Pok Pok, the Portland-based Thai restaurant chain that once boasted outposts in three cities on both coasts, will close the Brooklyn location that helped make Andy Ricker a bona fide celebrity chef, The New York Times reports.

Ricker, who has six Portland-area restaurants, including an employees-only pub at the Nike campus, cited rising rents and diminishing revenues in announcing the New York restaurant's September 2 closure. The move further solidifies Pok Pok's Portland operations, coming about a year after Ricker closed his Los Angeles location.

As first reported by The Oregonian, a new Las Vegas location of Pok Pok Wing is being operated under a management deal.

He will be opening Pok Pok Wing in Las Vegas, closer to Portland. On the cusp of turning 55 and wanting something of a less-hectic life, Mr. Ricker said that he is looking forward to spending more time at his home in Chiang Mai, Thailand.



The closure marks the end of a mini era for Portland restaurants. In 2012, Portland seemed poised to take over Manhattan (or at least Brooklyn), with new restaurants from Ricker (Pok Pok Ny), former Castagna chef Matt Lightner (Atera) and a Clyde Common co-owner (The Beagle), openings quickly followed by New York outposts of Bunk Sandwiches and Sizzle Pie. Six years later, all are gone.

-- Michael Russell