This week, I had the honor of visiting one of Rio Rancho’s newest spots, Poke Serrano.
Poke Serrano is a locally owned Asian-Latin fusion restaurant that serves up Hawaiian poke bowls, seafood and cooked entrees as well.
Now, I know poke bowls are all the rage, but I couldn’t give you the definition of a poke bowl even if someone offered me all of King Midas’s gold. So, I had to ask my best friend, whose name is Google.
According to the internet, poke is a Hawaiian dish of diced raw fish tossed in sauce and served either as an appetizer or a main course. Oh, and the funny thing is that I’ve hated fish for most of my life.
When I was a wee lad, I loved fish; tuna and crackers were my go-to snack. When I was 4, my dad took me fishing at a fish hatchery in Oregon. We caught a fish, and when I saw it, I asked my dad, “Is that what a fish looks like?” Then someone with a Nickelback tank top cut the head off of the fish, and that’s when I declared to my dad that I was never eating fish again. From that day on, I’ve kept my word. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been to Red Lobster and only ordered their cheddar biscuits.
My goal is to share wonderful food in Rio Rancho, and I will try anything that our wonderful city has to offer.
I was amped to walk through the doors at Poke Serrano, and even more energized when every employee greeted me and made me feel welcome.I spoke with the awesome manager, and with his help, I decided to order a Ceviche Tostada and their signature Boss Bowl. Their Boss Bowl comes with tortilla chips, rice, spicy tuna, salmon, tuna, spicy poke sauce, their fusion mayo, avocado, crab, edamame, jalapeño corn, green onion, masago, onion crisps and avocado wasabi aioli. Their Ceviche Tostada came with fried corn tortilla chips, shrimp, pico de gallo, cilantro, all mixed in a roasted jalapeño lime sauce.
The Ceviche Tostada was refreshing, clean and delightfully acidic. The crunch of the tortilla chips with the tenderness of the shrimp was simply amazing.
The Boss Bowl had an insane amount of delicious flavors and all kinds of textures. The bowl had so many colors to it, and the presentation was a work of art. The fish proteins in the bowl were raw, had a very clean taste and an unexpected but welcome, buttery flavor. This was my first time ever trying raw fish and, yeah, I've been missing out.
Next, I got a milk tea with tapioca pearls (boba balls) and some of their macarons. Both items were from The Sweet Cup, which connects to Poke Serrano. The Sweet Cup offers homemade sweet treats, boba tea, coffee, espresso and frozen yogurt.
Macarons from The Sweet Cup
The milk tea was sweet, creamy, refreshing and silky. The macarons were a phenomenal balance of sweet and nutty and the perfect treat for any cheat day.
I wasn’t finished yet. I was highly encouraged by some of the customers to try a drink from what they told me was "the best bar menu in the 505."As most telemarketers know, I am not easily swayed, but who knows? Maybe I will start a new column in the future called Danny Drinks, but until then only low-calorie Body Armor, lemonade and H20 for this guy.
I will tell you though, a mixed drink came out and it looked BOMB! The drink that came out was the Serrano New York Sour, which is one of their most popular drinks. The Serrano New York Sour is made with Maker’s Mark bourbon, Cachaca, Licor 43, lemon and Malbec. The drink looked so amazing that I had to snap a pic.
My experience at Poke Serrano was wonderful. This is a fantastic eating spot, and it offers a cool bar with some garage doors, which are perfect for some summer hangs. More importantly, they have something for everybody.
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