In Bishop Museum there is an amazing early photo of a Hawaiian man standing in shallow water and biting into a whole fish.
What a nice profile - it (along with Alaska weather) puts me in the mindset to hop a flight to Honolulu. It would be nice to at least mention the issue of sustainability, particularly if some of these varieties rate particularly well or poorly on that metric.
Spot on! I miss Hawaii so much I could cry. Spicy ahi from Foodland for a quick beach lunch. And Ahi Assasins whenever we could get there. Sure NYC has its charms, but the poke has way too much ‘stuff’. Sometimes simpler is just better.
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I lived 10 miles outside Hilo in the early '90's before Puna began developing. There was one supermarket. I'd watch as some guy carried on his back a just-caught Ahi into the market's rear.
Their Ahi poke marinated in Korean hot sauce was 'da kine.'
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I adore Hawaii and Poke but, to be "Debbie Downer", why no mention of the dangers of over fishing our oceans!?
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Poke sounds like my idea of heaven! I love fish and rice already(Heart)(Heart) and (HEART)
I like the ahi limu from Fort Ruger Market in the Diamond Head area. They also have good pulehu tako, boiled peanuts, Hawaiian plate, and other good stuff to eat with poke. It's great to go there after you've given up trying to visit the KCC farmer's market because it's too crowded.
Poke and rice is outstanding. The salt content is the only thing that keeps me from eating every day.
Idea for one of your food section articles... please please give us some authentic poke recipes!
I've been making poke from Kenji López -Alt's recipe, with some LA style sides and additions. It's a revelation to read about all these unique and well thought out variations. Please share some recipes!
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@ Marci and all Poke enthusiasts
If Poke is such a great thing, why is it not spread all over the Continental US?
Admittedly, eating raw fish is like eating raw meat: one must have a taste and stomach for it.
I had friends visit. They had never tasted anything so delicious. That is, until they realized it was uncooked fish.
I think most people of Hawaii would have been just fine... happier, even... if it never had become a food craze on the mainland.
I have never before seen bonefish, a very popular flyfishing sportfish, used in a recipe. I am told there is good reason for that. Ditto the mackerel tuna, which I do believe is a Pacific cousin of the east coast's bloody false albacore, another sportfish that few would bother to prepare.
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You made me miss Hawaii, brah. Great write-up and will stop by all next time we go home.
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I was hoping there would be some recipes shared at the end. Please share a few of their secret recipes (or not so secret).
WHAT?!? No Rutger Market???? Jess kidding- Great article Ligaya! I know what I'm going to eat for lunch today!
Yesss Ahi Assassins! I went there last March. We wanted to go back to get more but ran out of time. I agree with your sentiment about New York poke. Glad you recommended one in midtown will def check it out.
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All excellent local spots. If you are looking for local food on the East Coast, give my cousin’s place a try. Poi Dog Philly 100 1/2 Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103
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Very good article... another good spot is Tanioka's in Waipahu. They also make Aku, alae and more. I'll drive 20 minutes out of my way for a fix... but not after 2PM on a weekday. ;)
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Glad to see The NY Times is no longer inaccurately using an accent mark above the e. Will accurate use of the ʻokina come next - as in Hawaiʻi?
Also, I'd like to start the Sustainable Poke Packaging Project, a community effort to encourage poke shops to serve poke in biodegradable containers. Not cool that we take fish from the ocean and give back plastic and styrofoam. I am on O'ahu and would like to recruit people in key neighborhoods here as well as neighbor islands. Volunteers would simply encourage local shops to make the change. I'll start a social media page soon for the Sustainable Poke Packaging Project.
One last thought is that The NYT could start working more with journalists who actually live here. So many of your articles on Hawai'i involve flying reporters out here from the mainland. Why? We have talent here. Do you just not know how to find it?
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I live in Maine and the Times flies reporters in here too, and we have plenty of native talent.
Like your ideas and notes on language a lot. But Ligaya is from Hawaii, so I think that merits a lot more than just flying out a random reporter with no connections. This is her home. and she's one of the best contemporary food writers, in my opinion. the NYT does have to prioritize its existing staff.
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i appreciate that the mainland is loving poke, even if it's different than Hawaiian style, at least they're enjoying poke.
I've been missing poke since i moved to the mainland. I dream of poke. and always get some when i go home.
But now that Poke is popular, there's a Poke shop 1/2 hour away. and i'm going there tomorrow. It's different, but they're trying.
btw the Founder of Foodland married a local grocer's daughter. And his name was Maurice Sullivan.
Ah, poke, the new food trend on the mainland. I always love reading about home.
Poke. I love it, but I only eat it in Hawaii (where I was born and raised, but not where I live now) from the organizations that catch the fish in the island waters. I guess that's the priority for me, where the fish comes from, more than how it's prepared or stored.
