{"id":250190,"date":"2026-05-31T23:59:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T23:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/250190\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T23:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T23:59:08","slug":"the-best-poke-in-new-york-may-well-be-hiding-in-the-hamptons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/250190\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Poke In New York May Well Be Hiding In The Hamptons"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Chef and fisherman Henry Margaritis, co-owner of Hardwood Poke<\/a>, told me that on Memorial Weekend in the Hamptons he went through 700 pounds of fresh tuna for his poke and sold out within hours, I knew it was time to inquire.<\/p>\n

Chef Henry Margaritis, co-owner of Hardwood Poke in Water Mill catches his own tuna.<\/p>\n

Hardwood Poke<\/p>\n

Until then, I must admit that I\u2019d looked down on poke. First, I\u2019d never been to Hawaii, where the dish originates (my bad), then I watched my teenage son slurp through many a delivered poke past midnight and thought it (wrong again) a fad. Finally, I love tuna tartare, the distant cousin of steak tartare, invented in 1984 by Shigefumi Tachibe, a Japanese-born chef in Beverly Hills who trained in France. How could poke compete?<\/p>\n

Within the last two summers, however, as I drove Route 27 in Water Mill at a snail\u2019s pace, I\u2019d see from the corner of my eye a tiny bright red food truck sitting across from The Green Thumb<\/a>, my favorite organic farm stand. Last year I noticed stylized tuna painted along its side. Another fisherman selling his daily catch, I thought. I wasn\u2019t completely wrong. But it read Hardwood Poke Co., and this year, the happy buzz of a contented crowd almost drowned the sound of traffic. I was ready to plunge my chopsticks into the bowl.<\/p>\n

It’s impossible to miss this poke truck on Route 27 in Water Mill.<\/p>\n

Hardwood Poke<\/p>\n

Poke, meaning to cut or slice into chunks in Hawaiian, was born centuries ago as a fisherman\u2019s snack. The reef fish was often rubbed with salt and mixed with seaweed and a traditional candlenut relish called inamona. During the late 19thCentury, Japanese immigrants to Hawaii brought ingredients like soy sauce and sesame oil and tuna became the fish of choice. Markets and stores later began to offer the more modern versions, but it wasn\u2019t until the early 2000s that poke made the jump from regional specialty to hip appetizer and even \u201cperfect\u201d fast-casual bowl. In 2018, Forbes writer Andria Cheng reported here<\/a> that the dish had become a national staple.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d tasted poke,\u201d said Chef Margaritis, \u201cbut it wasn\u2019t until I ate it in Hawaii with my partner Mariah Rocker, who was born on Big Island, that I realized how insanely delicious it could be. The key is fresh tuna, not frozen, ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

This may be the best poke in New York. The tuna is fresh and has never been frozen.<\/p>\n

Hardwood Poke<\/p>\n

Born in Roslyn, N.Y. but now based in Southampton, the chef has been obsessed with catching tuna since he stepped on a boat off Moriches at age 14. He attended the International Culinary Center in Manhattan and worked as a line cook in New York, Miami and then Quogue, where he became sous-chef under Chef Matt Birnstill at the Quogue Club<\/a>. Every summer, though he would either quit his job or beg to be allowed days off to go catch tuna. <\/p>\n

After Mariah moved from Hawaii to Southampton in 2023 and the two started living together, they realized that offering the best possible poke in the Hamptons could bring together all of Henry\u2019s passions.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father,\u201d he said, \u201ca passionate cabinet maker, always told me find something you love to do so you never have to work a day in your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

For years, the young man felt this made no sense. But once the poke truck idea became a reality, thanks to his brother who helps with merch, his partner Mariah, and the Green Thumb family who let him redesign, renovate and use their old truck, as well as park on their land, he finally got it. Hardwood Poke would open from Fridays to Sundays.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first year, I caught 90% of the fish we sold,\u201d he said. \u201cLast year I caught 40% of it and had two friends run my boat for the rest, because the demand grew so much, I had no time.\u201d He also closed early because the couple welcomed a son, Leo, at the end of the summer.<\/p>\n

This year, he reached out to what he calls his \u201ctuna network buddies\u201d to make sure he has enough fresh fish. On Memorial Day, though, he and Mariah hung up the sold-out sign around 1:30 pm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI completely underestimated how many people would show up,\u201d said Margaritis. <\/p>\n

Last Friday, before the opening at 11 AM, I was the first person to line up at the truck. I ordered half ginger scallion and half spicy ahi. I sat with my cardboard bowl on the lawn and savored the best raw tuna I\u2019d ever had. It was sprinkled with furikake, tobiko, ethereal but crunchy fried onions and tempura flakes. What\u2019s next, I asked the chef after the run, certain he would mention a counter somewhere or even plans for a brick-and-mortar eatery. <\/p>\n

\u201cThursdays,\u201d he said proudly. \u201cIn July and August, we will open Thursdays through Sundays.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Chef and fisherman Henry Margaritis, co-owner of Hardwood Poke, told me that on Memorial Weekend in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[97591,8032,11166,18475,97592,15745,97593,9,11,10,97594,97596,97595],"class_list":["post-250190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-best-poke-in-new-york","tag-chef","tag-fish","tag-hamptons","tag-hardwood-poke","tag-hawaii","tag-memorial-weekend","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-poke","tag-sold-out","tag-tuna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}