Kosher Poke Bowl in Murray Hill: Koshe Poke on 34th

Koshe Poke closes at 3pm on Fridays and stays dark all Saturday, because this Murray Hill counter at 43 East 34th Street, between Madison and Park Avenues, runs on a kosher schedule. From Sunday to Thursday it serves from 11am to 8:30pm. Anyone searching poke bowl near me around the Empire State Building gets one clear proposition here: a fully custom bowl, burrito or salad at a flat $22.95 on its online ordering page, built from a menu the shop says covers more than 50 choices.

The shop dates itself to 2016, and the name is a pun on kosher. When it opened that August, the kosher food site Yeah That's Kosher reported it as the first kosher poke eatery in New York City, set up as a counter inside Eden Wok, the kosher Chinese restaurant that shares the 34th Street address. Bowls cost $13 back then, which gives a sense of how far Midtown lunch prices have moved in a decade.

The arrangement still holds. Koshe Poke's contact email sits on the kosherinmidtown.com domain, the same group behind Eden Wok, and the counter works as one station among several kosher kitchens under one roof. That matters on a practical level: a table of four can split between poke, Chinese and other kosher options without anyone having to find a second restaurant.

There are no named signature bowls, so ordering means walking through six steps. First comes the base: brown rice, white rice or quinoa for a bowl, white rice and seaweed for a burrito, or romaine, spinach or kale for a salad. Second is a single protein: raw tuna, salmon or yellowtail, surimi, grilled tuna, grilled salmon, tofu or egg. Each additional protein costs $2.

Step three is where people slow the line down. You pick six add-ins from thirteen, including carrot, cucumber, avocado, sweet corn, sweet onion, edamame, diced mango, scallion, hearts of palm, mandarin orange, cherry tomato, mushroom and sweet potato. Six is a lot. A combination that keeps the fish in front is cucumber, avocado, scallion, sweet onion, edamame and mango, which balances crunch, fat and a little fruit.

Step four is one sauce from Hawaiian salt, ponzu, sriracha aioli, wasabi aioli, spicy ginger, mild ginger and sweet chili. With raw tuna or yellowtail, Hawaiian salt or ponzu lets the fish taste like fish. Save the aiolis for grilled salmon or tofu, where a creamy sauce adds something the protein lacks. Step five offers optional masago, seaweed salad, wasabi or ginger.

Step six is two crispies from a list that includes sesame seeds, dry noodles, crispy onions, dried cilantro, macadamia nuts, walnuts and sunflower seeds, with $2 for each extra. Macadamia nuts nod to Hawaii and hold their crunch longer than crispy onions, which go soft within ten minutes if you are carrying the bowl back to an office.

The grilled tuna and grilled salmon options are worth knowing about if someone in your group avoids raw fish, or if you are ordering for a pregnant colleague. They turn the bowl into something closer to a warm rice plate, and the sriracha aioli or sweet chili sauce suits them better than the light Hawaiian salt seasoning that works on raw cuts.

At $22.95, the bowl is not cheap, and the honest advice is not to pay for extras you will not taste. A second protein at $2 makes sense if you want both raw tuna and salmon. Adding a third crispy does not; two already crowd the top of the bowl. The burrito costs the same as the bowl but holds less fish in each bite, so the bowl is the better value.

Miso soup is $9.25 on the ordering page, which is steep for a side, and on a busy lunch it adds little to a bowl that already carries seaweed and soy. A canned soda costs $1.75 and a bottle of water $2.75. If you are feeding a group, the shop takes catering orders and invites larger parties and luncheons to call ahead.

The block sits between big office buildings on Madison and Park Avenues and the shopping stretch toward Herald Square, so the noon hour fills the counter with office workers ordering to go. Arriving at 11am or after 2pm makes the six-step process far less stressful, since you can think about add-ins without a queue behind you.

Fridays need planning. The kitchen stops at 3pm ahead of Shabbat, and on Saturday the shop is closed all day, so weekend visitors should aim for Sunday, when it opens at 11am. If the poke station is backed up on a weekday, Eden Wok under the same roof is the obvious plan B, and its kosher Chinese menu is a quicker order when you are short on time.

The Empire State Building at 20 West 34th Street is about two blocks west, and its observation decks are open from 9am to 10pm. A bowl eaten before going up makes sense, since the line for the elevators can take longer than lunch. On a clear October afternoon, the view south toward the Flatiron District is worth the timing.

Two blocks north, the Morgan Library and Museum sits at 225 Madison Avenue on 36th Street, in the original library J. P. Morgan built for his collection. It pairs well with a quiet poke lunch for anyone who prefers manuscripts and drawings to observation-deck crowds.

Address: 43 East 34th Street, New York, NY 10016, between Madison and Park Avenues. Hours: Sunday to Thursday 11am to 8:30pm, Friday 11am to 3pm, closed Saturday. Nearest subway: the 6 train at 33 Street, about two blocks away; Herald Square for the B, D, F, M, N, Q, R and W lines is three avenues west. Bowls, burritos and salads are $22.95; extra proteins and crispies cost $2 each. Order online through the link on koshepoke.com for pickup or delivery.