With President Trump extending the “stay at home” guidelines until the end of April,
it looks like all of us are going to have get used to being quarantined. That doesn’t mean it has to be ghastly boring, though. In light of this, your Bonito Poke family has compiled some things you and your family can do during your stay together! *Finish a jigsaw puzzle. Nope, not those small ones. Go for those huge 5,000- piece ones! You have all the time in the world anyway. *Pick up a new language. Remember when you were so busy at work that you’ve put off learning French or German for your upcoming trip to Europe? Yeah, us too. (Also, learning a new language, even just the basics, is always a useful hard skill!) Duolingo, a language learning app, is helps a lot! *Catch up on your Netflix to-watch list. Netflix (and other streaming service providers) have been churning out new content faster than usual. That bodes good news for you, o quarantined one! Steve’s recommends anything that you find pleasing to watch. Renz recommends the new season of Westworld on HBO and Better Call Saul on AMC. Bryan recommends binging on Youtube *Watch Start Wars, Harry Potter, rewatch the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Forth Eorlingas! *Get fit. Personal health has been put off by some of us because of our busy schedules. It isn’t enough that you eat right by grabbing your daily bowl of Bonito Poke (ayyy), you also need to exercise. Now, you can’t use that late afternoon meeting as an excuse as to why you didn’t hit the gym. Granted, gyms are closed right now. But indoor exercising has never been easier with YouTube and the internet on your side. Or you know, call your personal trainer over. Just tell him to maintain a distance of 6 feet from you. *Read, read, read. We can’t stress this enough. Pick up a novel. Pick up your grad school reading. Pick up a cookbook. Read articles online. Use this time to grow your knowledge! *Keep a journal or a diary. We lost track of what day it is sometime last week. Time is but a concept now. Ground yourself by keeping tabs on what happened each day. Decompress by recording what you felt by the end of the day. It will help you get through this; we promise! Support your local businesses. Okay, this might be a bit of a stretch, but hear us out. A lot of your favorite restaurants and businesses are still open, including us. Help us bring some normalcy in to your days by ordering from us the meals you’d order during your lunch break. Fiesta Bowl with extra spicy aioli? Cali Bowl with extra crab salad? Is your mouth watering yet? Tell us how you’re spending your quarantine season in the comments section below!
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It’s official. The US is now the designated epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic,
overtaking China. As of March 26, the US has now 85,268 cases across all 50 states. While this is definitely a bad thing, it is only natural for the number of confirmed cases to rise as more people get tested. If some people weren’t taking this virus seriously before, they definitely should now. Basic guidelines on sanitation like proper hand washing are promulgated extensively. Furthermore, a lockdown order across California saw all non-essential businesses shutter their doors. Restaurants and eateries, declared as essential by the US government, can still operate provided they do take-outs or deliveries. With the number of cases in the US still projected to rise, it would be a safe assumption to say that this lockdown order will go on for several more weeks. A lot of businesses cannot weather this. Some have already closed down permanently, saving themselves the heartbreak waiting for them at the end of the tunnel. That is not true for all though. Some are still optimistic, hoping that they get through these trying times. Restaurants and eateries across The Bay have quickly created delivery and take-out systems that weren’t present before to cater and serve the customers and friends they have known through the years. Bonito Poke has launched its online ordering and anyone can start ordering online and pick up orders starting this Saturday (3/27/2020) from 11:30am to 6:30pm at the 701 Valencia st, San Francisco, CA. With The Rona (as the young kids would like to call this pandemic) still on the loose, it looks like we’re in this for the long haul. But we’re weathering through this together. Stay safe, fishfam. As of March 19, Governor Newsom announced that California is under lockdown. That means all non-essential business are to be closed, while essential businesses can keep running. Under that “essential business” umbrella is Food and Agriculture. That includes restaurants and other food establishments.
