Andy Ricker will close the closet-size Pok Pok Wing on Sunday and reopen the space, after some minor renovations, as Pok Pok Phat Thai, Diner’s Journal reports. The new menu will consist of pork, prawn, vegan, and prawns and pork varieties of phat Thai, all of which (except the vegan option) will be stir-fried in rendered pork fat (there’s no chicken version, since chicken is for “tourists,” Ricker tells DJ.) After next week, the popular fish sauce and garlic-marinated fried chicken wings will only be available at Pok Pok Ny on Columbia Street, in Brooklyn.
Ricker cited wing-frying space constraints as the reason for the switch. The kitchen on Rivington Street, once home to Bao Haus, is powered with induction burners, which makes deep-frying anything a challenge, and of course, drought-related crop devastation has raised the price of corn this summer, so it may be good Ricker’s at least temporarily taking a break from the business of cornstarch-coated wings. [Diner’s Journal/NYT, Earlier]
