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More than a late-night munchies spot
Veg-friendly student favorite good enough for all
A tasty and very cheesy chile relleno. Pokéz Mexican Restaurant.
A skateboarding Aztec greets you at the door til 3am.
I'd actually never been to Pokéz, though I've heard about it repeatedly over the years. Everybody I know who went to college in this town seems to have fond memories of the "vegetarian Mexican eatery." Maybe I always got hung up on that word, vegetarian, and the fact I in no way need to venture downtown to find good Mexican.
While the latter holds true, now that I've had a chance to sit down and enjoy Pokéz, I realize it's not wholly vegetarian, it just skews that way by being lard-free. Which actually suits my frame of mind these days. I also really dig the interior – a cheap but (mostly) tasteful wood nailed to drywall construction decorated by skateboard art and a few more adventurous pieces, including the bizarre little plywood Aztec caricature that greets you within a door framed by hundreds of band, skate and clothing label stickers.
So yeah, some kind of collegiate welcome, backed up by a lengthy, varied and budget-friendly menu. I get why my State alum friends see it as hallowed ground. But I haven't aged out — I still love to pore over a healthy Mexican menu bolstered by a little friendly table service and complimentary basket of chips with salsa.
The green taco made me feel like I was getting revenge on Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors.
I crunched away on those chips while it dawned on me there were actually plenty of beef, chicken and chorizo options to be had. But I wanted to cherish the place as a veggie destination, so I decided to start by trying one of Pokéz's "unusual usuals." The green taco ($4.25) is described as "slices of avocado and cucumber wrapped in a lettuce leaf." Pretty apt description, except they served mine with cabbage, which I actually considered an upgrade. Still, aside from these ingredients, there was nothing — no pico de gallo or any sort of dressing. I grabbed some tapatio and dug in to what amounted to a handheld naked salad. Truth is, I finished it in pieces, as I preferred each of the (potentially organic) ingredients individually more than as a team.
A memorble Pokéz dish, the mahi mahi taco. Pokéz Mexican Restaurant.
Okay, so skewing extreme vegan isn't my bag. Nevermind, because I also picked out a perennial favorite, the chile relleno. The cheesy pepper and cheesy ranchero sauce adorning it were each mild yet flavorful. Not the best I've had, but a welcome and messy upgrade from the too-clean veggies of the green taco. Given the kooky ambiance of the place, the $4.50 relleno would be enough to lure me anytime for a cheap meal among friends.
Then I tried the fish taco. Even for mahi mahi, I thought 5 bucks seemed like a sort of spendy taco for a place so otherwise affordable. But I was judging against little four-inch tortilla street tacos. This soft corn tortilla measured more like seven or eight, packed thick with grilled fish, pico and cabbage. The mahi was moist, well-cooked, somewhere between flaky and chewy, and super tasty. This was the clincher that would've kept barely-legal Ian coming back here, and will probably still keep old-man Ian revisiting downtown in years to come. The place may be an institution of San Diego youth, but by my esteem, locals of any size may enjoy this ride.
Here's something you might be interested in.
More than a late-night munchies spot
Veg-friendly student favorite good enough for all
More than a late-night munchies spot
Veg-friendly student favorite good enough for all
A tasty and very cheesy chile relleno. Pokéz Mexican Restaurant.
A skateboarding Aztec greets you at the door til 3am.
I'd actually never been to Pokéz, though I've heard about it repeatedly over the years. Everybody I know who went to college in this town seems to have fond memories of the "vegetarian Mexican eatery." Maybe I always got hung up on that word, vegetarian, and the fact I in no way need to venture downtown to find good Mexican.
While the latter holds true, now that I've had a chance to sit down and enjoy Pokéz, I realize it's not wholly vegetarian, it just skews that way by being lard-free. Which actually suits my frame of mind these days. I also really dig the interior – a cheap but (mostly) tasteful wood nailed to drywall construction decorated by skateboard art and a few more adventurous pieces, including the bizarre little plywood Aztec caricature that greets you within a door framed by hundreds of band, skate and clothing label stickers.
So yeah, some kind of collegiate welcome, backed up by a lengthy, varied and budget-friendly menu. I get why my State alum friends see it as hallowed ground. But I haven't aged out — I still love to pore over a healthy Mexican menu bolstered by a little friendly table service and complimentary basket of chips with salsa.
The green taco made me feel like I was getting revenge on Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors.
I crunched away on those chips while it dawned on me there were actually plenty of beef, chicken and chorizo options to be had. But I wanted to cherish the place as a veggie destination, so I decided to start by trying one of Pokéz's "unusual usuals." The green taco ($4.25) is described as "slices of avocado and cucumber wrapped in a lettuce leaf." Pretty apt description, except they served mine with cabbage, which I actually considered an upgrade. Still, aside from these ingredients, there was nothing — no pico de gallo or any sort of dressing. I grabbed some tapatio and dug in to what amounted to a handheld naked salad. Truth is, I finished it in pieces, as I preferred each of the (potentially organic) ingredients individually more than as a team.
A memorble Pokéz dish, the mahi mahi taco. Pokéz Mexican Restaurant.
Okay, so skewing extreme vegan isn't my bag. Nevermind, because I also picked out a perennial favorite, the chile relleno. The cheesy pepper and cheesy ranchero sauce adorning it were each mild yet flavorful. Not the best I've had, but a welcome and messy upgrade from the too-clean veggies of the green taco. Given the kooky ambiance of the place, the $4.50 relleno would be enough to lure me anytime for a cheap meal among friends.
Then I tried the fish taco. Even for mahi mahi, I thought 5 bucks seemed like a sort of spendy taco for a place so otherwise affordable. But I was judging against little four-inch tortilla street tacos. This soft corn tortilla measured more like seven or eight, packed thick with grilled fish, pico and cabbage. The mahi was moist, well-cooked, somewhere between flaky and chewy, and super tasty. This was the clincher that would've kept barely-legal Ian coming back here, and will probably still keep old-man Ian revisiting downtown in years to come. The place may be an institution of San Diego youth, but by my esteem, locals of any size may enjoy this ride.
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