I admit that the last time I was in Hawaii, I was probably around 3 years old, so even if I tried authentic Hawaiian poke… it’s been juuust a little while since then.  Fortunately for me, the dish is gaining in popularity!  Not only can I find it on the menus of regular restaurants nowadays, there are entire shops devoted to crafting an amazing poke experience and even a festival!

The I Love Poke festival has been going strong in San Diego for five years now, so I was excited when I found out that they were coming north to Orange County!  There was tons of food, lovely music, and the weather was absolutely perfect!

There was also a judging panel on hand to pick out the favorite poke dish of the day, to dole out who would have bragging rights!

Are you ready for some food photos?  I’m mostly going to let the pictures speak for themselves, but I’ll just have to comment on some of my favorites.  🙂

Also, disclaimer because there are a few items that I honestly just took a quick picture of before wolfing down, so I didn’t get a chance to document what restaurants they came from.

With that said, let’s go!

The organizers did a great job of including different items besides poke for the crowd to nibble on, like this fried rice that included SPAM.  Hawaiians love it!  😉

Chef Julio Hawkins

Chef Ben LaFleche

Chef Shawn Gole

Chef Andy Tanaka

Possibly one of the prettiest presentations!

MRK Public

Albacore tuna poke : wakame seaweed, pickled red onions, scallions, toasted sesame, fried garlic, nori, taro chips

Chef Rayne Frey

My friend and I chose this as one of our top dishes of the night!  I’m definitely adding this restaurant to my list based on this dish alone!

Good Choice Sushi

Da Kine Poke : Big eye tuna, green onion, Maui onion, Japanese chili, sesame oil, soy sauce, Hawaiian rock salt, alae salt, macadamia nut, chipotle mayo

Chef Hiko Hori

This was definitely one of my favorites, so I’m not surprised that it tied for third place with…

Sushi Studio Arts

Salmon Poke : poke of fresh salmon, seaweed salad, wasabi aioli and caviar

Chef Vu Nguyen

A gorgeous presentation with caviar?  Why yes please!

True World Foods

Lilikoi-infused Kiawe Smoked Salmon Poke – poke of sustainable New Zealand salmon (kiawe smoked), fresh organic lilikoi, cucumber, red onions, chives, honey, togarashi and mirin

Chef Maui Canosa

This dish came in second place and not because of the gorgeous display of fresh seafood nearby.  Deeelish!

Zarlito’s

Chefs Chris Aure and Big Mike

In fact, we had seconds, thirds, and possibly fourths of this poke.  Our favorite, hands down!

By the way, you might be wondering about the non-poke dishes that I mentioned above.  Let’s take a look, because they were equally as delectable!

For the slider above, they used a SPAM that is only available on the Hawaiian islands right now.  What a treat for this poke-loving crowd!

I looooooved this sandwich.  It’s seriously the kind of thing that I’m willing to drive a few hours for.  San Diego road trip anyone?

The desserts were wonderful as well!  Let’s see a few.  🙂

Gorgeous!

There were two other flavors that ran out before we got there, but maybe that’s good or else we would have eaten all five!

It was such a lovely festival and in a wonderful setting as well.  Seriously, take a look at this sunset!

I am so excited to attend next year and, in the meantime, try a few of my new favorite Hawaiian restaurants above.  It’s equally exciting to find out that some of them are close by, but I will definitely make a trip for a dish or two!

I Love Poke Festival – OC @ Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort
21100 Pacific Coast Hwy
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
http://onoyum.com/