GREY WHALE POKE BOWL
Hoppen Hierarchy:★⭑
District: Lincoln
Hawaiian-Style Poke Bowls
Perfect For: Casual Dining; Takeout; Lunch
Standout Dishes: Hawaiian Spam Musubi
I’ll never forget July 13, 2016 as the day my eyes were opened to one of my biggest food obsessions.
The scene was Coconut’s Fish Cafe on the island of Maui. Coconut’s was just one of several wonderful meals my family enjoyed while visiting Hawaii, but none stood out like this. The raw tuna was so fresh, succulent, and delicious. It also made me kind of sad, because I knew even in that moment that I would likely never again have poke that good.
Since then, poke has become one of the hotter food trends in the U.S. It’s become an appetizer at many restaurants, and fast-casual create-your-own-bowl poke options have begun popping up.
That includes Grey Whale Poke Bowl in downtown Lincoln. The sister restaurant of Grey Whale Sushi, another downtown Lincoln destination, Grey Whale Poke Bowl opened in the summer of 2018.
Grey Whale is the Chipotle of poke restaurants. After choosing white or brown rice and a protein, diners get to add as many of the 22 offered toppings as they please to their bowl, including pineapple, sweet onion, avocado, pickled ginger, edamame, and much, much more. They can then add some of Grey Whale’s 11 sauces and nine “crunch” options, making the combinations seemingly limitless. For those intimidated by so many choices, there are several signature bowls to choose from as well.
The proteins are the most important part of the dish. Those that like traditional poke can get ahi tuna or salmon (both offered as regular and spicy). But patrons who shy away from raw fish have options of boiled shrimp, chicken, or tofu.
Skeptical as I was initially, I’ve found the fish to be surprisingly fresh tasting. I’m a big fan of the Spicy Salmon, and the Ahi Tuna is as good as I’ve had in some seafood restaurants. The Shrimp are quite good as well, plump, juicy, and pleasing.
Grey Whale does a good job adding adequate amounts of each topping. They don’t skimp, and end result is massive bowls.
The surprise of the whole experience is the Hawaiian Spam Musubi, a grilled hunk of spam wrapped in rice and seaweed. I’m not a big fan of spam and had heavy reservations about this side dish, but it’s actually quite good! The creamy rice offsets some of the heavy salt from the spam, which brought more of a fatty bacon flavor than I was expecting. Against all odds it’s become a go-to part of my order every time now.
The portions are massive and, at around $10 apiece, the price for a bowl feels very fair.
Let’s be clear: Grey Whale Poke Bowl is not in the same stratosphere as Coconut’s Fish Cafe. That freshness simply cannot be replicated hundreds of miles away. But it’s still very tasty and provides a peek into why poke is sweeping the nation as one of America’s top fads.
