By ROBIN DOHRN-SIMPSON

Pronounced POH-kay, this food trend came to the mainland from Hawaii, where it is everywhere, from grocery stores to restaurants to gas stations. It is similar to the build your own burrito or sandwich restaurants. A build your own seafood bowl. A visit to the San Diego Poke Company helped to understand.

You take a foundation of either white or brown rice, mixed green salad or chips. Then you choose your protein of either shrimp, salmon, tuna, spicy tuna, albacore, octopus, bay scallops or tofu for vegetarians.

Next, choose your sauce. Each Poke restaurant will have its own umami-packed sauces; the San Diego Poke Company features a variety of sauces such as Koko Loko, which is a sweet chili sauce with coconut milk and citrus. Their Oh No Sauce is a mildly spicy blend of Sriracha, mayonnaise, and citrus with chili flakes. Or Seoul Hottt which is a Korean Spicy Bean Paste sauce. Their proprietary sauce called Biggie Sauce (named after the inventor and chef Biggie) is a blend of these three sauces.

Lastly, choose your toppings. Some offerings are white or green onion, avocado, ginger, edamame, seaweed salad, pineapple, fried onion, and fried garlic. For zesty food lovers try the Serrano peppers, wasabi, or hot Cheetos.

If you prefer to order a bowl already created for you there are eight specialty bowls. Some of the most popular are: Reel Bliss made from salmon, pineapple, edamame, Serrano peppers, and sesame seeds. This is topped with the SNS (Sweet & Spicy) sauce. Another popular choice is the OG SD, tuna, avocado, white and green onions, sesame seeds, and the Original Sauce.

For desserts, try their mochi balls called Ice Cream “Bubbies” from Hawaii. These mochi balls are made from Japanese mochi with an ice cream filling.

Speaking of sweet teeth, manager Andrea Aquino makes Ube Cheesecake cookies. Ube comes from the Tagalog language of the Philippines and means tuber. It is in the same family as taro root but a different color. “These cookies are made from Ube because it’s been too hard to get taro root right now,” Aquino said. “I brought these from Hawaii myself.” Sounds very interesting. We should give them a try.

San Diego Poke Company currently has only one location, having sold their Hillcrest location this past year. They currently have three tables for outdoor dining but the bulk of their business is takeout.

Located at 10387 Friars Road, you can see all of their menu offerings at www.sdpokeco.com.

– Robin Dohrn-Simpson is a local food and travel writer. Reach her at: robindohrnsimpson.com.