Pok Pok wings and Pix dessert!

Hey,
This post is really just to brag about the delicious dinner Andrew and I ate with some old college friends of ours this evening. We first went to Pok Pok, this amazing Thai restaurant that has been rated one of Portland's best restaurants and whose chefs have been nominated for several James Beard awards. It's probably one of our favorite places to eat in Portland. It's a little spendy and you usually have to wait quite a while to be seated--but, it's totally worth it. They have even opened up a lounge across the street where you can drink cocktails while you're waiting (they call over to the lounge when your table is ready). Anyway, probably the best thing on the menu is their wings. Seems weird coming from a Thai restaurant, but seriously, they are to die for.


Although we've never attempted making them at home, apparently you can with this recipe provided by Food and Wine Magazine. Here it is in case anyone wanted to give it a try. If you do, you'll have to let me know how it goes!

Chicken Wings Pok Pok Style
(serves 6)~From Food and Wine Magazine

■sea salt and fresh ground pepper
■1 cup fish sauce
■1 cup maple syrup
■1/2 cup orange juice
■8 garlic cloves, minced (divided)
■3 pounds chicken wings, cut at the joints
■3 tablespoons butter
■zest and juice of 1 orange
■1/4 cup Sambal Oelek chili paste (or less if you want less heat)
■oil for frying
■1 cup chopped cilantro (for garnish)

Season the wings with a pinch of sea salt and a crank of fresh ground pepper. In a large bowl whisk together the fish sauce, maple syrup, orange juice, and half of the garlic cloves. Add the wings and toss to coat. Transfer the wings and marinade to a plastic bag and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight (I’d go overnight or as long as you can).

Drain the wings over a medium bowl to reserve the marinade. Heat the butter over medium heat until melted and add the remaining garlic; cook until the garlic is golden brown, being careful not to allow it to burn. Turn the heat to medium-high and add the reserved marinade, orange zest and juice, and chili paste. Continue to cook the dressing until it reduces to a syrupy consistency, about 10 minutes, and then remove it from the heat. Place the warm sauce in a large bowl.

Heat the oil to 350F. Working in batches, fry the wings until crispy, about 5 minutes per batch. Drain on a cooling rack set over paper towels, allowing the oil to drip off. When all of the wings have been fried, toss them in the dressing (you may need to work in batches). Garnish with cilantro and serve immediately.

*After the frying step you may also hold the wings in a warm oven - this helps if you are doing large batches. Just be aware of drying out the wings or losing crispness if held for a long period of time.

After eating our dinner, we walked over to Pix Patisserie, an adorable little French cafe that makes elegant pastries and homemade chocolates. Its like a scene straight out of the movie Amelie. Their desserts look like works of art--almost too good to eat. Well, not really, but they are pretty :) Here's what Andrew and I ate tonight:
Queen of Sheba Truffle Cake - moist chocolate almond cake with bittersweet chocolate center. Warm slightly for molten chocolate center.

The Royale – Chocolate mousse blankets a crisp hazelnut praline filling and dacquoise base.

Is your mouth watering yet?!



ETA:

This is the picture I took on my phone when we went to Pix in August. I tried to just post this in the comments, but it didn't work.