You may not know this about me, but I have a bit of an obsession with ahi tuna poke. It all started with one little recipe that a restaurant share with us back in 2011. I cannot count the number of times that I have made it or the number of times that I have been mad disappointed by a text from my Mister saying that Costco didn’t have any fresh tuna.
I have found a few places that help me to feed my fix and I am tickled to say that there is a new spot coming to South Scottsdale in April, and it sounds like I might be blaming them for added mileage on my car.
Ahipoki Bowl is a pretty new concept restaurant with their flagship store opening in February in Temple City, California. So what’s the big deal with this concept, aside from just my own personal excitement? If you’re not familiar, poke is a Hawaiian based dish that features diced sushi grade fish like ahi tuna and salmon. Typically additions to the fresh fish are vegetables and sometimes exotic toppings like daikon and masago all over a bed of rice. At Ahipoke Bowl, you will be able to build your own bowl but selecting each and every item that gos into your personal creation.
The process is simple. First, you pick your base; white or brown rie, an organic salad or half and half. Next, you’ll pick your side; avocado, crab meat or onion. Perhaps the most important part is the protein. You can choose from tuna, spicy tuna, salmon, albacore, shrimp, octopus, yellowtail or scallop. Obviously, you’ll need a sauce to get things working together; choose from their house sauce, house spicy, spicy creamy or sweet citrus sauce. Then the toppings come into play. You can choose from masago, ginger, wasabi, fresh cucumber, seaweed salad, roasted seaweed, jicama, daikon sprout, sesame seed mixed, crispy onion, green onion, chili flakes or everything!
The Arizona location has local businessmen Michael Zimmerman and Jason Jantzen joining in the restaurants partnership. Zimmerman owns Republic West Home, a twenty-year-old construction company specializing in remodeling and restaurant build-outs. Jantzen is also owner of Phoenix Marketing Associates, a top marketing and PR firm in Scottsdale with a long track record of successes in marketing within the restaurant and hospitality industries.
“Being the first quick serve poke restaurant in Arizona really gives us a leg up on other brands competing for market share within this space,” explained Michael Zimmerman, Managing Partner of Ahipoki Bowl, Arizona. “We’ve researched several healthy concepts and without a doubt, poke in the Scottsdale market makes the most sense—it blends perfectly with consumers’ desires for a fast and healthy meal while satisfying their cravings for something other than a burrito or a burger.”
I can’t wait to check out the first Arizona location and will have my fingers crossed that one of the ten to fifteen planned Arizona restaurants will be a little closer to my home.