According to Eater.com, poke bowls–essentially raw fish served on top of rice or leafy greens–was the “dish of the summer” in the United States. Thanks to the folks at Food Fight, Madisonians can enjoy this trend at Miko Poke, which sits in the former Vodkatorium of Bluephies.
Ordering is done assembly line style. The regular size poke bowl ($10.50) seems about right in terms on quantity, while the small ($7.50) allows you to order a couple of poke bowls and/or add a side. The large is $14.50.
Although I only personally ate two poke bowls, I sense the theme is that the restaurant does an excellent job of combining flavors and textures into a tight area.
For example, the sliced cucumber brightened the Hawaiian Style bowl, while the edamame added density and the avocado brought creaminess to the super fresh, diced tuna.
Meanwhile, in the Spicy Albacore bowl, I appreciated the sweetness of the melon, the crunch from the fried garlic and the heat from the serrano peppers, which were the only thing that made the dish spicy (the spicy aioli was a misnomer).
Other bowls include the Coco Curry (yellow squash, carrots, tahini and toasted coconuts, among other ingredients) and Banzai Shrimp. You also can build your own.
Miko Poke also serves Hawaiian shaved ice ($3.50). I really enjoyed an alcoholic version, the passion fruit punch ($6), which is bursting with flavor that masks the Tito’s Handmade vodka.
On each table are bottles of poke sauce and volcano sauce. The former has a slight sweetness and goes well with fish and rice, as expected. The latter was vinegary, and similar to the aioli, it wasn’t spicy at all.
Miko Poke is open every day for lunch, dinner and carryout.
Speaking of dry, the Chuckwagon cornbread ($1.75 for a slice, $12.99 for a pan of eight) was missing the warmth and moistness of what I would consider good cornbread. Other sides on the menu include smoked bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers ($2 each) and cowboy pinto beans ($2.25).
