“You’re Going Gangster” — Vietnamese Chicken Wings at Pok Pok in Portland

“You know you’re going gangster when you don’t take the signature item of the type of food and put it on your menu,” Guy Fieri declared about Pok Pok in Portland, Oregon. This is a restaurant that doesn’t serve pad thai — and that’s exactly the point. Owner and chef Andy Ricker built his menu around the authentic flavors he discovered traveling across Asia, and his Vietnamese chicken wings have become legendary.

The Wing Process: Garlic Water, Overnight Brines, and Wing Dust

These aren’t your standard buffalo wings. Andy Ricker’s Vietnamese-style wings start with a technique Guy found fascinating: creating garlic water. Chopped garlic gets massaged with salt to pull out the liquid, then water is added. The mixture is poured through cheesecloth and squeezed. As Ricker explained, this flavors the wings without putting garlic directly on them — “because it’ll burn” when you fry.

To that garlic water goes super fine sugar and fish sauce. The wings get tossed in this marinade and given what Ricker called “a darn good mixing.” Guy noticed what was happening: “You got not just a marination going, you got a little osmosis going. We got a brine going.” The wings sit overnight before frying.

For the coating — what Ricker calls “wing dust” — it’s Thai Jasmine rice flour mixed with tempura mix. Guy admitted he’s “not typically a fan of a dredged wing,” but the rice flour is so super fine it doesn’t clump up. That sold him on giving it a try.

The Caramel That Changes Everything

The wing caramel is deceptively simple: fish sauce, water, and a whole bunch of sugar. When it starts bubbling, Ricker adds chili paste for what he described as “that nice toasty spice flavor.” The fried wings go straight into the caramel, then get topped with fried garlic. A splash of water at the end pulls everything together into a glossy glaze.

The wings are served with cool lettuce, pickled daikon and cucumbers, carrots, and cilantro — designed to contrast with the heat. Similar to how the Fiery Apple Wings in Burlington, VT use creative flavor combinations, Pok Pok’s wings balance sweet, spicy, and savory in ways that keep you reaching for more.

Guy’s Verdict

After tasting, Guy was emphatic: “That sauce on the outside of that with that tempura flour makes it crunchy, tender, falls off the bone. What a dish.” He added his signature enthusiasm: “Spicy is the way I live my life. Ain’t not a thing but a chicken wing.”

The wings weren’t the only thing Guy tried. Pok Pok also served up Northern Thai curry noodle soup with flavors Guy called “just amazing,” and Chinese whole fried fish that “seals all the flavors” and stays very tender. But when asked, the choice was clear: “Wings down, I’d get the wings every time.”

For those who want to Heat Things Up in their own kitchen, the key takeaways from Ricker’s technique are clear: brine your wings overnight with fish sauce and garlic water, use super fine rice flour to avoid clumping, and don’t skip that caramel glaze with fried garlic on top.

Pok Pok describes itself as a “papaya pop eclectic blend of Thai, Vietnamese, and things like that” — and Guy called it “one of the best meals in town.” Find Pok Pok and other Triple D restaurants in our restaurant directory.