From aerospace to cultural taste: Entrepreneur launches poke shop in downtown Bremerton

BREMERTON — Jason Gontinas opened a poke restaurant in downtown Bremerton this month.

It's not exactly what he's trained for professionally. The 33-year-old Bremerton High alum has served at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, holds an aeronautics degree and a technical management degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, worked as an engineer to develop jets for several top-notch aerospace companies after leaving the military, including at Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' rocket company, and even dipped his toe into the real estate industry.

Reluctant to keep a 9-to-5 schedule but possessing an interest in business and entrepreneurship, Gontinas gradually shifted his path to something local, personal and that he loves: poke, a dish that combines sliced fish with vegetables in a bowl of rice, pronounced po-kay.

"I personally just love poke," Gontinas said. "I grew up on it. I'm half Hawaiian, half Filipino."

"I wanted to be able to come out and build something that kind of was made out in my roots," he said.

Poke, boba tea, and meal prep now in downtown Bremerton

Gontinas' first Poke & Prep restaurant is located just outside the Bremerton Ferry Terminal, between South Pacific Sports Bar and LoCos Pizza on 1st Street.

"Got poke? Meals in under 5 minutes," is now written on a board outside the restaurant to greet, possibly, many who hopped off and on to the ferry to Seattle, or those working downtown.

Since the restaurant's soft opening on Jan. 5, Gontinas said many people have stopped by to have poke during lunch hours.

"I would say the majority of the people that come in are, either they work at the shipyard or they work at, like, the banks, or (local) business," Gontinas said.

Stepping into Poke & Prep, customers make their poke by choosing white rice, brown rice or greens as a base. Protein choices include spicy and non-spicy tuna and salmon, eel, and Ebi shrimp.

There are a variety of sides: seaweed salad, crab salad, tofu, pickled onions, pickled cucumber, and pickled carrots and daikons, edamame, avocado, green onions, masago, ginger, wasabi, crunch garlic, and fried onions.

The sauce options contain ponzu sauce, spicy mayo, eel sause and wasabi shoyu.

For first timers, Gontinas said salmon and tuna would be the protein choices he'd recommend as "those are traditional to my roots." The traditional salmon and tuna in a poke have a soy-based flavor and with a little bit of sesame oil, he said.

For those who don't like raw meat, there are eel and shrimp, Gontinas said.

"The eel is actually one of my favorites as well. It's not traditional to a normal poke, but the eel is very good. What we do is we take the eel and put it on a pan and then we scorch it right before we serve it," Gontinas said.

Poke & Prep's drink menu serves blended, fruity-flavored items, such as strawberry banana and taro, as well as milk tea flavors, like classic milk tea, Oolong milk tea and Jasmine green milk tea. All have an option to add tapioca balls to make the beverage a boba tea.

"I like personally the pineapple mango and the honeydew (blended). Those are my favorite," Gontinas said.

Gontinas is still preparing for the meal prep service that may be available in several weeks. Customers will be able to buy 5 meals (one meal in a day), 10 meals (two meals in a day), or 15 meals (three meals in a day) prepared by Poke & Prep's chef. Without contrasts or commitment, people can walk in to pick up their boxes of refrigerated prepackaged meals from a cooler in the restaurant.

The restaurant also provides a customized meal prep option, where customers can use an InBody scanner at Poke & Prep to find out what their body needs and Poke & Prep will customize the portions of food to make meals that are specifically tailored to them.

"We'll weigh out the food according to what your body needs. So, if you needed like a certain amount of carbohydrates, a certain amount of fats, a certain amount of calories, we'll lay out the food and make sure that it matches that amount the calories," Gontinas said.

Gontinas' vision goes beyond the site in downtown Bremerton. He's trying to partner with local gyms or other companies so that a Poke & Prep cooler or refrigerator can be put at the organization, and customers of its meal prep service can select and take their meals from there, he said.

Plans to grow more business in Kitsap

The downtown Bremerton location, decorated with artificial green leaf walls and white and marble tables and chairs, is just Gontinas's first step in the food service industry. He plans to open a second Poke & Prep location and a cafe in Silverdale next year.

"I'd like to open up one in Silverdale, and then maybe East Bremerton," Gontinas said.

Poke & Prep opens 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Monday to Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Poke & Prep opens near Bremerton ferry terminal with poke, boba