Whiskey Soda Lounge

[December 20th, 2006] It takes something really special for a to-go shack with a Saran Wrapped seating area to gain an enormous cult following that includes nearly every food writer in town. In Pok Pok's case, the something is probably the whole roasted game hens—styled after ubiquitous Thai fast food—that drive otherwise-refined patrons into frenzies of finger-licking and bone-sucking.

Now, almost a year after it was announced, owner Andy Ricker has opened a real dining room in the basement of his house on Southeast Division Street. After months of buzz that rivaled even 23 Hoyt's blitz of hype, the flabbily named Whiskey Soda Lounge opened to high expectations—and surpassed them.

The Lounge is small—with seating for around 30—and cozy without feeling overly claustrophobic. Stained-wood paneling, sleek black booths and subdued-but-adequate lighting give the room a friendly, jazz-bar atmosphere.

Ricker's new menu offers the best of Pok Pok's shack offerings—pork sateh ($7.50), lamb skewers ($8) and the aforementioned game hens ($9)—along with 16 new dishes, a handful of house cocktails and a short, affordable wine list.

The cocktails are large, satisfying and short on frills. Muddled kaffir lime lends zing to the gin and tonic ($7), and lime and palm sugar make for a fine whiskey sour.

As per Pok Pok's usual, there's little on the menu that resembles Portland's standard Thai fare. The creamy Tom Yam Naam Khon Het Paa lemongrass soup ($9) and much-lauded papaya salad ($6) are familiar enough, but from there on out things start to get tricky. Fortunately, the laid-back waitstaff are perfectly willing to let you order one dish at a time and keep the menus on the table.

Much has been written in local newspapers and blogs in anticipation of the Yam Samun Phrai ($7.50), an herbal salad seasoned with the unusual flavors of betel leaf and sawtooth. The attractive, pungent salad is everything it's been talked up to be—sweet, spicy and markedly different from anything else in town.

The tastiest by far of Ricker's new dishes is the Vietnamese fish sauce wings ($8): chicken marinated in palm sugar and fish sauce, then deep fried and tossed with garlic. Sure to be a hit with the comfort-food crowd, these sweet and crunchy delights—the Thai equivalent of Southern fried chicken—beg to be gnawed on until late in the evening.

Best of all, Pok Pok's expansion comes cheap. Despite the addition of two waiters and a bartender, Whiskey Soda Lounge's prices are the same as the Pok Pok shack. With only one entree over $10, you can expect to see me there weekly.