OK Chicken & Khao Soi has been the source of a lot of chatter and speculation over the months since it was first reported in The Oregonian. I, too have been curious and wanted to learn more, so I reached out to them. I had a chance to chat with Sam Smith, one of the owners. Here is what I learned.
First, the owners of OK Chicken & Khao Soi are Eric Nelson, Earl Ninsom, and Sam Smith. You may know Eric Nelson as the man behind the bar menus of Yaowarat, Phuket Cafe, Langbaan, and Eem. Earl Ninsom is the James Beard Award winning restauranteur, who is responsible for creation of the above restaurants. Sam Smith is well-known as the chef at Yaowarat, and for his Instagramming of deliciousness around the Portland metro area (and beyond).
OK Chicken & Khao Soi: What’s in a Name?
Of course, I wanted to understand why they decided to call it “OK Chicken & Khao Soi. Some believe it’s because “OK” is the end of “Pok” of “Pok Pok.” I am here to tell you that this is not the case.
“The original inspiration came from this sign in this spot in Bangkok that I’ve been obsessed with since I first saw it,” explained Sam. “And it’s called ‘OK Khao Man Gai.”‘ This translates to “OK Chicken and Rice.”
He continued, “I saw it for the first time, maybe like two and a half years ago. And every time I would go to Bangkok, I’d take a picture of it because I was just so obsessed with the design of it. And then when we were trying to think of a name for this spot, we were brainstorming, and I’m looking through photos and going through stuff. And it was one of the first ones that came up.”
So they tossed it around. A couple of the combinations inspired by that photo were “OK Khao Soi” and “OK Chicken Khao Soi.” So then they kind of back-burnered it and went through 30 other name options. “None were feeling good and we ended up coming back to this.” The design inspo ended up up becoming the name inspiration.
Humor in a Name
He added, “As we started thinking about deciding on it, it was kind of funny, the tongue in cheek of it all like, ‘It’s just OK—it’s not great, it’s not good, it’s just fine.’ It was kind of like the joke we’ve been making.” I have a feeling, though, that the food is gonna be crazy delicious.
Focusing on Northern Thai Food This Time
Before the interview, I was looking at Earl’s various restaurants and was surprised to see that none of them are focused on Northern Thai food, so I asked Sam about that. “Earl is really excited for this opportunity,” he said.
“There isn’t really a lot of Northern Thai food representation in Portland,” he added. “There’s maybe a couple places, and a lot of places do have Khao Soi, which is the most well-known dish from that area.”
It will be a great addition to Portland’s regional Thai restaurant scene to have this one focus on Northern Thai food.
The Interior/Exterior of OK Chicken & Khao Soi
I asked if they were going to make any changes as far as the building’s design/look and feel. They’ve painted the exterior of building, so that part looks different. But the space inside is already very functional already for their needs.
“There are certain things that Andy did such a good job of in setting up the space as a Thai restaurant,” said Sam. “We’re not doing a crazy rebuild or anything. We’re mostly painting, replacing like some furniture, and redecorating.”
Pok Pok Respect
“We’d had the concept and were looking at other spaces before we ended up getting the old Pok Pok space,” said Sam. “After Andy closed Pok Pok, there was a really big void—even though his restaurant wasn’t specifically about Northern Thai food, he did have like a lot of Northern Thai dishes on the menu.”
He continued, “Andy was such a huge, awesome part of the Portland food scene. And it is kind of ironic that after going through the concept, after we did our first research trip last April, and after we were looking at a couple other spaces, that we ended up getting a space that was really inspiring for us.”
The Vibe
As for the vibe, it’s going to be pretty casual—they want it to feel accessible. They’re planning on, at least to start, being open weekend nights, with karaoke in the dining room to give it some party vibes. They’ll use this early time open to gauge how it’s going overall, and make changes in response to that.
Service
The service style is inspired by places they encountered in Chiang Mai, located in the north of Thailand, and they are excited about this approach. “Pretty much every place in Chiang Mai that we went to does this thing where you get a sheet of paper on your table, and then you fill it out like you would at Din Tai Fung or at a sushi counter—something like that,” explained Sam.
Initially, though, they talked about doing counter service. But they wanted to have a little bit more of a service element than what counter service can give—a little bit more hospitality.
Sam said, “So we decided to go this route where maybe it’s not as direct as somebody coming up to the table and be like, ‘Hi, my name’s Sam, let me know if you have any questions.’ But there still is an element of someone coming to your table and taking your order, and to have that interaction.”
Food at OK Chicken & Khao Soi
I wondered if they are going to be like a drinking-food type of place—like Whiskey Soda Lounge, or something like that. “During the day, for regular service the menu will be a little bit more expansive,” explained Sam. But after 10pm on late nights, they’ll change it up a bit.
