Despite the constant churn of new development on SE Division, the labyrinthine amalgam of interlocking structures that once housed the original Pok Pok has remained vacant for more than half a decade. The Northern Thai comfort food chain began as a food cart and ended as an empire, with out posts in LA, Las Vegas, and Brooklyn, along with a small constellation of Portland locations. The Oregonian anointed it “Portland’s defining restaurant” and both the James Beard Foundation and the Michelin Guide distributed accolades accordingly. But now a trio of the city’s most accomplished restaurateurs are bringing new life to the storied space with OK Chicken Khao Soi, their own take on the Northern Thai culinary phenomenon. A hard act to follow, but if anyone can, it’s the team behind OK Chicken. Restaurateur Earl Ninsom will be familiar to Portland diners for PaaDee, Langbaan, Hat Yai, and most recently Yaowarat. Head chef Sam Smith has a similarly impressive roster, including time in kitchens like Ava Gene’s and Tusk. Smith says the goal here isn’t Pok Pok 2.0, but they aren’t running away from the comparison either: “There’s certainly a few item crossovers, but our preparation of those things will be pretty different,” he says. “We want to pay respect to what came before us, but really do our own thing.” So no fish sauce wings, sorry, but probably some regional flavor notes Pok Pok fans will recognize. Ninsom says he was on the fence about launching a new restaurant, but felt there was a demand for this style of Northern Thai cooking. “The flavors, the spices you get, are different from standard stir-fry noodles,” Ninsom says. Working with Smith at Yaowarat convinced him the timing was right: “I felt like, ‘Alright, I have a chef with a really good palate, who understands Thai food really well,’” Ninsom recalls. As for what Smith’s excited about on the new menu, he rattles off most of it: “pomelo salad with Thai chiles and fermented fish sauce and the crispy pork rinds,” but also the Thai-style fried chicken thigh, “so it’s not like heavy batter, it’s straight marinated. So the skin gets nice and crispy.” The titular khao soi comes in chicken, beef, or vegetable configurations, and there’s a house made sai oua sausage that’s fairly uncommon on Portland area Thai menus. But a good chunk of the menu emphasizes the simple grilled meats paired with fresh herbs and fish sauces that the region is known for. “We’re absolutely keeping it regional,” he emphasizes. The bar program is headed up by Eric Nelson, a veteran of Veritable Quandary, Laurelhurst Market, and Expatriate. “[Ninsom] used to come into Laurelhurst Market and quiz me on bar things,” he says. I ask if that’s when his consultancy started, but Nelson is modest: “I don’t know if I was a consultant so much as an ear for him to bend.” It’s been a fruitful partnership though, with Nelson co-owning several of Ninsom’s newer restaurants, including Eem and Yaowarat Nelson says his plan for OK Chicken is based on the kind of drink menu they most frequently encountered in the region. “The restaurants [we] went to had these huge nonalcoholic menus,” he recalls. “It’d be juices, smoothies, coffees, teas. And then on the side, they have a list of spirits.” Nelson says cocktail programs typically come up with the nonalcoholic options last, but in this case it made sense to start there. For example, the menu features a herbal tea slushie at $8, or add a shot of chamomile-infused Scotch for another $8.  Nelson says he and Ninsom considered the space when it first came on the market in 2020, after Pok Pok founder Andy Ricker dramatically shuttered the entire chain in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Nelson and Ninsom both say they felt similarly conflicted about the location given the circumstances, and instead pushed forward on what eventually became Yaowarat, which opened in the Motevilla neighborhood in 2023.  But the allure of the building lingered, and when the time came for a new venture, they decided to revisit the idea. “We were getting dinner at Murata in January of 2023,” Smith recalls, “and [Ninsom] was like, ‘Do you want to help open a Thai Chinese restaurant?’ I said yeah and then, one month later, we were all in Thailand.” Research trips like that are more homework than vacation, Nelson notes, and says that once they’d identified the kind of dishes they wanted to serve, they went to every restaurant that served them and ordered every variation. “We ate like six meals a day.” The space itself has gotten a makeover, but a gentle one. The plastic screens on the outdoor seating area have been replaced with more permanent wooden dividers, complete with heaters. The main dining areas retain the distinctive wood-paneled walls and deeply varnished bar, but they’ve put in a ductless mini-split in anticipation of Portland’s increasingly sweltering summers. The order window out front still bears the Pok Pok logo on the wrought iron screen, and there are possible plans for reviving that feature once the dust settles a bit.  Some of the staff will be familiar to neighborhood regulars, too. Ninsom says he’s brought on a number of former Pok Pok employees, including the former sous chef and general manager, plus some front of house. “All of our restaurants have someone that has come through the Pok Pok kitchen,” Nelson notes. Ninsom, Nelson, and Smith all seem keenly aware that expectations are high for this new venture. But if Portland loves anything, it sure seems to love the complex umami combinations of Northern Thai cuisine. So it’s unlikely the requests for fish sauce wings will ever taper off completely, but hopefully folks can find some new favorites on this menu. It’s hard to go wrong with grilled pork belly, Smith suggests. “And grilled pork shoulder,” Nelson adds. “Grilled pork shoulder salad,” Smith says. “We’re not doing just the pork shoulder?” “There’s room for specials,” Smith concedes diplomatically. OK Chicken Khao Soi is located at 3226 SE Division Street in Portland; open 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. ...read more read less