Pao Wow
A Far East Pub from the Sushi Maki Guys

Another holiday, come and gone.

And with it, your white jacket, white pants and yes, favorite cream-colored swimmies.

But hey, could be a lot worse.

At least there’s no rule about not eating pork belly after Labor Day...

So meet Pao Town, a gritty little Asian gastropub from the Sushi Maki crew that’s poised to be your new lunchtime standby, opening Thursday in Coral Gables.

This den of beer and wasabi-laden comestibles feels like it was plucked from a Tokyo alley and dropped into an echo-y Miami warehouse: exposed trusses, plastered Asian murals and sushi rice barrels used as light fixtures. Also, a couple of flat-screens that are constantly broadcasting crazy Korean music videos (remember when MTV used to actually play... ah, never mind).

Upon arrival, you’ll approach the counter and place an order (consider the pork-belly buns mandatory). The deal here is pub food. Asian-style pub food. Meaning pickled things, braised things, soy-sauced things and... hot dogs. Topped with heaping piles of house-jarred kimchi.

If you’re coming with colleagues for lunch, take over the corner banquette/repurposed church pew (feel free to kneel before your pig). Get a round of super-dry Tsingtao cans. Talk some shop (or three-day-weekend war stories). And for a finale: grab some homemade cornflake-and-marshmallow cookies to go.

Who needs fortunes when you’ve got marshmallows.