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Home / Businesses / Pok Pok Thai

Pok Pok Thai

Super GemAlbany Park · Thai Community-sourced, unverified
📍 4156 N Kedzie Ave, Chicago, IL 60618

Pok Pok Thai opened in the Albany Park space that Arun Sampanthavivat's Arun's Thai occupied for nearly 40 years — Arun opened the original in 1985 while still a political science doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago, moved into this exact building in 1988, and built it into a James Beard Award-winning, Zagat-27-out-of-30, 'place to see before you die' institution before finally closing.

$$$
Khao soi, massaman curry, and yen ta fo (the pink fermented-tofu noodle soup, rare to find done well in Chicago) from a casual a la carte Thai kitchen that took over the Albany Park space Arun's Thai — a James Beard-winning institution — ran for nearly 40 years.

Pok Pok Thai takes over that same address with a deliberately different model: where Arun's ran an elaborate prix fixe tasting menu, Pok Pok runs a la carte, letting diners pick their way through multiple regions of Thailand rather than committing to one chef's set sequence. Moo ping and kor moo yang (grilled pork skewers and grilled pork neck) anchor the starters, while khao soi, massaman curry, and yen ta fo — the pink, fermented-tofu-based noodle soup that's rare to find done well in Chicago — cover the range of the entrees.

It's a genuinely different restaurant in the same walls, built for a faster, more casual visit than its predecessor ever offered, while still treating the regional breadth of Thai cooking as the whole point.

Specials at Pok Pok Thai

(1)

Pok Pok Thai

Super Gem
Khao Soi & Yen Ta Fo
Albany ParkCommunity

Hours

Unknown -- not confirmed
call to verify
📅 Reservations not available 🥡 Takeout unconfirmed 📞 (773) 654-3120

Amenities & accessibility

🚶Walk-in only, no reservations
❔Takeout: unverified
❔Wheelchair access: unverified
🙂Kid-friendly

Location

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