Discovering ‘Authentic’ Thai Food at Columbia City Farmer’s Market

When I’m ordering Thai or Indian food, please don’t give me a 1 to 5 spiciness scale.  Authenticity in ethnic foods would dictate that meals are served the way the chef and origin of a dish intended it to taste like. For this reason, along with a boatload of mediocre ketchupy pad thai dishes and under or over spiced curries, I’ve been disenchanted with the Seattle Thai restaurant scene. I know that this may warrant a bit of controversy; many people want their food the way they like it and the word authentic, in regards to ethnic foods, can be a dangerous word. 

That’s why I was surprised to say that I was transported to the streets of Thailand from the unlikeliest of places, from a food vendor in the middle of a neighborhood farmer’s market. It was my nose that led me to a sign displaying Shophouse manned by chef and owner Wiley Frank. 

Shophouse brings “food off the path” dishes devoted to the craft of traditional Thai cuisine. Wiley Frank and his wife Poncharee Kounpungchart lived in Thailand experiencing food, culture and family for over a year. Lucky for us, Wiley and Poncharee share their acquired wisdom and knowledge with hungry customers at Columbia City Farmer’s Market on Wednesday afternoons. 

I was lucky enough to have their mini curried loki salmon cakes featuring fish from Loki Fish Co and minced pork sautéed with gra pao basil, chiles, and garlic. The salmon cakes were loaded with Thai flavors and had a pretty visual appeal with the garnish of fried basil. The pork reminded me how well the Thai can employ the full spectrum of salty, sweet, sour and spicy in one or two dishes. 

Shophouse was also a pop-up restaurant that made an appearance every Monday night at Licorous on Capitol Hill. Pop-up restaurants provide many of the same opportunities that food trucks offer to young chefs; It’s a way to test new dishes, let off some creative steam, expand their brand to new neighborhoods and otherwise take risks without the hefty upfront investment required for a traditional restaurant. 

Unfortunately, Licorous permanently closed its doors last Monday along with Shophouse’s Monday night pop-up. Wiley hopes to grow on the concept of Shophouse and one day hopefully start a brick and mortar restaurant.

Keeping an eye on the young stars of the culinary world is like watching local bands play at small clubs. It’s one thing to watch a highly established, or even celebrity chef, start a restaurant with highly anticipated fanfare. It’s even more rewarding to discover humble young and up and coming chefs start small, gain some traction and become culinary rock stars. 

Fantastic Seattle Street Food

Traveling in countries throughout Southeast Asia like Thailand and Malaysia, I found an abundance of street food, literally, around every corner.  While traveling, I always strived to eat where the locals eat, and that almost always meant street food, carts and stalls.  Whether it was Pad Thai made on the spot on a street vendor in Bangkok, or Nasi Lemak with some chicken satay in Malaysia, Singapore crab at a Singapore hawker stall or conch chowder in the Bahamas, street food has the convenience of being fast, fresh, authentic and delicious.  Here in the U.S.A however, we are handcuffed by laws that say you can't have any uncooked products at your food cart or street food stall. Hence, we are often limited to the likes of precooked meats like hot dogs and brats.

But fear not, fellow Seattle Foodies!  The street food revolution has commenced here in Seattle, albeit a bit slower than our neighbor to the south, Portland.  Mobile food carts are starting to pop up everywhere, and today I finally tried what is considered to be Seattle's best food cart,  Marination Mobile.

I'm definitely not the first to write about Marination Mobile.  Good Morning America named Marination Mobile the number one food cart in America.  Seattle Magazine named it one of the number one reasons to love Seattle, and it also placed one of it's 2 dollar Kahlua Pork Sandwiches on, you guessed it, Seattle's Top 48 Sandwiches.  GQ Magazine also had a feature on it and the list of media appearances goes on and on.

An appeal to street food is affordability, and Marination Mobile is no exception.  I literally almost ordered the entire menu on less than 20 bucks.

Marination Mobile draws it's influence from Mexico, Hawaii, and Asia. The Kahlua Pulled Pork sliders were my favorite.  This little 2 buck chuck of a sandwich made it on Seattle Magazine's Top 48 sandwiches.   Sweet pulled pork with a tangy slaw is sandwiched between a mini roll of toasted Hawaiian Bread.  The tacos also featured the same slaw.  You have choices between the sexy tofu, spicy pork, kalbi beef, and miso ginger chicken.  Each is unique punching an enormous amount of ethnic flavor. Other items on the menu include Kimchi rice bowl and quesadilla, and spam musubi.

A testament to how wonderful Marination Mobile is are it's hungry loyal customers that will sit out through the cold, wind, and rain while waiting for their orders.  Find out where it's at, put on a raincoat and hunt it down.  You won't be disappointed.