Poke bowl spot Poketo opens in Merrick

Can you remember a time before poke bowls? Until last summer there were only a handful of restaurants serving them as appetizers. Then came the flood. Starting with Shiny Coffee Healthy Poke in Bethpage and Kai Poke in Huntington, the poke bowl specialists started popping up faster than burger joints.

Hot on the heels of last week’s debut of Island Poke in Roosevelt Field comes Poketo in Merrick, which opened on March 1.

Poketo is designed for takeout: the bulk of the store is occupied by a counter displaying poke fixings behind a protective wall of glass — which can make verbal communication difficult.

Choose your base (white or brown rice, salad, spiralized zucchini (two trends in one bowl!) or burrito wrap, and your “main” (ahi tuna, spicy tuna, yellowtail, salmon, octopus, shrimp, crab stick, eel, scallop, tofu or chicken) then move to sauces, mix-ins and toppings.

A basic poke bowl is $10.95, a large is $12.95. There are also six signature “house poke” bowls such as spicy yuzu (spicy tuna, cucumber, mango, yuzu sauce, radish, $9.95) and seafood harvest (scallops, shrimp, crab stick, sesame oil, masago, seaweed salad, house dressing, $13.95. )

You can also eat in at one of about a dozen counter stools.

Poketo is at 2251 Merrick Rd., Merrick, 516-600-9410, poketomerrick.com.