While I was working in Pasadena three colleagues and I went to lunch several times a week. One was from Hong Kong and had only been in the US for a couple of years, one from Korea and two white guys, Jim and I. They would take us to some amazing restaurants, many where none of the staff spoke English. I came to think that the less English spoken by the staff and the fewer non-Asians eating there the better the food was going to be. In most cases that is a rule to live by. I remember one Chinese place we went to and after my friend ordered for us I asked what we got an he said the dish is called "internal organs".... "awesome!" I said, and I loved it, steamed sliced kidney, heart and liver in a hoisin ginger garlic sauce.
With them I had some awesome Korean food too, Korean BBQ where you cook the meats on a grill in the middle of your table, some Korean noodle shop, with this amazing spicy tofu soup and a buckwheat noodle soup in a cold onion broth, surprisingly addicting. The pinnacle experience was Seoul Jung Restaurant in the Wilshire Grand Hotel. They have a meal there that is a 12 course plus desert, it follows some Royal protocol in was exquisite.
I have eaten my share of Thai food, but mostly the standard Thai dishes Pad Thai and Curry, most very good. Before moving to the Portland area I had heard of this place Pok Pok and wanted to try it. Finally after being her for about 6 months my wife and I tried it.
We looked like the typical first timers, looking around taking in the atmosphere and looking at the menu trying to make sense of it. There was no Pad Thai, there was no section of Curries with your choice or Yellow, Green or Red, and Chicken, Beef or Shrimp. When I looked around the place, there were no Asians on staff and only a few as dinners.
Pok Pok is headed up by Chef Andy Ricker, he has a mission to bring authentic Northern Thai Street food to Portland. When I asked our waiter for suggestions he said something I hate, "um everything is good" well that wasn't much help and often isn't true. I found out later that was very true, you can basically throw a dart at the menu and you'd be happy. Most of the dishes are small meant to be shared, here is what we got.
Spicy Fishsauce Wings, they are one of there most famous dishes. They are awesome, in 2007 they were voted one of the top 10 dishes in the country by Food and Wine Magazine. They are marinated in fish sauce and palm sugar, then deep fried and the marinade is reduced and the wings are then tossed in the sauce. They are salty slightly sweet and if you order them spicy they have a great kick. My wife and I love these. We got this flank steak salad with lime, chilies, lemongrass, shallots, cilantro and mint, spicy herbations and delicious.
Then there is this Northern Thai mild curry noodle soup "Khao Soi Kai", this amazing soup coconut curry soup with chicken thighs and drum on the bone, the broth is so good you wish they'd put it in to go cup and so you could sip it all day long. It is served with a sides of roasted chili paste, fresh shallots, pickled turnip greens. It is an amazing dish.
I have eaten many times at Pok Pok, every time I left very satisfied. Everyone that works there believes in the vision or the restaurant and they all seem to love where they work, it shows. Service is excellent the food is always amazing. I can not recommend Pok Pok enough.
Please check out my other blog http://canjohncook.blogspot.com/
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