We are still able to serve our clientele in these trying times, but we are limited to pickups and deliveries. While Bonito Poke has always been a food truck business, we understand that for us to be able to continue serving the community we have been a part of for the past three years, we must adapt. And adapt we did. We have worked tirelessly with our partner Sleek to be able to provide you a platform where you can easily order the bowls you have been missing these past few days. We made the user interface as straightforward as possible to give you the best ordering experience. We even did our best to replicate the flexibility that you have come to love when ordering from our truck! Payment is done on-site too and you will be given the option to pick it up on our temporary location at 701 Valencia St, San Francisco or have it delivered to your doorstep, free of charge! Do note that we are currently limiting our deliveries to San Francisco residents only. The site will be up starting March 21, and our Food Truck service hours are 11:30AM to 7:30PM and our Delivery service are 11:30am-5:30pm. Just click on the Button link below to order. We miss serving all of you in person. In the meantime, however, we’ll have to make do with this. Until then, stay safe and we hope to deliver our kick ass bowls to you all soon. Much love, Your Bonito Poke family To all our loyal customers, friends, and family Before anything else, the Bonito Poke team and I would like to thank everyone who has supported us and helped us for the past 3 years. We would not be where we are right now without you. These past few weeks have been tough for us. Hell, it’s been tough for everyone. Businesses have been ordered to close their doors until the end of the month, but we all know this could go beyond that. Bonito Poke was born in the Bay Area and we loved serving every single one of you. From our regulars at 1st and Howard, to those who would come out to see us in OMCA, Presidio, Alameda, and Fort Mason, serving you has been a privilege. And we would very much like to continue serving you in these trying times. You used to come to our truck, rain or shine, during better days. Let us come to you now in these trying times. We’re in the process of creating a new platform for ordering food and we’ll offer free delivery services from 11AM-3PM, across San Francisco. This platform will be completed ASAP and everyone will be updated on our Instagram. We’re also offering E-gift cards which you can use for our delivery service and our food truck service, once we resume. All storms pass. This one is no different.
When one thinks of spring, a vivid image of flowers blooming and the snow giving way to a greener scenery comes to mind. For restauranteurs and food vendors, spring is wonderful. It is much anticipated because winter is when business is at its slowest.
Well, things haven’t been going as planned... The COVID-19 has rapidly transformed from a local problem in China to a full-blown pandemic as declared by the World Health Organization. Governments around the world are scrambling to contain the virus as the death toll piles up every day. Some countries such as China and Italy have even imposed drastic measures to prevent the disease from spreading further. The United States isn’t exempt from the ravages of the coronavirus. Earlier this month, around 70 cases have been reported as the first wave and reports of the virus here in the US. Now, that number has ballooned to over 1,000. Prominent NBA player Rudy Gobert and his teammate Emmanuel Mudiay are the first confirmed cases in the sports world, while Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson are COVID-19’s first Hollywood victims. Aside from the obvious toll on people’s health, the virus is also decimating markets. Stock markets around the world are tumbling down while stores and shops around the world are experiencing their slowest days ever. Food businesses are hit extra hard with the whole coronavirus issue. People are staying indoors, either voluntarily or as mandated by the government. Whole offices, such as the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, are currently working remotely. This is a disaster in the making for the local food joints around offices since 60-70% of their daily revenue are from regulars who work in offices. To make matters even worse is that no one knows when this whole thing is going to blow over. In these trying times, it is absolutely imperative that restaurants and other food vendors adapt to the situation. For example, now that a sizable amount of the population is now cooped up in apartments and houses, a scheduled daily meal delivery subscription service might be an attractive alternative for businesses who aren’t getting enough traffic now. This isn’t the spring time we were all waiting for, but this is the spring time we have been given. Let’s all hope that resolution comes sooner rather than later. From your Bonito Poke family, we hope everyone’s doing well and staying safe. By Renz Regala
Poke has come a long way from its humble roots in the Aloha State. The dish, which literally translate to “to cut crosswise into pieces”,was traditionally prepared by local Hawaiian fishermen, who would season the cube cut-offs of their daily catch. Poke saw its popularity balloon in Hawaii in the 1960s, when it started to become more and more prominent and visible in local seafood markets and restaurants on the island. It is also interesting to note that prior to the shining of the local spotlight on poke in the 60s, poke was made using the small grey reef fish abundant in Hawaiian reefs. The much larger Yellowfin tuna would eventually replace the reef fish as the preferred protein of choice in traditional poke as the years went by. While poke may be a local success in Hawaii as early as the 60s, it would not be almost half a century later that poke would start appearing on the mainland USA. The poke that reached the mainland US would look very different from the first variations of the dish. Traditional authentic poke was quite simple to prepare. The fish would be seasoned with salt, roasted crushed candlenuts (locally known as kukui), and limu seaweed. That’s it. As time went by however, the dish evolved as people of different ethnicities gave their own unique take on poke. For example, the Japanese added shoyu to marinate and cure the fish. This, interestingly enough, would become the norm as the years went by and as the dish reached the mainland. Now, poke is found all over the United States and around the world in many different variations. Traditionalists would say the only acceptable protein for poke would either be ahi tuna or octopus. Now, one can find poke places that would serve salmon, shrimp, scallops, and even chicken on their bowls. The creativity of poke shops all over the country are in full display as they create unique bowls that draw inspiration from cuisines outside Hawaii, creating a new world of flavor altogether for their customers. Poke has evolved significantly from its humble beginnings in Hawaii. No doubt, this wonderful dish will continue to do so as the US and the world become more and more acquainted and enamored with it. |