When you head over to Chipotle, it’s a streamlined process where you can order a burrito, a bowl or nachos all with the same toppings. What if I told you, there’s a brand new restaurant in Wichita that uses those same concepts in the world of poke?
It’s true! It’s PokeMix which opens in Wichita on Friday, May 19th at 11am!
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8918 W 21st St N
Wichita, KS 67205
817-965-6565
Open Daily from 11am – 9pm
Cash/Card accepted
Facebook
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| Let it begin! |
PokeMix is in the former Orange Leaf spot at 21st and Tyler. They are a locally owned restaurant; not some franchise hoping to cash in on the next Chipotle-like concept. One of the owners you may be familiar with. He’s also the owner of Krispy’s Fried Chicken & Seafood.
For those unfamiliar with poke, it is a Hawaiian cuisine served with raw fish and most popular in salad type bowls. If you’ve never had it before, it’s amazing and something everybody should try once.
Let us walk you through the process at PokeMix.
You walk down an aisle and choose whatever you would like. Let’s begin…..
The first choice you must make is your base. You can choose a bowl, a burrito or have it placed over Wonton chips. In your burrito or bowl, the two options are white rice and brown rice. As you are choosing your base, you have to decide between a regular or large. A regular costs $8.99 and a large is $10.49 regardless of what base you order.
After that you choose your protein. Right now the three options are Ahi Tuna, Salmon or Smoked Salmon. There are plans to add future proteins but for now, you start off with three classics. You also have the option to mix it up. If you want to add avocado it’s an extra dollar, while extra protein is an extra two dollars.
If you don’t know what you want, they have a list of Specialty Mixes to choose from like the Aloha, Ono, Ohana, Mahalo and Sunset. I’ll have a picture of what’s in those Specialty Mixes at the end of this blog.
Next are the Mix-ins. There’s red onions, green onions, sesame seeds, grated ginger, cucumbers, Thai peppers, garlic, fried onions, jalapenos, and nori.
You also choose your sauce: PokeMix sauce, Japanese mayo, ponzu, spicy Japanese mayo, spicy shoyu, or eel sunset.
It doesn’t end there! You still have the toppings. There’s masago, kim-chi (from Grace Market….excellent choice!), crab salad, avocado, pickled ginger, seaweed salad, corn, wasabi, furikake, edamame, tempura pearls and hot Cheetos. (Yes, you read that right, hot cheetos)
Once you’re finished, you pay for your meal, grab a drink and find a table.
I should note the tables and much of the woodwork at PokeMix was done locally by a gentleman who does it as a hobby. I was quite surprised by the news. The gentleman who did it all by himself did a fantastic job.
Back to the food though. Here is what the end product looks like. Let’s begin with the most famous of the three options: the bowl:
Don’t let the regular size bowl deceive you. It IS filling! I had the large bowl and my brother had the regular bowl. He was more than satisfied with the regular bowl; anything bigger would have been too much. With the large bowl, I was more: “Must….. slowly….. finish…… this…. but…… can’t……”
While the bowl is very convenient and cleaner to eat, you can’t go wrong with the burrito option either.
While neither my brother or I had the room for a poke burrito, a nearby patron told us the burrito was her favorite. As she put it, “This is the only way to eat poke. Keep all the flavors together.”
As every As Seen on TV commercial…BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!
We cannot forget about the Wonton nachos.
It’s Wonton nachos topped with your favorite proteins and mix-ins. If you order it there, it’s spread out on a plate for easier eating. I would highly recommend getting this for dine-in. And order it with crab salad. You can thank me later.
If you want another taste of Hawaii, you can also try out their Spam Musubi for $2.50. You’ll want to split it with someone otherwise there won’t be any room for poke.
That is PokeMix. It’s quick, convenient, and delicious poke served how you want. It’s high quality poke served by some quality people. The food portion sizes are generous and bigger than it appears.
Hopefully price doesn’t turn people away. If you look at any type of item with fresh fish like sushi, you’re already paying roughly $10. Plus at PokeMix, the add-ins like seaweed salad and local Kimchi are generously given in your bowl or roll. One thing we are certain of, you get your money’s worth.
This is already a winner in my book and a place I’ll check out again on my other visits out to west Wichita. It’s a fresh take on a food gaining popularity in the Midwest. PokeMix chose to do something that really sets themselves apart from other restaurants in town.
If you stop by, please let me know your thoughts. I’d love to read them. Here’s their menu:
Happy Dining,
Eddy
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You should be ashamed. This is NOT HAWAIIAN. Using our language and our culture to pervert it into this junk.
This is in no shape or form TRUE POKE! This is NOT how REAL, TRADITIONAL HAWAIIAN POKE is made or SERVED. While I get that anyone can put their own original spin on things..call it something ELSE..dont STEAL a culture's tradition and turn it to shit. This restaurant is a joke and typical of what a HAOLE who has NO knowledge of someone's culture will do.
So sad that this what mainland people are going to think this what we serve. If your going to open up a poke shop then try to keep it as is. This just show when people come to visit the island and goes back home and try's to copy what local Hawaii is. Sorry Hawaii so Hawaii no one can remake or replace what we have.