When Southfin Southern Poké first opened in March 2017, no one was sure if Baton Rouge was ready to embrace a raw fish salad from the Pacific Islands.
Cut to just over a year later: The flagship location has become a lunchtime destination, poké is popping up on menus around town, and Southfin’s second location has just launched.
The new spot on Corporate Boulevard is roomier than the first location with a bigger dining room and two community tables, but it maintains the signature fish scale accents, blue walls and airy atmosphere of the original. The poké menu remains the same, except for a special seasonal bowl that will rotate depending on what’s fresh. If you’re looking for the exact same bowls in a new location, you got it.
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New features, though, include an emphasis on milk teas. The original Southfin also serves some of these, but the Corporate location places them front and center, offering Thai, matcha, taro and Louisiana citrus milk teas brewed with tea from Red Stick Spice Company and finished with tapioca bubbles.
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The kitchen is also exploring its Asian influences with an all-new, exclusive feature: Japanese mochi. The sweet, cold, bite-sized rice cakes are available in a self-serve freezer bar, offering a perfectly refreshing complement to poké. The mochi comes in a variety of flavors, including mango, vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, black sesame and green tea.
A second location is a big step for the Southfin team, making good on owner Trey Williams’ promise to focus on expanding the brand after parting ways with City Pork last year. While the shop flourishes—and helps support Southfin’s new catering service—Williams is already eyeing the next location. Baton Rouge’s newly inducted legions of poké addicts can expect more to come.