Never laugh first

As I mentioned, I successfully fired an overabused mold that, by rights, should have come apart in the kiln. Lots of complex stuff going on in the model that made it a challenging firing to begin with. Then it was fired to near-crumbling when my kiln broke, I jostled it all over a bumpy road getting to the loaner kiln, etc., etc…

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PokPok (Thai)

• Restaurant website
• Location: Hawthorne District
• Price to fill up two people: About $45

Kat’s e-mail suggested we try PokPok out in the Hawthorne District, which had me secretly making Superchicken noises for awhile. (You know–BWWWAAAAK bwok bwok bwok)

It was, as she promised, fun and tasty, definitely worth a second or third look.

PokPok lives in an old house right on Division, next to the junkers and greasy windows of BlueSky Garage. We sat outside, where there was a lovely breeze and a tin roof overhead, next to the takeout window, with enough quiet to let us chat in peace.

Kat’s been there before; for me the menu was intriguing. No pad thai, or not exactly, but plenty of appetizing salads and specialty dishes. I noted the presence of sticky rice with mango–one of my all-time favorite desserts–but recognized little else.

Kat ordered a squab salad with long beans and a bowl of chili’d peanuts. I ordered boar collar in lime with mustard greens, alongside a tall frosty glass of…vinegar.

Yup. PokPok carries Asian “drinking” vinegars, fizzy fruit drinks with a distinct tang of vinegar. I tried the plum, which was a bit sweet for my tastes but still very drinkable.

Service was friendly if not incredibly speedy. Our waitress, though, had the good sense to just get out of the way and let us eat, which we did. The boar’s collar closely resembled my favorite “Beef with Grapes” at Typhoon but was possibly tastier. It was also very hot, which we minimized by chomping on the mustard-greens-on-ice that came with the dish. Cat’s squab salad was absolutely delicious.

In the end, we forgot about the sticky rice with mango, good as it looked. I figure I can head back there for some excuse of a shopping trip or other…

Tip: Forget parking in the obvious spots–like the parking lot across the street–and head down into the residential side sidestreets. The walk will do you good.