Poke Is Coming To Williamsburg

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — There is a poke movement and it is coming to Williamsburg.

Pokéworks — a Hawaiian seafood chain run by Top Chef contender Peter Yang, described in a press release as “a leader in the North American poke movement” — will open at 169 Bedford Ave. near North Eighth Street next fall, the restaurant announced.

Pokéworks serves up variants of poke — a Hawaiian raw fish salad — in burritos, on top of salads or in big bowls with seaweed salad, pickled ginger, spicy furikake and glops of wasabi aioli or spicy ginger sauce.

Diners can also “Poke Your Way” — not by poking fellow guests in an original fashion — but by deciding if they want ahi tuna, salmon, albacore tuna, scallops, or shrimp with masago or in a burrito.

Yang and his co-chef Sheldon Simeon founded the Hawaiian chain in 2015 in hopes of popularizing Hawaiian cuisine and “responsibly-sourced” seafood.

Pokéworks Williamsburg’s wood interior was designed by Studio SSMC, the firm that brought us Shake Shack.

There are currently 19 Pokéworks outpost in northern American — four of which are in Manhattan — and restaurant owners hope to reach 100 by 2020.

According to the company website, Pokéworks will be opening in Park Slope and Hudson Yards sometime in the near future.

Photo courtesy of Pokéworks