Illinois poke shops take Windy City by storm

Aloha Poke Co. will have 14 outlets by the end of this year and is planning even more beyond that, but here’s the thing: The company is based in Illinois.

At least two Hawaii businesses are named Aloha Poke: one in Waianae and the other downtown on Bishop Street. They are unrelated, and neither is related to the Illinois company of which Zach Friedlander is a co-founder.

(Speaking of being unrelated, the Illinois poke magnate-in-the-making says he has no connection to Honolulu real estate mogul Andrew Friedlander.)

Why start a poke chain in Chicago?

“I’ve always been in food service myself and wanted to start a restaurant group,” Friedlander said.

The idea was born after one of his friends returned from a trip to Hawaii raving about poke. Friedlander assembled some partners and investors, then opened the first restaurant at French Market in Chicago’s central business district.

“The first few months, we had an hour wait, a half-hour wait sometimes,” he said.

The fresh fish that Aloha Poke serves is sourced from Hawaii and Japan, but some of the poke choices are quite a departure from tradition.

In addition to common poke bowl ingredients we’re used to at home, Aloha Poke offers options such as edamame, pineapple and pickled jalapenos, to name a few.

The bowls “pay homage to Hawaii, but we add a little mainland twist, for some fun,” Friedlander said.

Some Hawaii expats have told his staff that the restaurant reminds them of home.

Three sizes of bowls are identified as little (8 ounces, $7.50), big (16 ounces, $9.50) and kahuna (24 ounces, $14.50), all with a base of white or brown rice or mixed greens.

Being on the mainland, they put an accent over the “e” in poke, and refer to ahi as “ahi tuna” — which strikes me as like saying “tuna tuna.”

The ahi, salmon and tofu options are offered marinated or “naked,” ready for customization, which Aloha Poke calls P.Y.O.B., for Pack Your Own Bowl.

House Bowls are company-created combinations. Sauce recipes and flavor combinations were created by one of the partners, a Chicago-area restaurateur who “was doing fun poke tacos, and we just loved them, and he was a friend of ours,” Friedlander said.

“We’re excited that people are being more educated on poke,” he said.

Not everyone is fortunate enough to travel to Hawaii, but Aloha Poke can make a taste of the islands available around the Windy City, he said.

The company website’s page name reads “Healthy Sushi Bowls in Chicago.”

Sushi and poke are not the same, of course, but Friedlander and his partners felt it was “easiest” for the consumer who doesn’t know what poke means, to understand the concept of a sushi bowl.

Send restaurant news and notes to erika@staradvertiser.com or call 529-4303. Follow Erika Engle on Twitter @eriKaengle.