Vegan Everything
Dallas poke restaurant expands menu with trendy vegan dishes
Trail-blazing Pok the Raw Bar, the West Village restaurant specializing in the Japanese-Hawaiian seafood dish poke, is jumping on another trend with the expansion of its selection of vegan offerings.
The new Beets and Sweet Potato bowl offers diners a hearty, non-seafood option full of colorful vegetables. Served with Pok's new miso dressing, the bowl features beets, sweet potato, avocado, and serrano, and is topped with matcha-salted taro chips. A cauliflower rice base rounds out this veg-focused dish.
There is also a new yellowtail pineapple bowl with citrus ponzu, pineapple, serrano, micro cilantro, and crispy onion.
When it opened in early 2017, Pok was among the first restaurants out of the gate in Dallas to serve the raw fish trend taking the country by storm. Upon opening, it began with a menu of seven signature bowls, including albacore mango, salmon Asian pear, and spicy ponzu tuna.
But even when they opened, they included a vegan option — shiitake tofu kimchi, with cured shiitake, green onion kimchi, hijiki, red onion, togarashi, and Pok’s classic sauce — that's become very popular.
Vegetarian and vegan foods have been at the top of the list for trend-watchers such as Baum & Whiteman, a New York industry consultant, which forecasts that the No. 1 trend for 2018 is that plant-based dining will go mainstream. Fearing's, one of Dallas' top fine-dining restaurants, just introduced a new all-vegetarian menu for lunch and dinner in early November.
Pok has also added new items to its matcha tea bar. Fresh additions include uber-trendy turmeric — adding a boost of anti-inflammatory healing to matcha's already powerful superfood benefits. The Golden Matcha boasts a blend of ceremonial grade matcha, almond milk, turmeric, and dates. The Matcha Sunrise offers a dose of citrus-induced Vitamin C with a splash of orange juice.
In early September, Pok shifted to a cash-less model, allowing payment only via credit card, a trend that's been emerging at restaurants across the country.
