Table For Twelve at Pok Pok/WSL!

We remember the first time we went to Pok Pok like it was yesterday, in part because we were so excited to see what all the buzz was about that we were nearly levitating as we left the office at the stroke of noon, but mostly because when we told my world-traveler boss we were going to get some "real Thai street food" for lunch and asked him if he wanted anything, he replied, "Yep, bring me something tasty from the streets of Bangkok... food that is." Funny guy, that boss of ours.

After careful deliberation over the one-page menu posted at the tiny Pok Pok shack's front window, our little group of cube farm minions gratefully retrieved our trays of food from the side pick-up window and huddled around a dubiously sputtering gas heater at a picnic table in the yurt-like structure set up to shield diners from the frigid winter air. We devoured Chef Andy Ricker's moist roast chickens and sweet shredded pork and bowls of coconut curry noodle soup and we left with stomachs purring and mouths burning from the spicy green papaya salad (aka papaya pok pok) that accompanied every order. We couldn't help ourselves...we got an order of the pork to go, and when we got home that day we ate it immediately, then in a fit of multi-tasking, used some of our leftover sticky rice to plug the hole in our drafty old apartment window frame. Our landlord thanks you Pok Pok, we're sure.

We were almost sad when Andy Ricker opened a dining room next door to the Pok Pok shack-- the Whiskey Soda Lounge--because now all our friends want to eat inside instead of braving the Portland elements beneath thin layers of plastic and (upgraded) heaters. Go figure. So...join us this Wednesday night inside the Whiskey Soda Lounge at 7:30 pm for the much-anticipated "Bring Me Something Tasty From the Streets of Bangkok--Food, That Is" edition of TableTalkPortland's Table For Twelve! As you probably know already, Table For Twelve is our attempt to "Cultivate Convivial Consumption" amongst food-lovers great and small across Portland. For more information about Table For Twelve, go to tabletalkportland.blogspot.com/2008/03/our-first-event.html.

So...here's The Dish on our upcoming TFT event:

When: Wednesday, March 19, 7:30 pm (we're starting a little later than usual due to the restaurant's scheduling)

Where: Pok Pok/Whiskey Soda Lounge, 3226 SE Division Street, Portland. Website: www.pokpokpdx.com/

Why: To taste the wonders of Chef Andy Ricker's Thai street FOOD in a cool atmosphere with nice people who will let you try their pork/game hen/catfish/boar/flank steak and maybe even their tamarind whiskey sour. We are willing to share our Whiskeysoda float (homemade bourbon ice cream and cola with an Amarena cherry on top, oh my) but we call dibs on the Amarena cherry.

You should: Come. It will be great tasty spicy boisterous fun!

RSVP: Via our email address (tabletalkportland@gmail.com). We will try to confirm your reservation within 2 hours, or whenever Michelle checks her Crackberry or Jen manages to stop googling Chef Tom Colicchio for a moment to care about the rest of you.

ALSO....this week many Portland restaurants (Pok Pok included) are joining forces to promote the TAP PROJECT (www.tapproject.org), an effort to bring clean drinking water to the billion people (yes, UNICEF estimates it at a billion) worldwide who lack access to something we consider a total afterthought. Diners are asked to add a mere $1 to their bill for a glass of tap water. You can donate more if you want. It's not mandatory...but we're hoping you will embrace this effort and cough up a buck after dinner. That's like...one happy hour PBR, to put it in perspective. For more information on the Tap Project, click the link above. It's a very moving and informative website...and reminds you that we take our access to clean drinking water completely for granted.

So...email us if you'd like to be a part of Table For Twelve's "Bring Me Something Tasty From the Streets of Bangkok--Food, That Is" dinner this Wednesday at Pok Pok/Whiskey Soda Lounge!! We hope to see you there! We'd love to share a Whiskeysoda Float with you! Don't forget, we get the cherry, okay?!

See you at the table,

Jen & Michelle