Thai Food at Pok Pok Noi in Portland

Our trip to Oregon last week landed us in Portland. We've spent time in Portland before, and wanted to focus on exploring Central Oregon and particulary, Bend, this time. But it took steely determination not to get distracted by all the food carts, restaurants, and groovy shops that Portland has to offer. We did take time for lunch, though, on our way in. On our last trip, I'd read about the Thai restaurant Pok Pok, but we didn't get to try it. So this time, we went to Pok Pok's little sister restaurant, Pok Pok Noi.

Chef Andy Ricker, winner of this year's James Beard Foundation's Best Chef Northwest award, started the original Pok Pok at his own house. His focus on Thai grilling and street food led to lines around the block. Now there are several restaurants, including Pok Pok Noi, where we ate lunch.* This outpost of the Ricker empire is a little neighborhood joint with a few seats at the counter and a patio out back, complete with heaters at every table. (The staff offered to turn on the heater at our table and we politely declined. Just off the plane from Austin, we were still radiating heat and enjoying the cool breezes.)



I was eager to try everything on the menu, but apprehensive that there might not be many gluten-free offerings. But I shouldn't have worried. I asked about gluten-free options and was offered a special list noting the dishes that used common allergen ingredients, including gluten. Their menu also includes vegetarian options. Here's what we tried:



•  Kai Yaang (half bird): game hen rotisserie-roasted over charcoal; stuffed with lemongrass, garlic, pepper and cilantro; served with sweet and sour sauce and tamarind sauce. This is one of Pok Pok's signature dishes. The half bird was the perfect amount for the two of us to share. The meat was juicy and very tasty. We really like it dipped in the sweet tamarind sauce.



• Neua Naam Tok: salad of spicy flank steak with shallots, lemongrass, mint, cilantro, toasted rice powder, and fish sauce, lime and chili powder dressing. Get your mouth ready. This one will blow your taste buds away. It's hot and spicy from the chili, earthy and pungent from the garlic and fish sauce. Loved the texture of the toasted rice powder. Big flavor!



• Pork braised in soy sauce and sugar served over coconut rice with a salad of long beans, tomatoes, peanuts, Chinese celery, cilantro, dried shrimp, garlic, lime, palm sugar and fish sauce. This was our favorite dish and the one we want to try replicating at home. It was the perfect contrast to the stronger flavors of the beef salad. This one was softer and rounder. The pork was addictive. It was smooth, softly sweet and comforting, with the coconut in the rice adding another layer of flavor. The salad added a bright zing and crunch to the softer textures of the braised pork and rice.

• sticky rice (in the little baskets)

• Thai tea with lime (instead of sweetened condensed milk; it was incredibly flavorful and refreshing)

Pok Pok has been the object of much hype and discussion and it's a hot spot. So I was curious if the food would live up to its billing. And it did. It was such a gift to be able to indulge in the flavors of Thai food again without worrying about the gluten in soy sauce making every dish on the menu off limits for me. The flavors were big and bold and powerful. Next time we're in Portland, we'll be back. Until then, I want to experiment with that pork dish at home.

Pok Pok Noi
1469 NE Prescott Street, Portland
503.287.4149

*Note: I just noticed on their web site that starting Aug. 1, Pok Pok Noi will no longer be serving lunch. Get dinner there 5pm-midnight, 7 days a week.

Stay tuned. More from our trip to Bend coming up.

Madam Mam's now open at the Village

One of my favorite Austin Thai restaurants is now open in our neck of the woods and I am giddy with excitement. Madam Mam's opened a new location this week at the Village on Anderson. It's directly across from the Alamo Drafthouse and shares the same parking lot.

We eat regularly at the original campus location, but are so very happy to have this new one so much closer. This is Madam Mam's third Austin restaurant. The second opened a few years ago in South Austin at Westgate. It's really good to see them doing so well.

Madam Mam's is known for their explosively flavored Thai dishes and reasonable prices. Along with Thai Fresh, which, sadly, is far, far away from us in South Austin, it is my favorite for Thai food in Austin.

We tried the new location for the first time this week and found the food we loved in a more upscale setting. As the Westgate location seems a little more dressed up than the very casual student eatery on Guadalupe, this Anderson location seems to go one step further. The deeply-colored interior is soothing and exotic with lots of woods, beautiful artwork and statues, a stunning teak Buddha wall hanging (in photo) and a bright fish tank in the center of the dining room.

I only had my iPhone with me or I would include more photos. But check it out for yourself. It feels almost spa-like.

The only downside I see is that the parking, already a challenge around the Alamo, will become more difficult. I would recommend parking in the front section of the big lot, closer to Anderson, to stay out of the fray of the moviegoers.

As far as we could tell, even though the setting feels much more upscale, the prices appeared to be the same which makes this a great place for a real night out that won't hurt your pocketbook. And we especially love that they are open longer hours and every day.

Madam Mam's
2007 Anderson Lane, #419
(directly across the parking lot from the Alamo)
512.371.9930
open daily 11am - 10pm

To learn more, read the Austin Chronicle's review of the Westgate location.

Thai Noodle Salad with Shrimp and Pork

In my recent post about the opening of Thai Fresh, I promised a recipe that I learned in one of Jam's classes that has become a favorite in our house. It's fast, easy, has those big, bright Thai flavors we love, but is also very comforting. It's a noodle dish made with shrimp and pork on bean thread noodles, sometimes called glass noodles.

