Daniel L.
Yelp
(Dean Winchester voice) Pig 'n a poke!
Wait, not that kind of poke. Is it the hokey kind of the poke? No, not that one either. Hold on. Poké. Accent à droite, bitch.
Apparently ubereats just ended their Shabbat no delivery charge special so ya homey needed to put on a rain coat and go grab this fish in person in a storm to avoid an entirely unnecessary $10 delivery charge. That is ten lap dances in some places, and 100 at other titty bars out by the airport that are doing THE MOST. Whereas some gents like to make it "rain" with benjies in profligate displays of (hidden) consumer debt and keeping up with the Joneses when their soundcloud mixtape is doin' well, I like to make it "hail" with loose change because I know the value of a good deal.
While Pokéworks is a chain, this is the highest rated poké joint in Houston among my Yelp friendos and trusted sources. While I have played OG Pokemon (Blue, holla @ dem pokermans) on the Game Boy Color my only experience with poké food was at the Agu Ramen YEE on the west side where John R shared a taste of his poké side, and I shared my takoyaki side. However, my real draw to this joint was the poké burrito version rather than the poké bowl scenario as it was at Agu.
Sushi burritos (here, a poké burrito so tomacco-tomacco) always end up on my list when I travel because seafood is divine enough for a date with Dorothy Mantooth, and I like things in burrito format but I am as much as an anarchist about what fills it as I am about other things. In fact, sushi is the right sort because that means you will not need to go to the Chipotle ever again. It struck me that I had never even had a sushi burrito in Houston which was weird, and I resolved to have one here rather than just when I am traveling which I suppose is my version of the hoes in different area codes rule that what happens on the road really doesn't stay much of a secret for any amount of time what with all of this social media that we have these days. Hashtag blessed?
Set back in the Shepherd Square strip mall at the high traffic Shepherd/Westheimer intersection there is ample free parking available in the surface lot for all of the businesses in this strip mall. My disdain for this strip mall has historically been centered on the Bad Randalls shopping experience where you are not only pestered by homeless beggars on the way in the store and inside the store but also as you are trying to load up your car with groceries so you really get the Full Silkwood experience from a shopping foray into Bad Randalls.
Over prior Shabbats I had done my research on what I wanted so even though I had not yet visited I walked in ready to place like my order like el jefe.
The joint was empty when I walked in. The online order type pick up is right when you walk in but if you are sashaying in to order in person like we did back in 19-dickety-two (the Germans took our word for the actual number) in ye olden days you go towards the back of the resto and start there, winding down the you-choose-its line. There was one teen assembling my order and a surprisingly large number of people doing other things back there given that I was the only person ordering, the one person seated had already left, and only one online order had come in for pick up the whole time I was there.
An employee was loudly smacking the metal trays (from dine in orders) against each other and doing the gymrat annoying thing where you drop metal on metal and it makes a horrendous unnecessary amount of noise. Like the metal on metal noise was both so jarring and punctuating unpleasantly loud it drowned out my order and I had to repeat myself a few times over it, feeling like I was posted up at the gat dang club trying to shout to a 19 year old over too-loud Drake music so I could get them digits.
I was getting my fishies to go anyway so I could pair with liquors and bad decisions, but had I intended on dining in originally, given the noise I would have def changed my order to go.
For the burrito you have so many options so you need to take them in stride. First, do you want 2 or 3 proteins? Get 3 homey, there were Three Stooges and that can be your lodestar for most decisions. Then pick your proteins - ahi tuna looks b-e-a-utiful and so do the scallops. Then you pick toppings and sauce. You can rack up some new charges by adding pay-to-play extras or stick to the tried and true freebos. Then on sauce station they ask you whether it goes light, medium, or heavy.
Useful stuff: check in to the biz on the yelp app and you get a free miso soup. I love businesses that take advantage of the yelp app check in offers to offer us nice stuff. Good work, Pokéworks!
I think I can safely speak for all of us that we are waiting for Juul to begin releasing Juulpods that are poké burrito flavoured. Until then, we will just have to mosey on down to one of the many fine Pokéworks locations and get our poké burrito fix the olde fashioned way.