In late January, new Thai restaurant OK Chicken & Khao Soi will open in Southeast Portland. Owners Sam Smith, Earl Ninsom, and Eric Nelson — a menu curator, an award winning restaurateur, and a chef, respectively — have worked together on Yaowarat, a Chinese Thai fusion restaurant that has been a staple in Southeast Portland for the past two years. Then, they later created the concept for this Northern Thai-based restaurant on two research trips to Chiang Mai, a city in Northern Thailand.
On the first trip, Smith says, the team explored the region, trying new foods and taking note of everything they hoped to emulate in their new venture. “One of the cool things I really enjoy about Northern Thai food [is] that, even though there’s a base idea of what a dish is, everybody prepares it a little bit [differently] to make it their own,” Smith explains. After their second trip, Smith refined his list of dishes for the OK Chicken & Khao Soi menu, and the team set to work.
Smith, Ninsom, and Nelson brought home hundreds of decorations from their research trips to add to the OK Chicken & Khao Soi experience. From cloth lanterns and tapestries to silverware and sticky rice holders, the experience of dining in Chiang Mai is colorfully recreated through the hard work of this team. “One of our favorite places in Chiang Mai had this whole [wall] of different mismatched photos in different mismatched frames,” Smith illustrates. He continues, “It was this … cool collection that felt like a photo history of the restaurant. So we’re collecting our favorite photos from our trips, and we’ll be able to start taking photos in the space as well, and as we go [we’ll be] getting those developed and framing them [in the restaurant].”
At OK Chicken & Khao Soi, the table service is inspired by techniques used at restaurants in Chiang Mai. “We’re going to have picture menus on tables that have a photo of a dish and a description. But we’re not going to have traditional table service,” Smith explains. “[Customers will] fill out a paper menu, like you would at a sushi counter. … It’ll have a section for the dishes and then you write the quantity of how [much] you want next to that, and then somebody will come and retrieve that paper and make sure you have everything.” Additionally, servers will offer suggestions and answer questions concerning the menu when picking up order slips. “There’s a level of traditional service, but I think we really want people to have the experience that we had [in Northern Thailand],” notes Smith.
The menu includes but is not limited to: Northern Thai staples such as Som Tum Thai, a spicy green papaya salad; Gai Tod turmeric chicken wings marinated in oyster sauce; Yang Thaan, or charcoal grilled items, such as a half chicken marinated with fish sauce, a spicy grilled marinated pork shoulder salad, and a grilled pork belly; and Khao Soi, a famous noodle curry.
These are only a few examples, as Smith is still finalizing menu items. This process — built to ensure authenticity and accuracy — entails picking dishes, cross referencing and putting together recipes, talking with fellow chefs, weighing everything out to the gram, and testing the food before adjusting the amount of each ingredient, all before the restaurant’s opening. “I would say there will always be at least one little adjustment,” Smith says. “We [are still adjusting menu items] at Yaowarat; [even with things] we’ve been making for over two years, we’ll still make adjustments to it and [are] always trying to make things better.”
Fittingly, OK Chicken & Khao Soi will occupy the spot that was once Pok Pok, an influential Northern Thai restaurant owned by chef Andy Ricker. Pok Pok, beloved by the Southeast Portland community and beyond, closed permanently in October of 2020 due to financial challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. OK Chicken & Khao Soi hopes to honor Pok Pok while still distinguishing itself, in order to create something new, says Smith. “What Pok Pok did and what Andy Ricker did for Thai food — not just in Portland, but across the country — really set the stage for [restaurants like] Yaowarat and OK Chicken,” Smith details “Pok Pok was one of the first places to really start focusing on some different, specific regions and doing things the way that they’re done in Thailand.” Not only did Ricker bring Northern Thai food to Portland’s mainstream, but he also left his transformed space in great condition for OK Chicken & Khao Soi to move in, Smith explains: “[Ricker] did so much [to the space] already that a lot of things were set up for us, and we’re really thankful for that.”
This venture is highly anticipated in the Portland food community. Anne Marie, a Portland-based “foodie” and influencer, says, “I heard [Earl Ninsom] is opening up at the new Pok Pok location and [I] was excited a well known Thai chef is taking over the spot!” As Portland’s Thai food scene continues to grow and change, OK Chicken & Khao Soi is projected to make a prominent addition by the end of January at 3226 SE Division St.
