by: Diane M. Carey
Eric Jackson is getting his restaurant, the Stoked Poke, ready for a September opening at OneDaytona. He already owns and operates a Stoked Poke in Port Orange.
OneDaytona continues to grow as a go-to destination for shopping, dining and entertainment. Across from Daytona International Speedway, the venue also includes two hotels and luxury apartments. The wide assortment of restaurants gives locals and visitors alike even more reasons to stop by.
The Stoked Poke is the newest restaurant set to inhabit space at OneDaytona. Owner Eric Jackson, 30, already owns and operates a busy food truck and a Port Orange restaurant with the same branding.
Poke /poʊˈkeɪ/ (Hawaiian for "to slice" or "cut crosswise into pieces"; sometimes stylized 'poke' to aid pronunciation) is diced raw fish served either as an appetizer or as a main course and is one of the main dishes of Native Hawaiian cuisine.
The Stoked Poke specializes in authentic fresh poke bowls, fresh acai bowls, and a plethora of other fresh healthy dishes.
Mr. Jackson, who lives in Port Orange, is busy preparing the OneDaytona location for a late September opening. He is doing much of the prep work himself, including cleaning the interior, picking out colors and ordering new equipment. The Port Orange site is 1,100 square feet compared to the 2,200 square feet Daytona location, which includes an outdoor patio.
“We started four years ago in a food truck. That grew to a second food truck. At one point we actually had three food trucks operating,” Mr. Jackson said. “We have traveled the country providing fresh poke to the mass crowds of festivals, boat shows, NASCAR races, and everything in between. Then, Covid. The food truck industry literally came to a halt.”
Mr. Jackson, who was born in Daytona Beach and lived in Volusia County his entire life, decided to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Port Orange one year ago because he “loves this community.” The community embraced the Port Orange location and the time was right to expand.
“I opened the door (at OneDaytona) and my eyes lit up and I thought we could transform this into a really cool Stoked Poke. I’m a big foodie. I got to travel the world. I’ve always loved raw anything. (Here) nobody was really just doing poke bowls. I fell in love with the food and the community was fortunate enough to do the same with us. We developed the flavors ourself. We create all of our sauces in house. We’re so happy to be here and be part of this project.”
The Daytona Beach shop will have an expanded menu and also a full liquor license. Mr. Jackson wants to see Hawaiian-style cocktails and craft beers. A dessert partner is Dough Girl Confections. The hours are pending and may differ from Port Orange.
Crab Knight, which already has a location in Daytona Beach, will be adding a restaurant at OneDaytona as well. The restaurant specializes in southern style Louisiana Cajun seafood.
Donnie's Donuts has also expanded by opening at OneDaytona July 2. The shop offers a great variety of daily flavors to choose from, as well as, a great cup of fair-trade organic coffee. Cold brews are brewed in-house and teas are direct trade out of Thailand from a women-only owned co-op. Daytona Beach residents Donald and Patti Summerlin are the owners.
“We love the location. It’s a beautiful location (and) we’re real proud of it,” Mr. Summerlin said. “We’ve designed it so the customer can get what they want. We top them (the donuts) as we use them. We get the same response from locals as we do the people that have been all over the world. We had The Food Network come in. Everything you see in the shop has been made to what we would want to eat and feed our grandkids. We knew we could make something special.”
Ms. Summerlin added, “We make our product fresh every single day. Our bakers come in at two in the morning to make our donuts, and then our donut artists come in around 5:30 in the morning to start topping the donuts. We top our donuts throughout the day. We make our own frostings and creams in-house. We use top of the line ingredients. We believe our customers deserve that. We eat, drink and consume our own products. We’re really excited about being at OneDaytona.”
Donnie’s Donuts also has locations in Ormond Beach and New Smyrna Beach. There are over 120 flavor combinations. You can even create your own donut at the donut bar.
Tiano's Cuccina Italiana also is fairly new at OneDaytona after first establishing a restaurant in New Smyrna Beach. The eatery, which opened in late 2020, is renowned for pizza, pasta and salad.
Source: Hometown News
Photo courtesy of OneDaytona
