HEALTHY FISH DISH TAKES NYC
CAN’T make it to Waikiki for a winter vacation? You can still get a taste of it here in NYC.
Poké (pronounced po-kay) — a traditional Hawaiian dish that has raw chunks of tuna or salmon marinated in soy sauce and sesame oil mixed with chili, green onion and candlenuts — is popping up on city menus. There’s even a new fast-casual restaurant in Chelsea, Wisefish Poké, devoted to it.
“I was always looking for something healthy, light and refreshing that was different from a salad,” says Drew Crane, who left the finance world to open Wisefish.
Meanwhile, chef Todd Mitgang recently added a poké dish made with local porgy to the menu at Crave Fishbar, which has opened an Upper West Side outpost. The dish is also on the menu at Soho fish joint Seamore’s and upscale East Village Haiwaiian spot Noreetuh, both of which opened last year. And Wisefish will soon have competition with the arrival of another poké-devoted restaurant — Sweetcatch Poké — in Manhattan later this year.
“It’s an ideal food if you’re on a diet,” says Sweetcatch chef-owner Deuki Hong. Not that taste won’t matter. “The top priority is, ‘Is it freakin’ delicious?’ ”
says Maffucci, who now has 114,000 followers on her @inspiralized Instagram account and a blog that she says gets 2 million views a month. “I don’t feel like I’m on a diet, I just feel like I’m eating my favorite things and they happen to be healthy.”
The spiralizer hasn’t just helped Maffucci lose weight, it’s also proved a moneymaker. She says she’s quadrupled her salary, thanks to advertising on her blogs, sales of her own branded spiralizer — she’s sold 33,000 units since launching it last March — and partnerships with companies like Houlihan’s chain restaurant, which just launched a spiralized menu.
After the success of its first spiralizer cookbook, Williams-Sonoma is issuing a second one, “Spiralizer 2.0 Cookbook,” due out in June.
“For people who want to get more fruits and vegetables, it’s a slam dunk,” says Amanda Haas, culinary director for Williams-Sonoma. And, she notes it’s not just for making faux fettuccine. “It makes eating salad a little bit more exciting. It’s gorgeous and you want to eat it,” says Haas.
New Yorkers say the gadgets are especially great for city living.
“It’s easier than chopping, especially when you’re short on counterspace,” enthuses Savannah Smith, a 23-year-old who lives in the East Village and works for a real estate startup, adding that she likes using her spiralizer to make interesting salads and slaws.
For those who prefer a more laissez-faire approach, there’s Hungryroot, a local company that makes prepackaged veggie noodles. They’re an increasingly popular item at Fresh Direct, which has seen an average 40 percent growth in sales each week for Hungryroot since it started selling the products in September.
Keri Glassman, a nutritionist based on the Upper East Side, says she tells all of her clients to try veggie noodles.
“You’re replicating the comfortfood meal,” she explains, “but taking out the refined pasta, which we know is just a big bowl of sugar.”