I arrived back home yesterday from a trip to Portland for this year’s World Horror Convention, which turned out to be another one of those cons at which the only programming I attended was my own plus the awards banquet. So my con experience was primarily in the hallways, at the bar, and on the streets of Portland, where I continued my quest to never, ever have to eat in a hotel restaurant. And while out and about, I always try to drag along as many friends as I can, to in effect have a con away from the con.

Friday night’s traveling con took place at Pok Pok, known for Thai food that hasn’t been diluted for American tastes, but is instead representative of what can be found in Thailand—as well as for its fish sauce wings. If you read Yelp and other foodie review sites, you’ll see the wait can often be 90 minutes to two hours, but once I noticed that parties of five or more are allowed to get reservations, I made sure to wrangle at least that many people. The group included Keffy Kehrli and some of his writer friends whom I’d never met before, so I had a chance to experience new food and new people. Perfect!

With that large a party, I was hoping we’d have an opportunity to try those famous Ike’s Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings in both the regular and spicy varieties, and we did. You can probably tell the difference between the regular …

… and the spicy by color alone.

The spicy was not, as I’d expected, “OMG, my head is on fire spicy,” but enough of a wake-up call for the meal to follow. I loved them both, though, because even the default wings have a satisfyingly complex flavor. They definitely live up to their buzz.

There were a few specials that night that weren’t on the written menu, and we ordered two of them, the first being sautéed fiddlehead ferns. I knew I had to order them the moment I heard the words “fiddlehead ferns,” as I’ve never been offered them in a restaurant before.

They had a lot of flavor, though how much of that was the fern and how much the spices I have no idea, since I’m a fiddlehead fern newbie. In terms of texture, they reminded me a bit of al dente asparagus. This first experience certainly makes me want to try some more. The question is … where?

The other special was steamed whole branzina.

I wish I had more ingredients details—and a Thai name—to share, but that’s all our server told us. The flesh was quite delicate and the flavors subtle.

One of the dishes I pushed for was Kaeng Hang Leh: Northern Thai sweet pork belly and pork shoulder curry with ginger, palm sugar, turmeric, tamarind, Burmese curry powder and pickled garlic.

Multi-layered flavor and incredibly tender. And that’s tender even for pork belly

We also had—

Hoi Thawt: Crispy broken crepe with steamed fresh mussels, eggs, garlic chives and bean sprouts, served with Shark Sri Racha sauce.

Muu Sateh: Carlton Farms pork loin skewers marinated in coconut milk and turmeric, grilled over charcoal and served with peanut sauce, cucumber relish and grilled bread.

Sii Khrong Muu Yaang: Slow-roasted Carlton Farms baby back ribs marinated in lao jiin, soy, honey, ginger, and Thai spices.

Those latter two dishes, while tasty enough, seemed too familiar in flavor and texture, and so didn’t give me that feeling of having been whisked away to another continent the way the rest of our choices did … which made me slightly disappointed. Under other circumstances I might not have minded, but as these didn’t have me feeling I’d never had their like before, they seemed out of place here.

The spiciest dish of the night was Sunny’s Yam Wun Sen: Spicy and sour glass noodle salad with naem (a house-made sour pork sausage), ground pork. Chinese celery, pickled garlic, Thai chiles, shallots and carrot. Lime, fish sauce, garlic oil dressing.

It was too spicy for some. But good!

When it came to the desserts, the one I’d most been looking forward to was the Sangkhaya Thurian: Sweet sticky rice with durian scented coconut/palm sugar custard. Because, durian!

Earlier during the meal, I’d told the others all about my durian experiences, which made some loathe to try the dish. But once I had a taste and could assure them that the coconut flavor was predominant, they all (I think) gave it try.

The other desserts we sampled were—

Coconut-jackfruit ice cream sandwich at Pok Pok, served on a sweet bun with peanuts, sweet sticky rice, condensed milk and chocolate syrup.

Khao Niaw Mamuang at Pok Pok: Yellow mango with pandanus scented sweet sticky rice, salted coconut cream, and toasted sesame seeds.

My only regret about the meal is that Portland is so far away I’ll never get a chance to eat my way through the rest of the menu. But if you live closer than I do, you should definitely give that a try.

When we returned to the convention hotel for the mass signing, there was a Voodoo Doughnut truck out front, which presented me with a conundrum. But that’s a story for another time …