Last year, a friend told me about an amazing invention: Sushirrito. It was a popular chain in San Francisco that served giant hand-held sushi rolls – sort of a sushi burrito, if you will, with seaweed wraps instead of tortilla. “What is this magical sorcery?!” I wanted it immediately. And when I tried it a few months later, I loved it.
The only problem was that while this crazy creation was available on what felt like every street corner in downtown San Francisco, there was no way for me to get it once I got back home. Three hours is a long way to drive for take out, guys – no matter how delicious.
Well, that has changed a couple weeks ago with the opening of a new local restaurant called Pokiland. Not only do they do the sushi burrito (and other great food) – they do it BETTER than Sushirrito.
To backtrack a little, Pokiland does not actually revolve around the Pokirrito that I am already obsessed with; it starts with the concept of the Hawaiian poke dish (pronounced like Pokemon, lol). Poke traditionally consists of different cubed raw fish, veggies, sauces and other ingredients. Pokiland calls it a fresh sushi bowl.
At Pokiland, the beauty of it is you can pick every single thing that goes into your bowl. The space at Champlain and Perrin used to be a Quizno’s, so it’s literally like the sushi version of a sandwich shop, where you can go down the line and tell the servers exactly how you want your creation to be.
A poke bowl comes in small, medium or large (two, three or five scoops of mix and match fish), with a choice of brown or white rice. Then you add starters like crab, onion and avocado; proteins like tuna, salmon and yellowtail (there is shrimp and scallops for those of us who don’t like raw); sauces like spicy mayo and garlic miso; and toppings like ginger and wasabi.
Since I don’t like to eat raw fish much, I dragged along a friend to try a bowl for me. She got scallops and raw tuna and said both tasted fresh and delicious.
I ordered a couple of things: an Unagi bowl (which is listed as a side but is in fact a pretty big bowl with predetermined ingredients) and the magical Pokirrito. The reason why I said that Pokirritos are better than Sushirritos is because you can actually pick all of your ingredients, whereas Sushirrito only had a specific number of menu items to choose from. This is exciting because you basically could have a different Pokiland experience every single time you go. It can also be perilous depending on how adventurous you want to get!
I, for example, decided that no matter how much I love avocado, pairing it with squid sounded kind of questionable. But my smoked squid, seaweed salad, crab, masago and spicy mayo Pokirritto was out of this world. Next time I may mix it up by trying the citrus ponzu sauce!
You can also mix things up by using nachos or a salad as your base for you ingredients. The idea of nachos definitely intrigues me, so that will be happening soon!
In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I highly, highly encourage you to head to Pokiland as soon as you can! Just as a note, it’s already getting crowded and seating is limited, so prepare yourself. It’s worth it! The restaurant is located on the southwest corner of Champlain and Perrin in Fresno. You can find out more information on their Facebook and Instagram pages.
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