Dining Guide

Mola Mola Poke

Tucked in the back of Inwood Village, this little no-frills spot over-delivers on choices and freshness. The plentiful selection included Spicy Tuna, Bora Fish, Octopus, Crispy Tofu, and Island Beets. Acting on a suggestion from our savvy server, we made brown rice and the daily special—wasabi salmon with black sesame seeds—the foundation of our meal. Then, because we couldn’t help ourselves, we added edamame, spiral-cut carrots, pickled cucumber, both red and yellow beets, cilantro, wasabi aioli, and rice  pearls (tiny crunchy rice balls). Details are attended to here: we were impressed with the freshness of the salmon and the precise slicing. Besides the sesame seeds, the kitchen added a little roe for an extra pop of texture. Our only (very minor) complaint is that they ran out of the obviously popular Maui Chicken (too bad—we would have liked the combination of cashew, pineapple, radish, fresno chile, and pickled ginger). But overall, this small outlet has renewed our flagging interest in what we’ve come to think of as the poke bubble.