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Eem and Hat Yai are two of the best Thai restaurants in Portland. They also seem to be at war with each other.
Eem has been relentlessly bullying Hat Yai on Instagram this summer, calling it the second-best Thai restaurant in Portland and writing, “THE ONLY WAY THEY CAN GET LIKES ON A POST IS TAKING EEMS [sic] NAME IN VAIN.” Hat Yai has shot back with a bunch of memes and snarky comments. What gives?
It turns out the faux restaurant war is a result of a friendly spat between Eem’s co-owner Eric Nelson and Hat Yai’s Earl Ninsom, who also co-owns Eem. New Orleans chef Mason Hereford said at a dinner that Hat Yai is Ninsom’s best restaurant. It set Nelson off.
“I was like, ‘Hat Yai? What about Eem?’” Nelson says. “And he said, ‘Hat Yai is the kind of restaurant you could put anywhere in the country and it would be a gift.’ After that dinner it was like, I’m going to fuck with Hat Yai.”
The Eem vs. Hat Yai restaurant war is fun, but Portland foodies have been enjoying Eem’s hilarious social media stylings for years. Far from glamour shots of specials with cheerful reminders of the restaurant’s hours, Eem’s posts are always written in unpunctuated all caps, veering toward the existential and absurd. A sampling: “LEGALIZE CILANTRO,” “THE WORLD IS TURNING INTO AN AI CESSPOOL,” “PERFECT MEAL FOR THIS STUPID DAY,” “HAVE YOU EVEN READ SALLY ROONEY?”
Nelson runs the account himself—he’s kept that a secret until now—and says he sees it as a way to build a personality for the restaurant.
“That personality is fun, self-deprecating and likes to pick fights with people for no reason,” Nelson says.
See the rest of Willamette Week’s Best of Portland 2026 here!
