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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Poke bowls and ice cream rolls, in the same spot

Yummy’s Ice Cream Rolls is opening a sister location, Poke Express, specializing rolled rice cream, like the strawberry one seen here, as well as poke bowls. Customers can build their own or order pre-set combinations. (Jesse Tinsley / The Spokesman-Review)
By Adriana Janovich adrianaj@spokesman.com(509) 459-5446

Poke Express opens Friday on Spokane’s South Hill.

The shop specializes in Hawaiian-style poke bowls and Thai-inspired rolled ice cream. It’s located in a former Subway shop next door to Fleur de Sel Artisan Creperie in the same strip mall as the Press lounge.

Customers get to choose their base: brown rice, white rice, tortilla chips or spring mix. Then, they can add a protein: salmon (regular or spicy), ahi tuna (regular or spicy), octopus, tofu, albacore and unagi.

After that, it’s time to add three sides: sweet corn, cilantro, jalapeno, scallions, seaweed salad, edamame, ginger, avocado, carrot, mango, pineapple, peppers and more. (Extra sides are 99 cents each.)

Dress it up with one of several sauces, including ponzu (regular or spicy), mayo (regular or spicy), wasabi and eel. Finally, choose a topping: crispy onion, sesame seeds, wasabi peas or shredded nori. (Extra toppings are 50 cents each.)

Can’t decide? Poke Express offers four pre-set bowls for $11.95 each. Look for salmon poke with cucumber, avocado, red onion, sesame oil and house sauce. Or, try tuna poke with seaweed salad, green and red peppers, scallions, avocado, red onion, sesame oil and house sauce.

The unagi bowl features grilled unagi with seaweed salad, cucumber, yellow radish, avocado and unagi sauce. And the buddha poke features tofu and similar sides.

Rolled ice cream bowls are $6.99 each and feature 19 pre-set options or the chance to build your own rolled ice cream sundae.

Sundaes come in one size and come with six rolls made from 8 ounces of base. Ingredients – Oreos, Froot Loops, graham crackers, strawberries – are chopped into the ice cream base atop a round steel plate that’s kept at 5 to 10 degrees below zero. Then, the mixture is spread thin, like a crepe, and pushed into rolls with a kitchen tool that resembles a putty knife.

Mix-ins include mango, banana, strawberry, huckleberry, raspberry, blackberry, kiwi, peach, graham crackers, chocolate chip cookies, Oreos and Froot Loops.

Toppings include lychee, Skittles, Gummy Bears, marshmallows, M&Ms, sprinkles, whipped cream, and strawberry, green tea and Oreo Pocky.

Sauces are caramel, chocolate, white chocolate, mango, strawberry, raspberry, kiwi, cinnamon and condensed milk.

The same owners opened a sister location, Yummy Ice Cream Rolls, mid-March in the Logan Square shopping center near Gonzaga University.

Hours at Poke Express are 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It’s located at 905 S. Grand Blvd. Call: (509) 960-7739. On the web: http://pokeexpressspokane.com.