Restaurateur Andy Ricker may have closed Pok Pok's Los Angeles location last year and consolidated his New York holdings in 2016. But Portland's most famous Thai restaurant seems to be having an expansionist boom closer to home.
This time, it seems Pok Pok will make a pub in Beaverton. This news follows the opening of Pok Pok Wing in Brooklyn in 2016 and Pok Pok NW in Slabtown in 2017.
A liquor license application filed Feb. 23 shows that Ricker is planning an establishment called Pok Pok Pub at the address of shoe giant Nike's Beaverton campus, at One Bowerman Drive. It'd be located in the Dan Fouts building, near Nike's main entrance.
But like all things Nike, the application is shrouded in secrecy. When reached by phone, Pok Pok Restaurants president Toby Roberts declined all questions, saying he was legally bound not to disclose any information. Ricker confirmed that he, too, could not talk about it.
So it's unclear as of yet whether a new Pok Pok tavern would be open to wing-and-papaya-starved Beavertonians, or just to FitBit programmers and LeBron James.
UPDATE 4:35 pm: Additional documents filed with the OLCC show that Pok Pok Pub is planned for Nike personnel and guests—which means to get in you'd have to park elsewhere and walk to the campus. The document also hints at a possibility of a broader partnership between Nike and Pok Pok. The actual agreement, however, was signed between Pok Pok and Nike's food service provider Aramark. According to the forms filed, Pok Pok will staff and service the restaurant, which will seat 75 inside and 40 outside.
A Pok Pok Pub would be a bit of a departure for Nike's campus. The sprawling property currently hosts a white-tablecloth restaurant and a couple healthful cafeterias—up until recently administered by boutique health-food vendor LifeWorks—but the fitness-obsessed company is not really known for offering its employees Pok Pok-style deliciousness or deep-fried anything. Nonetheless, an onsite Pok Pok serving beer and wine would seem an interesting perk for visiting athletes.
This news comes as Nike seems to be expanding its internal food offerings.
Nike is currently hiring a Food and Fitness Global Partnerships Director, whose job would be to "lead our worldwide fitness and food programs" by partnering with "service providers to deliver elevated offerings at our Nike locations around the world."
UPDATE 4:35 pm: Anyway, here's the proposed menu, which you probably won't get to eat there: