“Older folks in polite Thai society frown on tattoos because it is common for criminals to be tattooed. As part of their penance after release from jail, they will sometimes go be a monk for a while to make merit for their family for bringing dishonor and bad luck to them for being an asshole. Therefore, tattoos were once associated with only monks and criminals. Now they are pretty common with young folk….”
Andy Ricker
Growing up in Vermont, Andy Ricker started his career washing dishes, like so many people who find themselves in kitchens for their careers. However, he spent much of his youth traveling abroad, working in kitchens in New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, and Europe. That time away exposed him to many flavors and foods not available in the United States, including the cuisine of Northern Thailand, which would become his passion. Andy actually travels to Thailand every year to continue his research on the food and culture and to try and preserve what he feels is a dying art as more modern ways of cooking arrive in the country.
It’s this attention to detail that has led to Andy being regarded as the foremost expert when it comes to truly authentic Thai cuisine in the United States. He opened his first location of Pok Pok, named for how the Thai describe the sound a mortar and pestle make, in Portland, Oregon, in 2005 and over the last eight years has built a small restaurant empire. In 2009, he opened Ping, a pub-like space with an Asian fusion menu that made many food critics’ “must try” lists. However, he later sold his interest in that restaurant to his partners to focus exclusively on Thai cuisine. That same year, he also moved into the beverage realm with the Whiskey Soda Lounge, a lounge with Thai-inspired cocktails. In 2011, Andy opened Pok Pok Noi, a smaller, more limited version of the original restaurant. In 2012, Andy expanded to New York, opening Pok Pok Ny in Brooklyn. In 2013, he opened two more locations dedicated to Thai noodle dishes, Sen Yai in Portland and Pok Pok Phat Thai on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
The rapid expansion of Andy’s restaurants has been aided by the national press he has garnered for his authentic Thai cooking. In 2011, he won James Beard Awards’s “Best Chef Northwest,” and he has been featured on many shows, including Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. But all this notoriety came as a bit of a surprise to Andy. He says, “I had no idea Pok Pok would become what it has. I figured I was just escaping from being a painting contractor. I had been studying this food, I always wanted my own restaurant, and I honestly did not know what else to do.”
Andy has applied the same care and research he puts into his food to his Thai-inspired tattoos, most of which he got in Thailand. Down his right arm are images of phak chii, phak chii farang, and tom hom (coriander, sawtooth coriander, and scallions), staple herbs in many of the dishes he cooks. On the same forearm is a mortar and pestle with “Pok Pok” written in Thai. On the same arm above that is a sitting man reminiscent of the sitting Buddha. He is wearing a maw hawn, a denim shirt worn by Thai rice farmers, and is preparing Laap, an iconic dish of Northern Thailand. Surrounding him are the typical herbs eaten with the dish: bai makhok, the sour leaves of the Thai olive; phak phai, Vietnamese coriander; and khao tong, an herb native to southeast Asia.
Not all of Andy’s ink is inspired by Thailand, however. He got his first tattoo around 1995, a Viking design found on a headstone from the Isle of Man, a small island between Great Britain and Ireland. From his research, much of his family’s history comes from there.
With Andy’s continued success, he is always trying to improve. He has started his own line of drinking vinegars and is working on his first cookbook, titled Pok Pok: Food and Stories from the Streets, Homes, and Roadside Restaurants of Thailand.
Andy has been serving Thai drinking vinegars in his restaurants since 2005. He now has his own line, called Som, packaged and available for sale to use in your home. These vinegars can be served diluted with soda water as a soft drink or at full strength as a mixer in several cocktails, like this one.
NOTES FROM THE CHEF
We recommend buying Andy’s Thai Basil Shrub, which can be found at www.pokpoksom.com. You can also make your own using vinegar, sugar, basil, and water. You’ll find lots of recipes for shrub online!