Ahi Poke' at Tamura's

Poke' is the king of raw ahi. Forget sushi, it's the thing of the past. Cubed raw tuna, sweet yellow fin tuna, is the cream of the crop. It is the New England Patriots of raw fish. It is the top end Ferrari, the top end cigar. Poke' has become very popular amongst the culinary/foodie world. Poke' shops sprout up around the world in record numbers. But, not every shop will do it right. Doing my research, and asking many of my culinary associates that travel the globe. Some poke' shops aren't good, because they try and do things that are not the way it's supposed to be when it comes to making cubed raw tuna. They will season it with the wrong ingredients. They handle the fish wrong. They use frozen fish. That's totally wrong. 

Frozen ahi can be OK, if it's thawed out correctly. If not it becomes mushy. However, this is the story on Tamura's Fine Wine and Liquors poke'. And I know for sure, that they use fresh ahi. How do I know? I got a job there at their poke' counter. The ahi, is flown in from Oahu to Maui, fresh. The loins are delivered daily for us to cut into cubes, and then marinate it with the company's secret recipes. Believe me, the poke' is excellent. Probably the freshest I've tasted. Yes the supermarket chains have them, but they use a lot of frozen fish. Big difference. Not bad. But big difference.

Fresh fish trumps frozen. Of course Tamura's will fly in frozen stuff like crab, shrimp, scallops because in Hawaii we can't get those. So frozen is a given with those items. However the ahi is fresh as can be. Below is one of our fish cutters turning the ahi loins into cubes.

The loins come in around 10:00 am or so every day. We set up the displays, making sure most of the case looks good. Then the ahi is the main focus. The sauces comes from the main store in Oahu shipped to the outer islands. We get those various flavors in 5 gallon buckets chilled. One of the best sellers in the Tamura's line up is the Ninja. Sorry, I don't even know the recipe. But it's like a sweet teriyaki with a little heat, or spice. Because of this well desired flavor, and it's popularity, we get wiped out quickly. Just the other day, I mixed several pans of that flavor, and it was wiped out fast! Visitors as well as the local crowd line up for that. And there's also bowls with white or brown rice to be eaten, or what Tamura's markets as Poke' Bowls. For around 11.99 to 15.99 you can get a bowl with fresh poke' and rice, and that's a meal. Just the other day our prices went up to 17.99 per pound. Not cheap for locals that work for a living. But. They do flock for it. So that's a good example in business, if it's quality they will buy. You won't need to sell it, they will come in droves to buy it, and boom! Glen Tamura the owner, why he's laughing to the bank baby! 

Fresh made Ninja Poke'

Tamura's Fine Wine