Boston’s Poke Explosion Continues With at Least One New Back Bay Restaurant

A new poke place will open in the heart of Back Bay. Poke Bento is slated to take over the space at 827 Boylston St. that was formerly home to Samurai, according to Boston Restaurant Talk.

The restaurant will be on the garden level and could operate between the hours of 6:30 a.m. and 12 a.m. with the approval of the City of Boston’s licensing board, which will review the restaurant’s application for a common victualler license this week.

If its name is any indication, Poke Bento is likely to serve the current hot commodity of the fish world: Poke (pronounced poh-kay) is a Hawaiian raw fish salad that has been turned into a trend on the mainland, spreading rapidly across the country and touching down in Boston over the last few months.

Additionally, two of the three people involved in the LLC behind Poke Bento, Shiquan Wang and Jiawei Li, are also involved in a recently filed LLC called The Pokespot Boston. The latter LLC also includes the co-founders of a New York City restaurant called The Pokéspot, Russell Yam and Alex Lam, so it appears that The Pokéspot may be arriving in town eventually as well. Stay tuned for more details. (See update below.)

Poke is the main fixture at a handful of new restaurants in the area, including Manoa Poke Shop and Pokéworks in Somerville and Poke City in Cambridge. Poke also appears on menus at places like New Sushi, Banyan Bar + Refuge, Myers + Chang, and elsewhere.

Update, 11:15 a.m.: The Pokéspot co-founder Russell Yam confirms that the team is indeed “planning to open a location in Boston in the near future.” The location has not yet been determined.

• Poke Bento Plans to Open in Former Samurai Space in Boston's Back Bay [BRT]
• The Pokéspot [Official Site]