‘Fun, casual’ Hawaiian restaurant opens in Fort Lauderdale

The Poke House 666 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale, 754-200-4555, ThePokeHouse.com

Victoria Park Shoppes has welcomed an eatery starring Hawaiian poke – raw, marinated fish salad. It’s the first of five more planned in the state.

“We see an opportunity to bring a fun fast-casual concept to this great city that is booming in the food-and-beverage industry, as well as real estate,” says coowner Memphis Garrett, who hails from SLS Hotels.

Build-your-own bowls (starting at $9.95, small; $13.95, large) offer choice of tofu or three kinds of fish; rice, quinoa or kale and more than 20 sauces and toppings such as chipotle mayo, spicy passion fruit, crispy lotus and smoked trout pearls.

Specialty bowls ($9.95-$10.95, small; $13.95-$14.95, large) include the Punta Hermosa Peru, with tuna or hamachi marinated in aji amarillo emulsion, and the Jumunjin Beach Korea, with tuna marinated in kimchi sauce.

Other options are mini crispy tacos ($9.25), Pipeline Nachos ($10.25) and rotating sake infusions such as mango habanero ($16 for carafe or flight) and a dessert of sake-infused fruit with poke sweet gelée, coconut foam and hazelnuts ($5).

Lunch and dinner are served amid reclaimed wood walls, subway tiles, white-washed flooring, quartz countertops, sea-blue ceiling, surfing posters, parrot wallpaper, a surfboard table and butcher-block tables with taupe leather banquette.

ALISSA DRAGUN/COURTESY The Classic Poke Bowl is one of many renditions at The Poke House, which recently opened in Fort Lauderdale.