Thank you for the article - I enjoyed it very much. There's no place like Hawaii.
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I would like to start by say this is one of the best articles that I have seen so far and liked how you did research.
My only “but” would be that you don’t mention Aku. As someone born in ‘75 and growing up in the 80’s he grew up eating Aku Poke and Ahi (which was highly expensive st the time) was mainly reserved for sashimi for special occasions like New Year’s, Weddings, etc (unless you were lucky to know a guy with a boat, or just knew a guy).
In regards to poke nowadays as mentioned poke is not just limited to fish so other articles (or people) drive me crazy when they only mention one recommendation. Most places have one or two things that they are known to be best at and while the rest is good or great it’s not the best. Like one place not mentioned is Young’s Fish Market which makes a simple one with limu kohu and inamona. Treaty Treats just closed in December but was one (if not only) place that sold Aku Palu on Oahu. You kinda see what I am getting at?
But overall great article and happy eating!
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brah, we need more aku poke in our lives!
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Not a poke eater myself, so who knows, but there is something a little odd about prefacing the piece with complaints about how mainlanders are adding their own touches, then launch into a celebration about how poke in Hawaii is really a melding of cultures and everywhere you get it is different. And then there's a complaint about thick sauces, followed shortly by a celebration of poke slathered in mayo. I'm sure I'm missing some thread here, but what is it? I would have loved a clearer statement about what traits tend to be common among all Hawaiian poke, and a clearer statement about how poke (or much of it) on the mainland is missing one or more of those traits.
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Nope, you are not missing anything you are spot on. I cringe when I hear statements like this about Mexican food.
If you ever had sashimi or poke in a place like Hawaii than had it on the mainland (in a place like Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Chicago etc)... it won't take you very long to notice the difference. You can't really explain it or write about it. I mean, you could try, but it's nothing like comparing it to what your taste buds experience.
I can sort of understand where the writer is coming from having experienced what he's trying to write about. It's like eating sushi from a grocery store. or a hamburger from a Chinese food joint. You should just stick to what you're good at rather than accommodate trends and fads. That's all this is. That's why it's popping up in places like New York and Los Angeles. You're rarely going to find quality when people are putting out products to appease trendy fad folks.
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As a Hawaiian transplant living on the mainland for 15 years now, I have to say this was a beautiful article. The nostalgia nearly caught my breath while reading, thank you.
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I well remember the good food at Ono Hawaiian Food, a small place, a hole in the wall, near the Honolulu Zoo and the Diamond Head area. Great traditional Hawaiian food was served. They were open only a few hours at night. All seemed very local.
Does anyone remember this pace and is it still there?
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After 57 years in business, the owners closed the place late last summer. New owners--trained by the original restaurant's chefs, and with the blessings of one of the original founders--reopened Ono after a couple of months of renovations and tweaking of the menu. All of the popular dishes are still available!
still there
Ono's closed on Aug. 24, 2017. My brother and family had one last meal there.
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15 years ago in Kauai my husband and i stopped at a grocery store to pick up some snacks for the beach. we saw the poke in the case and l decided to try a few types. we've been hooked ever since. i've made it a number of times, but i rarely see it on the menus around here.
The definition of the word kamaaina is not quite correct. It is not 'local' but rather
long time resident.
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Actually, Kamaʻaina means “of the land”. A “local” in Hawaii is someone who was born and raised on the islands and are, therefore, Kamaʻaina.
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Superb respectful coverage. Mahalo nui loa!
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NYT sadly should offer a refresher course to its reporters on how to construct an article. Twenty-eight paragraphs on the Hawaiian native dish "poke" (with which I would guess the vast majority of main-landers are unfamiliar) and not one word on how to pronounce it. It's po-KAY, or sometimes the two syllables are evenly stressed po-kay, but never the one syllable "poke."
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Agreed.
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I also found it strange that, despite using it multiple times, the author failed to define the word "limu," which is an exclusively Hawaiian term.
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Every native Hawaiian I ever met pronounces it as " pokie ".
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Punahou grad Ligaya Mishan hit a home run with her spot-on article on Hawaii's poke. She inadvertently left off an excellent source of fresh poke - Nico's at Pier 38. Nico Chaize's restaurant and fish market is but 100 yards from the fish auction house where he buys 1500 pounds of fish a day for his place where you can't get a seat if you arrive after 11 AM. Tamashiro is where I also find ono poke. A fun ingredient of some poke is the addition of Tobiko, flying fish roe - tiny little eggs colored bright orange visible on the second photo of the spicy poke on the right.
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Love Nico's! I'll order a bowl from the market and take it down to one of the round tables next to the water to enjoy.
I was going to add Nico's. Thank you.
