A Taste of Hawaii: Poke Shack on Melrose

It’s always been a dream of mine to visit Hawaii. While that hasn’t happened yet, living in LA has given me the opportunity to get a taste of Hawaiian cuisine; which introduced me to my new found love poke!Poke is quickly rising as one of the hottest food trends of 2017, and while it has been a staple in Hawaii, poke restaurants are now starting to pop up all over the west coast and even some on the east coast. I first got to try some at the Poke Shack on Melrose, and it was love at first bite!

If you’ve made it this far, you’re probably wondering what the heck poke even is? Well.. I like to call it “sushi in a bowl”. Think of all the ingredients you would normally get in a sushi roll; only this time instead of being wrapped in a roll it sits on a base (usually rice or kale/lettuce). It’s usually raw ahi tuna or salmon marinated in shoyu.  In Hawaii, the poke is marinated overnight which deepens the red color of  the ahi tuna.At the Poke Shack, they believe in serving real food with a focus on local and organic ingredients. Their fish is delivered and cut fresh every morning, and they use a special technique which allows them to marinate the fish right in front of the customer!

*Sidenote: I can’t emphasize the importance of having FRESH fish in poke. Why? because it’s raw and you want to make sure you are eating the highest quality fish. If you walk into a poke restaurant and it smells “fishy” RUN… your stomach will thank me later!

When ordering a poke bowl, you can customize it yourself with over 20 of their fresh vegetable toppings. They come in two sizes, Lil Daddy- 1 scoop of fish and Big Daddy- 2 scoops of fish. You can also make it Hawaiin style by skipping out on the base, and making it all fish!

They also offer made to order smoothies (free of sugar and syrups), Acai bowls, real fruit sorbets, Hawaiian kettle chips, kona chocolate bars, and over 20 Hawaiian tropical drinks, giving you the truly authentic Hawaii style. 

 If you haven’t had the chance to try poke, and can’t make it all the way to Hawaii then this is the next best thing! They’ve got two locations for you to catch them at, Melrose and Venice Beach!

Address: 7257 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles CA 90046

Hours: Sunday-Saturday 12:00 PM- 12:00 AM

Phone: (323) 266-9259