Linda Falkenstein
The new Poke Plus has an unusually wide variety of proteins and add-ons.
Recently I wrote about the explosion of poke eateries in our fair city. Indeed, the trend just keeps chugging along, with the opening at the tail end of April of Poke Plus at 615 State St. That storefront was previously home to the short-lived Disco Fries, which was aiming at the late-night-student-drunk-nosh demographic. Poke Plus casts a wider net: the fast-fresh-healthy-customizable demographic, which means it’s possible to capitalize on the lunch and dinner crowd and not just late night. The small space was crowded during a recent visit at 1:30 p.m., with one communal table and a number of one-seaters along the front window and side wall.
Poke Plus doesn’t post any premade bowl combos; it’s all create-your-own, assembly-line style, with three sizes of bowl dictating how many toppings the customer can choose (two proteins for the regular, three for large) along with mostly unlimited veggies and other toppings and sauces. Proteins are wide ranging — including lobster salad, baby octopus, squid salad and tofu along with the more expected raw salmon and tuna options.
Poke Plus also differentiates itself in that it also offers hibachi bowls — steak and eel are protein options with these, as well as chicken, shrimp, salmon and tofu. There is one other Poke Plus location in West Lafayette, Indiana, although it is called Poke Hibachi. Manager Yanna Zeng opened the restaurant along with Wendy Weng, who also manages Dragon I and Ichiban here in Madison.
Openings and closings
The Tin Fox opened May 4 in the former Freiburg Gastropub space at 2616 Monroe St. This will be the first Madison restaurant for Milwaukee chef Justice Neal. Meanwhile, a re-conceived Freiburg Gastropub will take over the now-closed Wisconsin Brewing Tap Haus at 107 State St.
PaintBar, 1224 Williamson St. has closed.
