Outside Jus' Poke in South Redondo Beach
Outside Jus’ Poke in South Redondo Beach

Ever since Beach Cities Donuts closed, I closely watched the space it occupied in hopes that a cool restaurant would take it’s place. Brown paper covered the windows and magically, overnight, a sign appeared – Jus’ Poke – and there were already customers inside!

The name intrigued me: Jus’ Poke.  How can a place survive just by selling poke?

The line inside Jus' Poke
The line inside Jus’ Poke

After they opened for lunch, I stopped by. I was astonished to see a line going out the door as I walked up to their establishment.  There was definitely a good buzz among the people there.

Inside Jus' Poke
Inside Jus’ Poke

The name, Jus’ Poke reflects the simplicity of their menu.  Poke is the main course and there are six different varieties to choose from:

Then you get to choose two sides to go along with your poke.

Jus’ Poke also offers free toppings such as sesame seeds and furikake (Japanese rice seasoning).

Top left to bottom right: seaweed salad, rice with furikake, picked cucumbers and original and wasbi poke
Top left to bottom right: seaweed salad, rice with furikake, picked cucumbers and original and wasbi poke

I ordered a large and they let me split the order with half original and half wasabi.  I also ordered seaweed salad and paid an additional $1 for their pickled cucumbers.

The marinade for the original was pretty good, but I really liked the wasabi poke. The wasabi poke is made with wasabi creme, green onions and finely sliced serrano peppers. It had a nice amount of heat; but not so much that it would cause me to order an additional beverage.

Coconut with pineapple ice cream
Coconut with pineapple ice cream

The coconut pineapple ice cream was a nice surprise. Given the Hawaiian theme, I thought that it would be loaded with coconut and I was pleasantly surprised that the coconut taste was mild. Small chunks of pineapple were mixed in the ice cream.

Given their reasonable price of $9.50 for a regular combo and $14 for a large combo, Jus’ Poke will become one of my regular eating establishments.