Nothing but Noodles

Portland chef Andy Ricker expanded his acclaimed Thai food empire to New York City last year with Pok Pok Ny and the noodle-centric Phat Thai, a pint-size spot on the Lower East Side with a stripped-down menu dedicated to pad Thai. This isn’t the popular noodle dish you’re used to eating in the United States, it’s the real deal. The rice noodles are cooked in rendered pork fat and finished with tamarind, fish sauce, palm sugar, peanuts, dried tofu, dried shrimp, preserved radish, egg, garlic chives and bean sprouts (you won’t find soy sauce and peanut butter here). Order the lustrous noodles plain, with pork, fresh prawns or the vegan-friendly version. The other two dishes on the menu are equally worthy – kuaytiaw khua kai, wide noodles with chicken, cuttlefish and a fresh duck egg, and hoi thawt, a broken crepe served with mussels. These are noodles worth traveling for.

Contact

137 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10002
212.477.1299
pokpokphatthai.com

Photograph by Evan Sung.