Poke restaurant opening 1st Las Vegas Valley location

At the new Poki Bowl, opening Saturday in Henderson, the spelling poki, instead of the usual poke, isn’t just a fanciful variant, a branding flourish. The i is borrowed from sushi and sashimi, a nod to the flavor and freshness of those dishes at their best.

“We wanted to incorporate sushi quality with Hawaiian style. Simple and delicious: That’s our motto,” said Julie Carter. She and her husband, Dominick Bautista Jr., are the franchisees of Poki Bowl. The Henderson shop marks the first Las Vegas Valley location for the small chain with about 27 restaurants across the U.S., most in California.

Carter, a nurse practitioner, and Bautista, who works in banquet service, have been putting together the restaurant for about a year and a half, Carter said. In one sense, the couple might seem unlikely franchisees for a seafood restaurant.

“My husband for years has had a seafood allergy, more toward shellfish. He missed eating seafood. I said, ‘Let’s try poke; it’s not a shellfish,’ and he fell in love with it, and we started going to poke places. We dabbled here and there and tried different places. We just decided to branch out on our own and find a concept we could believe in.”

Build-your-own bowls

Poki Bowl reflects the ongoing popularity of fast-casual poke restaurants, a trend that took off about a decade ago. Before she began considering a poke franchise, Carter said she assumed the dish was only found in fine dining restaurants.

“I didn’t know it was a thing,” she said of the fast-casual version.

The build-your-own menu at Poki Bowl features seven choices for the base, including sushi rice, greens or a mix of the two; a choice of six proteins, including traditional ahi tuna, plus salmon and tofu; onions and cucumber to toss in; and a choice of four sauces, including mild, medium and full spicy.

Ten different topping choices, among them edamame, ginger and masago (smelt roe), and a trio of sriracha, miso and Poki spicy drizzles complete the bowls. And that’s it for the menu.

“We’re not wandering off and doing sushi burritos and overdoing things,” Carter said. “We want to keep the heart of the concept — poke — but with a twist.”

Poki Bowl is at 1470 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 110, Henderson. Visit pokibowl.com.

Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.