In my quest for new retail/food space for sometime in the future, I've
checked out quite a few buildings around the Twin Cities in recent
months. A month or so ago I saw construction going on in one of the
spaces, so drove by recently to discover that a new
eating place was opening....the Poke House and Tea Bar. It's in a
former bakery space on Randolph near Snelling.
Time to check it out.
Poke Bowls are the newest thing since sushi. Here, you can get raw or
cooked protein bowls...such as salmon, tuna, yum yum shrimp and more
fish and seafood poke bowls, plus a veggie option and a chicken
option. I have to be fairly careful in these places
since I have a seafood allergy...but I specified that veggie was all I
could have (John was having the chicken), so I rolled the dice. They
offer a number of milk teas, real fruit smoothies, creamy slushies, and
flavored teas. In the main courses, you
can get a poke bowl or a sushi burrito.
Poke House and Tea Bar - The Layout
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| Poke House Seating |
This is not a big space...it was bigger when I looked at it, but they've
added all of their equipment, coolers, ingredients stations and a
counter in the front. When it was the bakery, all the prep was done in
the back, so there were bakery display cases
and a counter, with quite a bit more room for seating. So,
if you
want to dine in, go when it's not busy...there are only 2 tables and a
long window counter. The good part...the window counter has heat
running along the bottom on the windows, so not nearly
as cold as everywhere else we've been this week!
Poke House - What we ate
There were only a couple of customers in the place, so we were able to
order quickly and the food arrived in just a few minutes. Since John
was going for the Chicken Run bowl, I went with the veggie as a sushi
burrito. The bowl arrived with cubed chicken,
shredded carrots, cucumbers, sesame seeds, shredded lettuce and 'spicy'
mayo over a good sized quantity of sushi rice. The veggie sushi
burrito was sushi rice in a seaweed wrapper with carrots, sweet corn,
greens, edamame, and a bit of avocado. There was
some soy sauce flavor in a few of the bites.
Let's dig in to the particulars of the meal.
First, we were surprised that the bowls and burritos were served in
covered 7" microwave bowls. The amount of waste generated is
incredible! For example, my burrito was wrapped in aluminum foil, then
cut in half...the two halves were delivered to our table
in the same covered microwave bowl---which was immaculate on the
inside, so I brought it home to reuse it so I wouldn't feel such guilt
before I recycled it. I could see serving the bowl like this if it was a
hot item that was steamy and had to handle the
heat. Not the case with a poke bowl. I had a supply of these bowls
at Marianne's for the purpose of sending hot chana or some other warm
dish on a catering order or to go. They hold in some heat, are pretty
well sealed, and could be used to re-heat your
lunch if you get to your destination and your lunch had to survive this
week's MN weather. But it just seems like overkill on the packaging
for a poke bowl.
The Food
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| Veggie Wrap |
Okay, enough about that. Let's get to the food. I thought my veggie
sushi wrap was pretty good. Now, if you haven't eaten a whole seaweed
sheet, be aware that the aroma of the ocean is going to hit you before
every bite. I sometimes used seaweed products
in some of the soups and stews at Marianne's....but I always used a
relatively small quantity, julienned.....because this stuff does tend to
make your aware of its presence in your food in a big way!
Poke House Veggie Wrap
The burrito
was well wrapped and not at all messy,
with
a nice layer of sushi rice throughout. The seaweed made itself at home
on the table....John, in his Norwegian way, surveyed the table trying
to figure out the source of the 'aroma of the ocean' [John: "Sorry. My Norwegian genes have not been on the ocean since 1911."]. Inside the layer
of rice,the veggies were scattered about inside
the wrap, so there was some variety in each bite. The amount of
edamame and corn was fine, but I would have enjoyed more carrot and more
than the very thinly sliced avocado contained in the middle. But, as a
lunch, it would have been a fine option. It
was not quite enough for dinner.
Poke House Chicken Run Bowl
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| Chicken Run Bowl |
John had some disappointment with his Chicken Run Bowl. A good layer of
sushi rice covered the bottom of the bowl...but John thought there
should have been a larger quantity of ingredients on top. In the seven
inch bowl, chicken cubes covered about half
the surface of the rice. There were 7-8 slices of cucumber, 2
tablespoons of shredded carrots, 1/3 cup of shredded lettuce (iceberg I
think), some sesame seeds, and was drizzled with the 'spicy' mayo. He
looked a bit distraught, so I traded dinners with
him for a few minutes. Here are what I believe were his sources of
disappointment:
The spicy mayo lacked spice. Anne used to crank out a couple of
versions of chipotle mayo, sriracha mayo, etc at Marianne's that were
killer. In fact, I described to a chef in a high quality restaurant
kitchen how we made our chipotle mayo and he was shocked.
I listed the 8 or 10 ingredients--he was drooling by the end. He said
in their 'expensive' restaurant...they mixed some hot sauce from one jar
into some mayo from another to make their version (they charged a lot
more than we did, too). The Poke House mayo
really needed some kick...even the Norwegian in our dining duo wanted
more heat[John: "Linda is being kind. It was lame."].
