---
title: "Nation’s Restaurant News: There’s A New Food Phenomenon Sweeping the Nation—Poke"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/8bf73ff9-ccfc-4265-89c3-04a694ce5285
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/nations-restaurant-news-theres-a-new-food-phenomenon-sweeping-the-nation-poke-5573
category: "Fast casual"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Fast casual"
published: 2016-08-22T18:13:00.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T12:20:40.451Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/c404a80dc75e4af827fbb63382a641056372160822124855.jpg
---

# Nation’s Restaurant News: There’s A New Food Phenomenon Sweeping the Nation—Poke

**TL;DR:** Poke, a Hawaiian dish of diced raw fish, is gaining popularity across the US as a versatile and healthy food option. The dish is being adopted by restaurants as an appetizer, light meal, and basis for new concepts.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2016-08-22. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/nations-restaurant-news-theres-a-new-food-phenomenon-sweeping-the-nation-poke-5573).*

## Story

Raw fish is nothing new, but poke—a hyper-regional Hawaiian dish of diced, uncooked fish with local seasonings—is breaking out from its island base in a big way.

Poke is sweeping the nation, and the dish is showing remarkable versatility as an appetizer, a light meal and even as the basis for entirely new restaurant concepts. The reason for poke’s sudden popularity could be its health halo, or its customizable nature. But there’s no question that at the moment, this raw dish is hot.

“I think there’s a phenomenon going on right now [around poke],” said Carlito Jocson, executive chef of Yard House, a 66-unit casual-dining chain based in Irvine, Calif. “It’s become part of the food culture right now, and something people are really gravitating toward.”

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- restaurant concepts (topic)
- hawaiian cuisine (topic)
- Yard House (company)
- food trend (topic)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/nations-restaurant-news-theres-a-new-food-phenomenon-sweeping-the-nation-poke-5573). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/8bf73ff9-ccfc-4265-89c3-04a694ce5285).