New owners bring Freestyle Poke back to Johnson County, plan more area restaurants

Freestyle Poke is back in Johnson County with new owners and a new location.

It originally opened at 509 Delaware St., in the River Market, in 2018. Locations later opened in south Overland Park and Liberty but later closed. Now it has a location at 7221 W. 80th St. in Overland Park.

Customers go down a line to build their own poke bowl by selecting items from six categories.

▪ A base: White sushi rice, forbidden rice, quinoa or organic zucchini noodles.

▪ A protein: Sushi grade ahi tuna or salmon, spicy tuna, cooked salmon, cooked shrimp, shredded chicken or organic tofu.

▪ Up to three mix-ins: Tomato, spring onions, cilantro, cucumber, edamame, jalapeno or wasabi.

▪ Toppings: Such as sweet potato, mango, crab mix, spicy cashews, marinated kale, kimchi, carrots, pickled ginger or sweet corn.

▪ Sauce: From such choices as sriracha mayo or togarashi yuzu mayo.

▪ Final Touches: Sesame seeds, fried onions, wasabi toasted coconut or crispy garlic.

Freestyle Poke’s signature bowls include the Why So Serious? with spicy tuna, jalapeno, cilantro, cucumber, avocado, pickled ginger, marinated kale and sriracha mayo. A new menu item, the Firecracker shrimp bowl, has edamame, spring onions, jalapenos, carrots, pineapple, house-made spicy cashews and its new sweet Thai sauce.

It will soon have poke nachos.

New local owners took over the rights to the Freestyle Poke name and recipes, and the lease for the River Market location in 2019. The suburbanlocations had already closed.

Bon-die Fortner, his son, Caleb Fortner, and Kendall Pearl bought the company in 2022. They plan to open more locations locally — perhaps on 39th Street’s restaurant row, Lee’s Summit or Liberty — as well as in the region including Arkansas, Iowa and Nebraska. They are looking for spaces of about 1,500 to 2,200 square feet.

“We’re the third ownership of the brand and you just keep moving forward,” Bon-die Fortner said. “The original owners created a sophisticated operation, then the second owners were just trying to keep the doors open and thrive during the pandemic.”

“For me it is the healthy menu, an alternative to burgers, and a very simple operation. I can run a busy day with one manager and two team members.”