The Bite: PokéBowl Station in Prospect Heights

PROSPECT HEIGHTS – Restaurants serving poké, a Hawaiian dish consisting of cubes of raw fish served over rice, have been popping up across the city in the last year or so, with one recently opening on Flatbush Avenue on the border of Prospect Heights and Park Slope.

PokéBowl Station debuted at 237 Flatbush (between Dean & Bergen Streets) in a former postal store in late October, serving up poké (pronounced “POH keh”) bowls packed with “healthy, colorful ingredients,” according to the eatery’s website. The shop’s bowls are made with raw fish on rice “piled high with toppings and drizzled with special sauces.”

Three friends frustrated with restaurants “pushing the latest food fads while using tasteless ingredients” founded PokéBowl Station in NYC. They have a second outpost located at 6116 7th Avenue in Sunset Park.

BKLYNER stopped by for lunch last month and was happy to find a fast, healthy, new option in the neighborhood.

Their signature poké bowls come in varieties including salmon, tuna, shrimp, chicken, and combinations of these proteins. Diners select a base of sushi rice, brown rice, or salad, which is then generously topped with large chunks of the fresh fish along with toppings like Kani (crab) salad, seaweed, avocado, edamame, sweet corn, kale, mango, tomatoes, jalapeños, and more.

More particular customers can create their own poké selecting a base (you can make a sushi burrito, if you prefer), protein (you can add one to three), “mixins,” sauce (they have 13 options ranging from sweet, savory, and spicy), toppings, and crunch (including sesame or sunflower seeds, wasabi peas, and rice crackers).

Being a poké newbie, I selected a signature bowl, the Hawaii Sunset ($11.95) with sushi rice. Packed with spicy tuna, tuna, sweet corn, mango, edamame, Kani salad, and wasabi caviar, the bowl was fresh, delicious, and very filling.

PokéBowl Station also serves a selection of bubble teas, fruit green teas, sparkling fruit drinks, and Yakult (a probiotic dairy beverage). The Lychee Sparkling ($3.50) was refreshing, not too sweet, and paired nicely with the meal.

I enjoyed my poké bowl so much, I returned for a second visit shortly after, this time ordering the The Triforce bowl ($12.95). Fortunately, my previous experience was not a fluke as my second poké bowl, teeming with salmon, tuna, yellowtail, seaweed, cucumber, mango, and Kani salad, was just as satisfying as my first.

I am thrilled poké has become popular in the mainland states—Hawaiians have been holding out on us with this simple, healthy, and delicious specialty.

PokéBowl Station
237 Flatbush Avenue