Ali'i Poke

I really enjoy poke (it’s pronounced “poh-kay”) and am excited to see new options springing up around Indy. So poke is sort of like a deconstructed sushi roll in many ways—the star of the dish is meant to be the fish, and it is usually served raw and marinated. You choose your base (rice, greens or nacho chips) and then you choose your proteins, your toppings, and your sauces. Or at Ali’I poke, you can go with one of their signature bowls, in which they have created a bowl of ingredients that they think go well together. We built our own.

At Ali’I, you get a small or large bowl ($9.50 or $12.50). In a small bowl, you get two scoops of protein and in a large, you get four. I was really torn because I like to get a scoop of tofu in my bowl, but only one scoop of fish seemed inadequate. And in the interest of blogging, I also wanted to try the salmon. So, in order to write the most thorough post possible (it’s your fault I got such a huge portion), I got the large. However, for future reference, you really don’t need the large unless you’re really hungry—the portion they give is quite generous. I had two scoops of the marinated tuna, one of the marinated salmon, and one tofu. The kids both got the small and both got all tuna. First of all, I think the fish quality is slightly better than the other poke place I have tried in town. The pieces are cut a bit bigger, and they give you more in a scoop. I think the bigger pieces make it harder to hide fatty bits. Both the tuna and the salmon were very good, and I only came across one piece that was a touch fatty. The tofu was nice big chunks too, and because they don’t mix the proteins up in the sauce (which has its good and bad points), it stays that way. As for the base of my bowl, I got half sushi rice and half greens, and I think at this place, I would just stick with the rice in the future. I really like greens in poke, but these were bigger, harder pieces of lettuce (mainly romaine), and weren’t as good as softer mixed baby greens. Just harder to eat I guess.

As far as toppings, I went with edamame, sesame seeds, crispy onions, avocado, and scallions. I also like that they don’t charge you extra for anything (even the avocado), so you know just what you are paying from the start. There are a ton of sauces and I had a hard time choosing. I ended up getting some of the creamy miso and some of the spicy mayo, and both were good (they will let you taste any that you want as well). My daughter did the creamy miso and the sesame shoyu and I think it might have been a little better. I would also like to try the sesame vinaigrette. There is also classic unagi sauce and honey wasabi. (I told you there are a lot of choices!).

All in all, we quite liked this place, and to be honest, it is not much further than driving to Carmel, which is our other regular poke haunt. We were torn amongst the group as to which we liked more, but I think because the fish and the portions were a bit better here, I would choose this one, although I will still frequent both. This place was doing a bustling business on a week day, and I think may be a favorite of the staff at the IUPUI campus.

I know there are some other places offering poke bowls as well—have you had any of them, and what did you think?

Ali’I Poke

910 West 10^th Street

Indy 46202

317/602-3632

www.aliipoke.com 

Blaze Pizza - Revisit

My daughter and I were down at IUPUI for the regional National History Day competition (she’s a state finalist!) and had a break between her presentation and the awards ceremony, so we hit Blaze for lunch, as it is right near campus.

We both pretty much made our own, although mine was a variation of one of their combos, the “Veg Out” (they are all around $7-8). It was topped with mushrooms, red onion, spinach, Gorgonzola and mozzarella cheese and had dollops of red sauce on it. Ok, I know this is a chain, but I think their pizza is pretty darn tasty. The crust is really thin, and with the blue cheese, it had a nice distinctive flavor to it. It’s not too much, but just enough that you get that hint of flavor in each bite. They are personal size pizzas and I can almost eat a whole on by myself. I like this particular pizza because the sauce is not spread all over the pizza—sometimes I think too much sauce detracts too much. They quick fire them in an oven while you stand there and they are nice and crisp.

My daughter built her own with mozzarella and feta, kalamata olives, chicken, and oregano. She really liked it (and I agreed after my couple of bite of hers). She made a nice Greek combo and with the addition of the feta and olives, it had a nice salty kick to it. I still preferred mine, but hers was very good. 

It’s supposed to sort of be fresh fast food, but the one complaint I had was that it was so not fast at all. Luckily we had enough time, but it took a solid 30 minutes to get through the line. I am not sure why the delay, but man, it was slow.

They have some fun drinks too—my daughter had prickly pear aqua fresca and they had a blood orange lemonade. It’s a good place for a pizza fix for lunch near campus, but just be prepared that it may not be as fast as you think it is. And hey, I am spending a lot more time on IUPUI's campus now that I am back in school. What are your favorite places to eat around there?

Blaze Pizza

913 Indiana Avenue

Indy  46204

317/624-1500

www.blazepizza.com 

Sushi Boss

I had heard about this place a while ago when it first opened and was intrigued by the concept. It’s kind of like the Subway, or the taqueria, of sushi places. You get in line and walk down in front of the ingredients and design your own roll (or chose from one of their creations). I am trying to watch what I eat right now, so this seemed like a good option to control how much of the gooey stuff went into my lunch. 

On the downside, sometimes you just don’t want to see what’s in the bologna if you know what I mean. The spicy tuna and spicy salmon were kind of freaking me out—they looked kind of like red slurry. It was that really mushy type.

But I was brave and ordered half of my roll with the spicy tuna (I was going to get the spicy salmon, but the tuna looked incrementally better) and half with just regular fresh tuna. I like that they have this option too—you can get half and half in one roll. And because they make pretty darn big rolls, one is more than enough, and you can get two different flavors.

I also had them add avocado and green onion into mine. There are other fruit/veg options here, but I am not a big fan of fruit in my sushi.  I had them drizzle the whole thing lightly with the “Boss” sauce, which is basically spicy mayo and since I was being good and got nothing fried inside, I figured a few tempura bits sprinkled on top, along with masago (those teeny fish eggs) would help give me the crunch and texture variation I crave without adding as many bad calories. It worked pretty well and the roll over all was a decent lunch. And if you don’t ask for light sauce, they give you A LOT (check out my friend’s roll).

I can see when you’re on campus (it’s over by IUPUI) as I am a couple days a week these days, running in there for lunch on occasion.  I appreciate that you can customize them to try and keep them a little healthier. My friend’s meat filled roll (“that one roll”) (filled with marinated short rib, asparagus and green onion and topped with spicy crab and lots of various sauces) did not look appealing to me though. So much so that I didn’t even try it.

I also got the add a soup and drink deal for $2.99 more and chose the clear soup with onions and mushrooms. I wasn’t a huge fan of this soup and didn’t really eat much more than a couple of bites. First of all, it wasn’t very warm and the mushrooms tasted a little rubbery. I would try the miso next time instead. I feel like you can’t screw that up too much.

It’s not amazing sushi, but like I said, it’s fast and hits the spot if you want sushi in the amount of time fast food would take. 

Who else has been?

Sushi Boss

805 W. 10^th Street

Indy   46202

317/955-2677

www.sushibossindy.com