Then there was the chicken. Seven years of running a dining
establishment means I've attended many, many, many food shows and have
sampled everything available to restaurant kitchens. Since the Poke
House doesn't cook anything (well, except the rice), they're
using prepared chicken. I took the first bite and I'd bet a week's
wages that it's Tyson frozen diced chicken. The texture (or lack of
it) always gives it away. It's chicken that lost its texture in the
barn of 1000s of six week chickens that have never
seen the sun and have been cooped up together in a barn for their
entire life, fed a diet designed to fatten them up on schedule for a
mass slaughter at the end. They've never run around, so things like
muscle development just never happen. The texture
is that of a bird that never ran around and was fed a diet for quick
growth--not developed poultry flavor. There are other chicken products
on the market available to restaurants, including some high quality
chicken that is precooked. Poke House would
be well-served changing to something with a better taste and texture.
John came away hungry, feeling that there should be more ingredients in
the bowl. I would have liked more variety....one or two more
items...like 2 other veggies with different textures,
for color and interest.
I wish that I could report on their more 'signature' items...like the
raw tuna poke bowl...but I rarely order any type of fish because of the
oh so common cross-contamination with shellfish. John isn't a big fish
eater, so the chicken seemed like a good choice.
But I think I'd recommend the veggie over the chicken...or go for a
more authentic fish or shrimp poke bowl which might be more satisfying.
Poke House Recommendation?
Our overall first impressions: I love the way they've brightened up
the space. When it was a bakery, it was gold and orange and brown with
fairly heavy light fixtures. They've gone with a lot more white and
some grey...so the space is nicely updated.
I would recommend the Poke House for lunch. For many people, the
portions seem like they might not be adequate for dinner. John was
quite hungry when we arrived at home...so finished off his poke with a
slice of toast with organic pb and homemade jam.
Whatever! [John: "Whatever. Yes, I did have a PBJ...I also ate a few slices of cranberry salami."]
Poke House and Tea Bar Prices
I thought the prices were about what you'd expect compared to other
interesting lunch places; John thought they were about $1 too high per
item. My burrito was $9, his chicken run bowl was around $10. [John: "My issue was that the portions were small. ]
Poke House...next time
They seem to be off to a good start. From looking at their reviews,
most people find the portions to be adequate to good, complain that the
sweet corn seems to be thawed out frozen corn, and say that the milk
drinks aren't as good as those at competing places.
Next time I go, I'll try a smoothie or slushy and report back. Others
who've had the tuna, salmon, etc report that it's good and that the
quantity of protein in their bowl is generous. Beside the specialty
drinks, there's a cooler with Coke, San Pellegrino
water, Aquafina, and some juices...so there are less expensive drink
choices available.
If you're in the market for a fun and interesting lunch, give the Poke
House and Tea Bar a try. There is parking behind the building, so
don't despair if Randolph has no parking places available. The owners
are clearly trying very hard to make their new
venture a success. They're friendly and attentive. I had a nice
chat about the space and their efforts to 'lighten it up' and make it an
inviting venue. And, there were a couple of St. Paul Police officers
dining....so I always check out the places the
cops are eating!!!!
Pancheros is open in Arden Hills!
This isn't any different from ordering at Chipotle, just a more limited
selection of proteins (3 meats plus tofu) and a different array of
salsa. The available 'forms' are burrito, bowl, quesadilla, tacos. You
can get extra tortillas, additional portions
of meat or guac or sour cream, etc for 50 cents to $1.25 Sides of
chips, chips and guac, chips and salsa....you know the rundown.
Be patient...it's clear these folks are all new, so they're still
working out the techniques for rolling a burrito and making an
attractive bowl. They were trying very, very hard...especially to place
things in the bowl in an appetizing way. Having observed,
if you're in a hurry, grab the bowl....they were still struggling with
filling and rolling the burritos...they took much longer than the bowls
tonight.
We decided to split a bowl (we had a great lunch at Brunson's today, so
didn't need a big dinner). Our choices tonight: a smaller portion of
rice, pintos, carnitas, veggies....more veggies(!), cheese, corn salsa
and the salsa verde (I couldn't get anyone
to explain exactly what was in the salsa verde...it looked like green
chiles and tomatillos...I'll check further on future visits). I
looked at the list...there's the verde which is medium heat; the
tomatillo is dark colored/not green....and has about the
highest heat level. There's also pico, etc.
In addition to the choices on the line, there are two bottled
sauces...Greenade or Flavolcano. The red volcano sauce (Flavolcano) is quite
hotl---I had a few bites, then John tried it and coughed for a few
minutes. He lived! [John: "I liked it but it did overpower the other food flavors."] If you don't like 'hot' skip this one.
I found it tasty after the heat subsided. The Greenade was really,
really good. Jalapenos, tomatillos, habaneros and more.....an
excellent assortment of goodies in the bottle (having tried to figure
out what I was eating at Old Southern BBQ--they have unlabeled
bottles--bad if you have any food allergies, I appreciate that the
ingredients are on the sauce bottles at Pancheros). 
The bowl itself: we were disappointed that the temp of the meat, rice,
and beans was, at best, lukewarm. Having run a food biz for awhile,
I'm pretty aware of safe food temps and am always suspicious of
lukewarm (our county food inspector had a name for
lukewarm which, luckily escapes me right now....it was not
'complimentary'). So I hope they work on their temps. 
