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Neighborhood Eats: Savoring Poke Man Sushi Bowls

It's sushi in a bowl!

The Kern family vacation gave way to one heck of an idea for a food business in San Antonio.

Sushi fanatic Kevin Kern decided to put his money where his mouth was with some help from business partner Rod Duckworth.

This all starts with Kern's brother in California who took him and wife Ashley to a restaurant that served sushi in a bowl.

"We ended up going back three days in a row," Kern said. " We're like we gotta bring that idea here because there's nothing here like it."

By the time the California transplant got back to San Antonio he wanted to share the goodness.

"I started making it for family and friends," Kern said. "Everybody was like wow. This is amazing. You really got something here."

His would be business partner was very skeptical about investing in the bowled sushi concept.

"You want to do what?" Duckworth asked. "I tried it and fell in love with it."

The team gave an old snow cone trailer a new lease on life. It became Poke Man Sushi Bowls. They opened in early November 2017.

Duckworth explained the bowls are custom made for each customer. Patrons build their bowl in five phases: Base (rice or salad), layer (fruit and vegetables). protein (seafood), sauce and toppings.

Kern said the sushi bowls give customers larger portions than traditional sushi rolls.

Neighborhood Eats was provided with a three bowl sampler starting with the chef's choice.

According to Kern, some consumers aren't sure what they should order. In those cases, the chef asks a few questions then builds a bowl for you.

Ok. Surprise us!

The first sushi bowl for Neighborhood Eats was raw and flavorful: Masago, pineapple, sesame salad, onions, ginger, cucumbers, avocado, edamame, kizami nori, salmon and ahi tuna poke, teriyaki sauce, garlic chili and ponzu over white rice. ¡Qué rico!

Selection number two was cooked shrimp, crab and scallops, pineapple, ginger, edamame, seaweed salad, cucumbers, onions, cilantro, masago, eel sauce, ponzu, sesame and spicy mayo over white rice. ¡Qué rico!

The final sushi bowl was a vegan/vegetarian option: Brown rice, avocado, ginger, edamame, cucumbers, onions, seaweed salad, kizami nori grilled tofu, sesame oil, garlic chili and eel sauce. ¡Qué rico!

To the surprise of Neighborhood Eats seared sashimi became a part of the taste test too. ¡Qué rico!

A regular sushi bowl is nearly $9.00. The large bowl (which could feed two) is almost $12.00. To catch up with the Poke man Sushi Bowls is monitoring their Facebook page.

That's this week's edition of Neighborhood Eats. If you have a suggestion for Marvin send him an email (Mhurst@kens5.com), tweet (@Mhurstkens5) or post it on his Facebook page. #KENS5EATS

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