Bean thread noodles are made from mung beans. They are flavorless alone, but will take on any flavors you add to them. Since they aren't made with wheat, they're great for folks who eat gluten-free. I love their translucence and slippery texture.

This is a light dish. We've sometimes added a few red bell peppers strips and carrots strips to make a light meal of it. But it's also great served as part of a Thai dinner with some soup and spring rolls.

Note: Jam suggested you could substitute tofu and mushrooms for the pork and shrimp and make this a veggie dish. Also, we throw in the shallots with the meat to gentle them a bit. You can toss them in raw, if you want a little sharper flavor and more crunch.

Thai Noodle Salad with Shrimp and Pork

noodles:
4 tablespoons canola oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 pound shrimp, peeled, deveined and minced plus
4 medium - large whole shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 pound ground pork
2 tablespoons soy sauce or fish sauce
one package bean thread noodles (approximately 14 ounces)
one bunch cilantro, chopped with stems, one handful set aside for garnish
2-4 shallots, sliced

dressing:
3 Thai chiles
6 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons palm sugar
1 cup lime juice
1/2 cup fish sauce or soy sauce

First, soak the noodles for 30 minutes in a large bowl of warm water. While the noodles are soaking, put on a pot of water large enough to hold the noodles. Boil the noodles for 1 minute (after soaking). Strain and then rinse with cold water to cool. Set aside. (Jam taught us that soaking and then briefly boiling the noodles gives them the correct texture.)

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan, add the garlic and sauté until golden and fragrant. Add the shallots, pork, minced shrimp and whole shrimp and cook through, about 2-3 minutes. Add soy sauce to taste. Set aside the whole shrimp.

Put the cooled and drained noodles into a large bowl. Add the meat and cilantro and toss together.

In a small food processor (or mortar and pestle, if you're feeling hands on), whiz (or pound) together the dressing ingredients.

Add the dressing to the noodle mixture in small increments while tasting to get it just where you want it. You may not need all of the dressing. See how you like it.

Top each serving with a whole shrimp and some cilantro.

Serves 4.

Adapted from Jam Sanitchat. Check out her Thai cooking classes at Thai Fresh.

Thai Fresh Now Open in South Austin

I think I could eat Thai food every day. I love the bright, vibrant, clean flavors and the combinations of textures from crisp and crunchy to silky and velvety. I love a good feast at our favorite Thai restaurant, Madam Mam's. But I didn't know how to reproduce those flavors at home until my friend, Jennifer, invited me to take a class with her from Jam Sanitchat.

Jam grew up in Thailand and came to Austin to go to grad school at UT. She also started teaching cooking classes in her home (or in your kitchen for a group) and offering her food at a stand at the Austin Farmers' Market. We ended up taking two classes from her to get us started in the world of Thai cooking. Jam not only demonstrated how fast and easy Thai food can be to prepare (once you have a few pantry essentials), but also let us get behind the stove ourselves so we could really learn hands on. Afterwards, we got to sup on our creations. It was a great introduction. Jam is not only an enthusiastic teacher, but she's also just fun to hang out with.

It was in one of those classes that Jam told us she was working on developing her own store. In fact, Jennifer suggested the name Thai Fresh which stuck. We've been eagerly anticipating her store opening ever since.

Thai Fresh is now open in South Austin on West Mary Street. She has all the ingredients you need to make your own Thai food at home, including fresh produce and natural, grass-fed, hormone-free and antibiotic-free meats.



I often shop at local Asian markets, but usually end up coming home with products that are only available in the super-extra-huge size. My kitchen is very small with little storage, so those big bottles and jars are hard to store. We eat a lot of Asian food, but it still takes awhile to make our way through those big packages. But Jam has smaller-sized products that are not so intimidating for the space-challenged like me, or for first-timers just wanting to explore. She's got all the best brands and some time-savers like tamarind water and crunchy fried shallots for garnishing.



But if you're more in the mood for instant gratification, you can eat in or take out one of Jam's freshly-prepared specialties right in the store. She has a deli case full of curries and other tasty treats she's just made that are ready to go. There are tables inside and out or you can make a quick stop to pick up lunch or dinner to go. I brought home some of her Masaman curry with chicken, potatoes and pineapple. It had wonderful flavor with just the right amount of heat, enough to wake up your tastebuds, without going into full sinus-clearing mode. I loved the inclusion of the pineapple too. It was rich and luscious with the coconut milk and velvety chicken.



Jam has a spacious open kitchen in the store so she can continue teaching classes. I can't wait to try her street food class when I get a chance. You can also catch her teaching at Central Market occasionally. She said she may do another class there in the spring. Check out her current schedule of classes at her new store here.

While I was there I picked up some key ingredients so I'll be making one of the dishes she taught us that's become a favorite for us and posting about it here soon.

Jam also has a food blog, check out more of her yummy photos and food adventures here.

As I left, I saw some friends who live in the neighborhood (I'm so jealous) walking to her store. Since that area of South Austin doesn't have any nearby Asian eateries unless you want to face the challenge of trekking and trying to park downtown, I'm glad to see her business being so well received. Just wish we lived close enough to take more advantage of it.

Check out Thai Fresh for yourself. They're open Tuesday through Sunday, 11am-8pm.

Thai Fresh
909 West Mary Street
(between South Lamar and South 1st, just north of Oltorf)
494-6436