To illustrate this, he talked about a place in Chiang Mai called “Midnight Sticky Rice and Chicken,” which serves mostly fried food. “They have fried chicken, fried pork, a couple of relishes you serve with sticky rice and vegetables,” said Sam. “They are open until like four in the morning.
“It’s the place where after you leave the bar, you go there and get salty fried food. So it’ll be a lot of crossover items from our regular menu, but a paired down version, focusing more on fried food and the Northern relishes, papaya salad and sticky rice.”
Sam added, “Salty fried things makes you want to drink more! That food and beer is just like an obvious combination.”
More Northern Thai Food
I asked what, aside from Khao Soi, they will offer as far as Northern Thai cuisine on their menu (aside from the fried food). “We’re going to do a Northern-style larb,” he said. “It’s called Larb Mueng. And it’s different from what I think most people’s experience with larb is here, which is the Northeastern Isan one that has lime juice and rice powder in it. This one is really different.”
He continued, “It uses a lot more warm spices. So there’s cinnamon, clove, Mah Kwan pepper, which is related to Sichuan pepper, chilies. It’s like much more like a warm spice/dry fried ground meat dish, and it’s topped with a bunch of crispy garlic and shallots, and served with herbs on the side.” They plan to make it with pork (most common) and possibly one other meat (it’s also done with water buffalo in Thailand).
Salads
“There a lot of papaya salad up there, and one of the versions is the Som Tum that people are a little bit more familiar with—that’s the kind with palm sugar, lime juice, Thai chilies, fish sauce, peanuts,” Sam explained. “But then there’s also one that’s called Som Tum Lao.”
He continued, “It’s not actually a Laotian papaya salad, but it has fermented fish sauce in it instead of just like a regular fish sauce, and usually not peanuts. And we had a few that had some raw Thai eggplants sliced through it. It’s a little more funky. So we’ll probably do a version of that.
“And then we also had a couple salads that had the same kind of dressing, but were smashed cucumbers instead of the papaya salad. We might end up doing a seasonal rotating special where we have this Northern Thai papaya salad as a staple, and then in winter do one one with pomelo salad; in spring/summer do the cucumber one; and then in fall there’s one they do with corn. And so we’d have like a rotating seasonal salad along with the papaya salad.”
Chicken
So, will they do any chicken dishes? The answer is yes. “We’re going to do a fried chicken, leg and thigh, which is really common way we saw it served up there,” said Sam. “We’re going to do grilled chicken, we’ll have a chicken Khao Soi, and we’re probably going to have some kind of chicken wing dish, though not the Pok Pok one.”
They do get questioned about whether or not they’ll bring back the Pok Pok wings, and they are not.
He added, “We’re going to have a bunch of grilled items, as well, like grilled ribs and grilled pork shoulder. We’re also going to be making a Sia Oua Northern Thai herbal sausage in-house and grilling that.”
Drinks at OK Chicken & Khao Soi
“We are going to have pretty strong NA options,” explained Sam. “For at least a couple things we’re going to have agua fresca machines behind the bar. And so we’ll have a lot of like NA-style drinks with Thai flavors with the option to add alcohol. Eric doesn’t drink and so he really loves having like a lot of those things.”
He continued, “And also when were in Thailand—it’s so hot that at almost every place you go, it just has the sickest drink list with different kinds of lemonades and coconut waters and pea flowers and Thai iced teas and lemon teas and all that stuff!
“So we’ll see where we land with like exactly what we have, but it is a pretty common experience to go there and just have a huge, non-alcoholic drink list.” And it’s mostly going to be that. “I’m trying to like keep it simple, so like there might be like a cocktail on draft or something like that,” said Sam.
He added, “And I know, even as a guest myself, going places that have too many options—especially like as a first time guest—it can feel like really overwhelming, so we’re just trying to like guide everybody and make it as simple as possible.”
OK Chicken & Khao Soi Opening
Their hopes and plans are to be open in the fist week of January 2026, but it may end up being later that month. “But there’s a possibility we might do some kind of like space activation during December,” said Sam. “Whether that’s like more of like a pop-up event or doing a karaoke night.”
As far as which days to be open, they are considering Wednesday through Sunday, opening at 5pm and closing at 10pm, except for Friday and Saturday, when they’d be open till midnight. Eventually they’d like to be open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.
Final Thoughts
“We’ve been thinking a lot about how thankful we are to go into a space with so much history and legacy,” said Sam. “And how much Andy and Pok Pok did for Thai food. I don’t think what we’re doing wouldn’t really be possible without what he did before us—even if we weren’t getting that space, you know? So that’s one thing we’ve been talking about a lot—just how thankful for the things that came before us.”
I can’t deny, it sounds pretty awesome and I can’t wait to stop in and enjoy some Northern Thai food and NA drinks. Best of luck to Sam, Earl, Eric, and their team as they get this place open in Southeast Portland.
OK Chicken & Khao Soi [projected opening January 2026]
3226 SE Division Street, Portland
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Meg Cotner
