Poke.
Merrill Shindler is a Los Angeles-based freelance dining critic. Email mreats@aol.com.
Poke & More
- Rating: 2.5 stars
- Address: 2292 Carson St., Long Beach
- Information: 562-988-8488; www.pokeandmore.com
- Cuisine: Poke and more poke, just like the name says, at a counter full of options that you could turn into burritos and plates and bowls. And yes, they’ve got Loco Moco, too.
- When: Dinner, Wednesday through Sunday
- Prices: About $20 per person; no reservations
- On the menu: 5 Poke by the Half Pound ($4.75-$12.75), 2 Regular Poke Burritos ($13.99-$14.49), 5 Jumbo Poke Burritos (up to $21.99), 8 Appetizers (99 cents-$9.99), 5 Small Poke Bowl Specials ($7.75-$15.75), 5 Larger Poke Bowl Specials ($10.25-$22.11), 5 Signature Poke Bowls ($8.49-$16.49), 6 Grilled Meats ($12.49-$15.99), 3 House Specialties ($12.99-$16.49), 13 “Favorite” Specials ($8.49-$14.99), 5 All Day Breakfasts ($7.99-$14.99), 6 Loco Moco Breakfasts ($7.99-$13.49), 5 Combo Plates ($15.99-$19.49)
- Credit cards: MC, V
- What the stars mean: 4 (World class! Worth a trip from anywhere!), 3 (Most excellent, even exceptional. Worth a trip from anywhere in Southern California.), 2 (A good place to go for a meal. Worth a trip from anywhere in the neighborhood.) 1 (If you’re hungry, and it’s nearby, but don’t get stuck in traffic going.) 0 (Honestly, not worth writing about.)
