After a few bites of my first bowl at Boulder’s only shop devoted to poké, big flavors were pinging around my tastebuds like pinballs ringing bells and flashing lights.
Tender chunks of spicy raw salmon harmonized with house-made kimchi and marinated shiitake mushrooms. Furikake spice and nori seaweed combined with a little chili oil and ponzu to add oomph to a bed of steamed brown rice, sauteed bok choy, edamame and cucumbers.
Like the finest nigiri and sushi rolls, this bowl I enjoyed at Pearl Poké spoke to me like any other culinary work of art.
Poké (po-kay) isn’t very complicated, according to Pearl Poké owner and chef Edwin Zoe.
“In Hawaii, poké is traditionally just raw fish in a simple dressing served as a salad or over steamed rice,” Zoe says.
However, on the mainland from California to Colorado to Massachusetts, poké has evolved into many creative and sometimes odd variations. “Here, build-your-own bowl from a lot of different ingredients is most popular,” he says.
Ironically, Zoe never imagined opening a poké spot until he transplanted his award-winning Zoe Ma Ma, a Chinese street food eatery, from its original location at 2010 10th Street a few doors west to 919 Pearl Street.
“After we moved, I realized that I had so many good memories in this place where I created a restaurant with my mom. I didn’t want to give it up,” Zoe says.
“I wasn’t sure what to serve here. I consulted my stomach and came up with poke.”
Zoe had sampled poké in Hawaii a decade earlier.
“It was good but bells definitely did not go off, but every meal I eat gets filed in the memory bank,” he says.
When Pearl Poké opened in April as a no-tipping, fast-casual destination, the chef applied his meticulous attention to detail that has earned national attention for Zoe Ma Ma and Dragonfly Noodle in Boulder.
The short menu at Pearl Poké offers the dish in two versions: build-your-own mainland-style and Hawaiian bowls named after the island airport codes.
For instance, the HNL (Honolulu) is a large portion of spicy tuna, seaweed, green onions and spicy mayo over rice. The LIH (Kauai) offers seasoned tofu, mixed greens, pickled daikon, edamame, seaweed and ponzu sauce over rice.
Farther afield, the NRT (Tokyo) reconfigures a popular form of Japanese nigiri into a bowl topped with cooked freshwater eel and sweet sauce.
For dessert, Pearl Poké offers Pineapple Whip, the cool Hawaiian pineapple soft-serve dessert.
“I wanted to recognize the island origins and make almost everything from scratch, but still have some fun,” Zoe says.
Cooking hack 101
Ready-to-cook tortillas offer taqueria taste at home
One craveable hallmark of great meals at taquerias and Mexican restaurants is warm, pliable flour tortillas used in burritos or served warm on the side to grab bites of green chile or refried beans.
But warmed-up tortillas from a supermarket almost never taste, smell or chew the same.
I discovered a solution in the refrigerated Mexican foods at a local supermarket: ready-to-cook flour tortillas. Unlike the tortillas on the shelves, the refrigerated tortillas are only par-cooked and need to finish cooking or they taste raw and pasty.
I made Kroger Ready-to-Cook Mercado Flour Tortillas in a frying pan and in my air fryer to test them out. No oil was necessary.
I preheated a frying pan, placed a tortilla in it and waited as it bubbled and browned for about a minute. I flipped it and cooked the other side.
My first attempt was gobbled up warm from the pan.
For the next one, I added cheddar cheese, sliced avocado and chopped onions and tomatoes. I dipped my folded-over quesadilla in salsa.
When I overdid one tortilla, it turned into crispy chips for a scrambled egg breakfast.
Cooked in the air fryer, these flour discs have a tendency to blow up like a balloon as they cook from both sides. You can puncture it to deflate, but I cut it open and spread it with butter, honey and cinnamon for a churros-like effect.
Either way, it takes less than two minutes to upgrade your burritos, enchiladas, huevos rancheros and snack wraps.
Various ready-to-cook tortilla brands are available, but if you source fresh, uncooked tortillas from a local tortilleria, your homemade version will taste even better.
Local food news
Boulder County’s most-booked eatery is in Lafayette
Open Table, the national online restaurant reservation service, keeps track of which Boulder-area eateries using its platform are most booked. In September 2025, the top spot went to Acreage, the cidery and restaurant perched on a hill in Lafayette.
Other favorites: Hapa Sushi Grill, Japango, Salt, Boulder Cork, Louisville’s Melting Pot, Jax Fish House, River & Woods and Cozobi Fonda Fina.
Two award-winning chefs — Dan Asher, owner of Boulder’s River & Woods, and Johnny Curiel of the Michelin-honored Cozobi Fonda Fina — will be guests on Kitchen Table Talk. The one-hour monthly food show with listener calls is hosted by BRL Food Editor John Lehndorff (me). Tune in from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. Oct. 2 on KGNU, 88.5 FM, or stream at kgnu.org.
Openings
- Skratch Labs Cafe has reopened as Skratch Labs Table and Flagship Store at 1245 Alpine Avenue, a larger space than its former Pearl Street location. The sports health-focused menu ranges from mushroom egg congee (rice porridge) and bone broth to avocado toast and chocolate peanut butter rice cakes. Founded in 2012 by Dr. Allen Lim, Skratch Labs is a Boulder-based maker of sport hydration mixes.
- Yummy Duo Asian Bistro is now open at 2835 28th St., in the former home of Jin Chan Zhang, tucked between the Asian Food Market and Panaderia Sabor a Mexico.
- Lyons Locale, a cocktail bar serving charcuterie, quiche, salads and desserts, has opened at 442 High St. in Lyons, the former location of Farra, a recently shuttered Spanish-influenced restaurant.
Closings
- MECO Coffee Collective has closed its shop at 1280 Centaur Village Drive in Lafayette. Its Longmont and Frederick locations remain open, serving house-baked gluten-free goodies, breads and coffee drinks.
Culinary calendar
Last call for Wednesday’s Market — and Aspen’s carb heaven
The Wednesday Boulder Farmers Market closes for the season on Oct. 8. Saturday markets in Boulder and Longmont remain open into November.
Carb heaven arrives Oct. 9-11 at the Aspen Pastry Invitational, with immersive workshops, seminars and tastings covering French tarts, sourdough fundamentals, pâte à choux profiteroles, cake decoration and healthy baking with top pastry chefs. Plus: daily dessert happy hours.
Deep food thoughts
“Publicly singing the ‘Happy Birthday Song’ in a restaurant is a terribly wonderful tradition that brings us all together in celebration of embarrassment. Everyone is smiling and happy together for one moment in time. There’s no breaking news, no reality television, only wonderful.” — Alice Laussade, in the Southern Foodways Alliance Gravy blog