Great article, and looking forward to exploring many of these during our first visit to the islands, hopefully this year. When you return to LA, check out Jus' Poke on PCH in Redondo Beach and hope it redeems your opinion on finding a good poke haunt in the LA area. We think they do it justice!
Was in Maui in June 2016, only the grocery store had poke, and it was far from fresh. There was better poke in Venice Beach, LA, Ca.
You went to the wrong spots.
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The best poke on Maui is at the Foodland in Lahaina. It is a little hard to find and hidden away half way between the main street and the highway.
Poke? Good stuff. But I need fresh lard for bischochitos, brah!
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Eskimo Candy, Kihei, Maui. Tako poke to die for; sells out fast.
fun video my friend made, you can spot a few of the poke restaurants listed here too also Alicia's, Nico's, and Paina Cafe https://www.facebook.com/carlo.m.ang.3/posts/10102516417650897
How NY Times for the author to throw in a detail that adds nothing to the article except to brag the author went to Punahou school, an elite private school. Nice job establishing your status in an article about poke.
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in Hawaii, "what skoo you wen go" is an identifier. ligaya gets it when I say I went iolani but grew up Kalihi (pinay here, too). it's okay if you don't get it.
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Punahou...why does that sound so familiar? Oh yeah...isn't our immediate past president also an alum of this elite private school???
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I do not support poke. Never have; never will. Too disgusting.
Sorry!
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Takes me back...Tamura's!!
Great article. I felt the same exact way last year and made a video about my trip to Hawaii just for good poke: https://www.facebook.com/carlo.m.ang.3/posts/10102516417650897
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Also recommend Highway Inn.
What happened to the accent acute at the end of poké? Without it people won't pronounce the word correctly.
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There are no French accents in Hawaiian.
https://firstwefeast.com/eat/2016/03/hawaii-chef-has-problems-with-poke-...
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The language is Hawaiian and not English and not French. Each vowel gets pronounced.
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There was never an accent on the word poke. Our restaurant introduced this in our logo to help people pronounce the name. Since then people have been using it. Editorially, we don't use the accent in print.. only our logo.
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Nojo Ramen on Franklin Street in San Francisco serves a delicious poke bowl, the fish set atop wonderful rice.
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Ligaya, you know your stuff. Great article. Just spent about a month in the Islands and could not get enough poke. Even though my homemade doesn't match the real deal at least it allows me to remember and make believe.
Is it possible to eat too much? :-)
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Not to be picky, but poke in plastic containers might not be such a good idea. perhaps glass mason jars would be better for storage and serving?
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Especially when you are surrounded by ocean!
Nobody "stores" poke. It doesn't last long enough to be stored. It goes from a tub into the plastic for sale. If you're lucky, it makes it way to somebody's house for eating. Otherwise it is consumed along the way.
Nobody "serves" poke from the plastic -- it is poured into a bowl or onto rice. Unless, of course, it is consumed along the way to somebody's house.
Glass would be a waste.
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Brah. I am so homesick now! Missing the people and love of place and culture. Da kine made me more human. Mahalo nui loa.
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Annmarie thinks the same thing!
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If you fly into Maui and need something substantial to overcome airline food, stop at Tamura’s branch on Dairy Road in Kahului- it’s about one mile from the rental car center and on the way to the resorts. Don’t let the liquor-store digs fool you - it’s a local institution. Personally, I prefer the Tamura’s Special, or the Spicy Ahi. Order a “bowl” and don't forget the chopsticks. Alternatively, you can get something a bit more refined at Top Chef finalist Sheldon Simeon’s Tin Roof restaurant - also on Dairy road (lunch only). Both are take out only. Maui no ka ‘oi.
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It seems unlikely for Ms. Sakuma to have fled a war in Saigon only 23 years ago? What happened in Vietnam in 1995?
Read the sentence you are asking about very carefully. It could be more clearly ordered by moving the initial phrase, "23 years ago" to immediately before the word "began". Then you see 2 separate facts. They fled Vietnam "during the war" . 23 years ago she began selling shoyu ahi poke. There are other ways that this sprawing sentence with its many commas could be improved.
I wonder if this slopppiness is another result of the cut back in copy editing at the NYT.
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She fled Vietnam at some undisclosed time. She opened her first poke place 23 years ago. Pretty bad sentence for sure.
Forest...Trees - really? Other than technical details any comment on the cultural aspects of the piece? Foe one, I learned a lot about the local nuance and the fact that poke has been morphed based on the culture and access to ingredients over time. Kinda like chicken soup - many approaches, but mom's is always special and brings back memories. So too poke - appreciate your baseline and savor the variation.
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Thanks. Born in Hawaii, living in Colorado. Read the article for the memories, comparing places and thinking about places around Oahu and where I got really good, fresh poke (Farmer's Market across Ala Moana, and Chinatown fish markets - mostly gone now).
