NYC Restaurants

When I think of Hawaii, I think of sun, surf and fun.  Wisefish Poké fits the bill on all of the above.  The space is bright and sunny with one large wooden sharing table down the center with live plants built into it.  The poké, raw fish diced into perfect cubes, conjures up images of the sea, as do some of the names; West Swell, Heat Wave and Hawaii Style.  It's served in bowls in three different sizes - snack, regular and large.   You can also build your own.

We ordered the West Swell with brown rice as the base, but you could just as easily pick mixed greens or zucchini noodles.  It's topped with deep-purple chunks of ahi tuna with tobiko, a bright orange fish roe, on top. The entire dish gets a splash of Wisefish sauce and wasabi avocado cream.  It's a great combo and turned us into poké believers.

The Heat Wave is made with salmon, cucumber and jalapeño, while Hawaii Style also gets the tuna, hijiki (a type of seaweed) and scallions.  Other toppings include Hawaiian sea salt, chili flakes, crunchy onion and toasted sesame seeds.

Wisefish Poke is the brainchild of two friends, Drew Crane and Brian Cowan, who wanted to celebrate this Hawaiian dish.  And it looks like they have succeeded.  Aloha.