A new quick service restaurant that will offer poke bowls, hibachi, bubble tea and ramen is preparing to open next week in Riverhead.
Poki Poké is opening in Riverhead Centre, the Route 58 shopping center anchored by Home Depot and ShopRite. It’s taking the place of the shuttered Country Rotisserie, which was a quick service barbecue restaurant.
The restaurant will serve poke bowls with protein options including salmon, tuna, eel, chicken, squid and octopus, as well as hibachi dishes, ramen and bubble tea, said owner Andrew Kim, 33, of Selden. Kim, who also opened the original Poki Poké on Route 112 in Coram, said he hopes to be open and serving food sometime next week.
Kim described a poke bowl as a “Hawaiian twist on Japanese food.”
“It originated in Hawaii, and basically the fishermen get the fish and they just marinate it with soy or some kind of dressing, and the concept of eating that is called poke,” Kim said. “In [North America], they combined this concept into a rice bowl. So you can get a rice base, a salad base, a noodle base and you just put these various ingredients on top, add a sauce and mix it together.”
“Think about Chipotle, except it’s more fish oriented,” he said.
Poki Poké in Coram serves primarily poke bowls and bubble tea. Kim, who also owns Miyu Ramen and Hibachi in Selden, said he wanted to expand the Poki Poké menu in Riverhead.
“If everybody likes something different, they each can get something,” Kim said. “If someone likes raw fish, they get poke bowls. They want cooked stuff? They have hibachi. If they want a soup-based noodles, they have ramen.”
The bubble tea, also known as boba, is “very popular” at the Poki Poké in Coram, Kim said. The flavored tea-based drink, which originated in Taiwan, is made using tapioca balls and other toppings.
He said Poki Poké in Coram has many customers that come in multiple times a week because the food has a lot of variety and is affordable.
“It’s a very fast healthy concept. I think it’s not easy to find these concepts throughout Long Island,” Kim said. “There’s a lot of fast food; there’s a lot of healthy food. But there’s not a lot of the mix between when you can come in and you can customize the food the exact way that you like it.”
The survival of local journalism depends on your support.
We are a small family-owned operation. You rely on us to stay informed, and we depend on you to make our work possible. Just a few dollars can help us continue to bring this important service to our community.
Support RiverheadLOCAL today.