Just a comment about the great-grandfather story, about 1948. There was no Miller Lite at that time. All I remember was Primo Beer.
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What a great article on the history of poké.
And where to find it now. Wish you had also included Da Poké Shack on the Big Island in Kailua-Kona. Best poké ever there! According to me and Yelp!
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A friend of my from Hawaii who now lives in Orange County, CA., knows I love fish of any kind and made me her poke recipe with Pacific ling cod and ahi. It was amazing. Unfortunate but I have seen variations of poke in seafood restaurants on the East Coast I wouldn't touch. Perhaps some chef near me will see/read this enlightening article.
Hawaii is a funny place for food. Things are generally tasty, but for me personally, only a few dishes really stand out for me: pretty much anything from Liliha or Helena's, locomoco for sure, malasadas. There is a trend toward comfort food whose pull is undeniable especially if you have grown up with it.
The first time I went to Hawaii and I tried poke, I was amazed. The freshness of the fish is important, but its about the deep flavoring that comes after hours (days perhaps?) of marinating in a combination of simple, unfussy ingredients: shoyu, sesame oil, onion, mayo, yuzu, tobiko...depending on the recipe.
Poke is usually sold in places that look like delis with 5-10 types of poke in a refrigerated case. If you go to a poke place and order in, it's poke over rice with maybe some furikake. You might get a something on the side: crab salad, kimchee cucumbers, but never the myriad of add-ons you find in mainland poke.
I was back in Hawaii last week, and tried a few places that I had not been to before, Da Poke Shack in Kona (overrated), Suisan in Hilo (very good), Kyung's Seafood (ok, but galbi is amazing), Makai Plantation at the airport (out of desperation, but actually it was pretty good!). Honestly, the best of the trip was the poke I got at the Foodland in Kaimuki. It was beautifully flavored, subtle, and simple.
When somebody in New York opens a deli-style poke place with the quality of the poke found at Foodland, I'll be the first in line.
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Pa'ina Cafe in Honolulu near the Ala Moana center was my choice recently. Brown rice, and a choice of a number of different poke. Heavenly.
Fresh Catch of Waialae should absolutely be on this list. Freshest fish and the guys who work there are awesome.
My mouth is watering! My husband and I spent 10 days on Oahu for our 25th anniversary last year and had the great fortune to have incredible poke on our first night there. It was our first time eating it and we were hooked. Thank you for giving a great history of this dish and for your insight into the cultural tradition. It will remain the quintitincial Hawaiian cuisine in my mind. What a special part of the world. Aloha.
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My husband and I became poke fans in Kauai. We happened on to the fish market at the Blue Dolphin right after a catch. The poke was still warm (tuna are one of the few warm-blooded fish) b/c the fish were so fresh. We had the plain, which leaned Japanese/soy and the spicy, which was not mayonnaise based. We loved it so much that we buy sashimi grade tuna every time it is available and make poke at home. We have not found a grocery or restaurant that lives up to that memory.
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Thank you for this piece!
Full disclosure, My wife and I are the owners of Poke-Poke, the spot credited with starting the poke shop trend on the mainland. We intended to provide a balance of traditional Hawaiian poke on a made-to-order basis (pre-making and marinating poke was impossible due to waste cost). We agree and have been really bummed out over the chipotle-ization of poke, which is a beautiful part of Hawaiian life, lucky for Hawaiians. We've seen the public rejecting this as some chains are already closing.. hopefully we'll see a strong push in more traditional style poke in the the immediate future. P.S. Kaimuki Tamura's is what I ate almost daily when i lived on Oahu.. that spot is incredible. We got a lot of inspiration from there.
MAHALO!
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Thanks for this article explaining poke. There is a poke restaurant near me and I thought the fish was raw but wasn't sure.
Oh, we love going to Foodland to pick up poke dinner when we're in Hawaii. Nice to know about Tamura's, for its branches on other islands. (And now I'm hungry.)
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That's the main difference I've noticed - in Hawaii it's pre-made, pre-seasoned and scooped, not this whole as mentioned salad bar method. I really wish there would be an Uemeke's or Foodland style poke place here in the city. It would also be nice to be able to leave with an amount that costs less than 13.50, which seems to be the least you can spend for a serving
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Would also be nice to know which fish is sustainable and have those promoted. Too many mainland poke chains that don't think about that add to the stress on the big tuna populations that can't grow fast enough to replenish.
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Agreed, part of the beauty of poke is that the marinade sits with the fish. If the sauce is just poured over, I'd call that fish salad, not poke.
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Actually in Hawaii it can go either way “Premade” or “Made to Order”. While Tamashiro’s might look premade since it is in a display it is made in batches and they constantly need to make more through out the day.