Eat This Now: Hawaiian Ahi Poke at California Fish Grill

Edwin Goei

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Though the salsa still tastes like tomato water, the homegrown California Fish Grill chain (winner of Best Seafood Restaurant in 2008) has always had impeccable fish, especially when slathered in the wonder-lube of its garlic butter. The substance could make just about anything tasty.

Now the eatery (at least the one in Irvine) is featuring a dish that makes no use of any grills. The Hawaiian ahi poke contains dice-sized cubes of raw tuna suffused with just a touch of soy, textured with onion in micro-granules, plus some scallions and a not-so-secret ingredient: a hit of chili paste.

Before I ordered, I wondered what the guy in the back was doing with an industrial-sized container of Huy Fong Foods' popular Sambal Oelek. But upon tasting the poke, I immediately knew it was for what I was eating. There were traces of the chili seeds in the dish, the quiet murmur of its spiciness adding a distinctly Asian accent and a briskness.

Looking like a seaborne pico de gallo, the concoction turns out to be spicier than California Fish Grill's actual salsa and the perfect thing to scoop up chilled with fryer-hot tortilla chips. Order it now for $5.99 before it swims away.