Elite Event at Iyara Thai Restaurant

I felt like a star! What a fun event. It was great to meet all of you. I love putting a real-​life face to those little thumbnail photos. You all REALLY EXIST outside of cyberspace. My brain hurts.
Great food (fighting over meat chunks in the curry with Don was eventful) and very interesting conversation (ask Kim about her imported sacrificial lamb sometime). :-)
Plus, 15 minutes after walking out the door and heading down to Voodoo donuts for an unexpected apple fritter craving, my +1 (Sarah) got immediate recognition of her super-​fashionable Unilocal hoodie. I love this site.
Big thanks to Laura and all attending Unilocalers for a great time at a crafty location.

Rebecca to the left of me and Adam to my right made for one fun dinner. Spilling my Unilocalopolitan all over the table, but fortunately not on Katrina and Jill’s laps, was a highlight. Total party foul, but at least I got to try the Unilocallet too.
Thanks to Laura for arranging fun events so we can mix-​n-​mingle. And it was great to meet her opposite number from Seattle, Michelle B.
I’m going to break with tradition and possibly bite the hand that feeds me for free by not going all out on the five stars. Why, because I like the group events when we are all together and missed seeing my 8:00p Yeeps. I was tempted to leave secret messages for them to discover during their seating, but figured my spilled drink was quite enough for one night.

It was worth going just to meet the lovely Ms. Jen K. in person, as we have traded messages for a long time about various inconsequential things. Supah shmart nice lady! I enjoyed chatting with everybody, getting the required Laura double hug (coming in and going out the door), and laughing with Katrina and Jill, who are very funny and witty and wear great vintage-​y dresses. It was worth the hour and a half drive. When there’s an accident anywhere on the highways in PDX, it seems the town goes down. It shouldn’t take 40 minutes to get from exit 302B on I5 to the Couch exit off 405. But it did. And I was not happy. But the nice drink and food and company restored my faith and smile. Yay!

Cheers to Laura! Great job on the first ‘sit-​down’ elite event! The food was fan-​thai-​astic as was the various interactions with fellow Unilocal elite.
Bob S. and his plusone were a pleasure to sit across from and chat with about various dining experiences and the usual get-​to-​know me stuff.
Now let me see if I spell this right… the Unilocalopolitan? Tasty! (and pretty fun to say). Would have tried the Unilocallet but gin and I don’t agree … from the reactions of those who did give it a gander, it appeared to be a hit.
P. S. I heart my new hoodie! :)

OK, I’ll bite.
This was my first Unilocal event, and I will admit to a certain amount of trepidation going in, nervy bundles at the idea of dining with a conspicuous group of professed critics. Also, having been in and around the marketing industry for 10+ years, I was impressed yet simultaneously overwhelmed by the astonishing amount of Unilocal branding and argot. Unilocalopolitan? Unilocalstick? W-​o-​w, man.
So right: I didn’t know if I was going to feel less than elite by not incorporating a clever incarnation of the word « Unilocal» into every other sentence, or if it was OK if I felt sympathy for the staff, who must have been the under immense pressure of knowing that all of the people in this room were going to go home and judge them in a public forum.
But the fear disintegrated before my first Unilocalopolitan. (You’d better believe I had two.) Normal people, smart people, good people. Good conversations. And good food. And great drinks. I wouldn’t be against going there just for drinks sometime.
It was grand to meet local folks from different worlds than my own, with interesting stories and perspectives. I liked it. Very much. And it really made me look forward to the next event.
So no, I wasn’t sure at first, but so far, Unilocal’s cup o’ Kool-​Aid tastes pretty good on the way down this hatch.

It doesn’t get any better than this. New Unilocalers mixin’ and minglin’ with the old over Unilocaltinis and Unilocallets.
Oh yeah, and an amazing Thai dinner with no Unilocaluendos whatsoever. Other than how blatantly fantastic it is.
I’ve died and gone to Heavelp. (Or would that be Yeaven?)

Another fab event by hostess extrordinairè Laura N. She knows how to pick them! I love Thai food and since moving up here a year ago I haven’t had really good peanut sauce! I have finally found it! Hooray!
I loved the Ginger cosmo drink that was my freebie!
I loved the atmosphere and chatting with all the Yeeps!
I already hung up my new hoodie in the closet and can’t wait to use it when the weather gets cool again.
It was a great location and having the early seating option was a plus as well.
Total bonus was seeing Laura’s condo complete with visiting parental unit!
Yay to finally meeting Melissa P. In person! :-)
I am looking forward to the next event!

What a great evening! Perfect weather, wonderful Yeeps, and a delicious meal in a nice, laid back atmosphere. I couldn’t have asked for a better mid-​week dinner. And the Unilocalipolitan? Absolutely fantastic! Actually, the Basil Unilocallet and the Ruby of Siam were just as perfect; ice-​cold drinkable gems with a splash of spicy sass.
(Loooooved the green curry. I am so coming back for more a’that!)

The Olympic sized swimming pool full of pad thai was my favorite part of the event… watching Unilocalers diving in… cannonballs…
*ok that didn’t happen*
But there was a ton of amazing Thai food, great Unilocalers and, cannonballs! Another great event from Laura and the PDX Unilocalers!

Some of my most favorite Unilocalals in one spot at a reasonable hour on a work night! Score.
This place will definately be taking more of the monies in my Thai budget. Very friendly service, excellent pad thai and really tasty green curry. How can one go wrong with a Unilocalopolitan? One can’t.
And I was really happy to meet Karen and Chris E.
And Zak F’s all, «Hey, try to get me a hoodie» and I’m all, «F-​off, I earned that».

This was the worst elite event I have ever been to.
Wait, no, never mind. I was thinking about the bar class I went to earlier today. THAT was the worst un-​elite non-​yelp event I have ever been to. This event, as with all the others, rocked.
Laura, as always, amazing job! You know you rule, so I don’t have to give you any more props than that. I am really looking forward to you sake-​ing it to me next time!
Iyara Thai, thanks for some divine thai food. I was sad to hear that they had no Mekong at the bar, but beyond that, the food, service, and drinks were spot on. Loved the yellow and pink polos. King Bhumibol’s fashion sense obviously reaches far beyond the borders of Siam. It did tell me, though, that these guys have a strong connection to the homeland, and that kind of connection more often than not results in good food. Whatever that red curry (lamb or beef?!?) was, it was fantastic.
Nice space, nice company, nice food, and a coveted spot at the table next to the illustrious Seattle Unilocal mistress…
Awesome.
Thanks Laura!

Damn! Chris E. you were fast!
Nice to meet the ‘real people’ behind the reviews (and some of their plusones!). A tasty drink, the Unilocallet. Thanks Laura N.
While it was great meeting all, the highlight of the night was Iyara Thai’s offer to make me Yen Ta Fo, a rice noodle seafood soup for me if I came back. For youse guyses who live near there, ask for it, try it, you’ll like it!
Cheers all!

Delicious drinks, tasty food, good conversation with nice peoples. What more do you need? Hope you second sitting Yeeps have fun!
The Pad Thai was a standout. I’ve had dozens of Pad Thais over the years at a multitude of restaurants and I would put this solidly in the top 5.
Oh, and the capper on the evening — getting to see Laura’s apartment AND meeting her MOM! Sweet!

Thai food with Unilocalsters?
NOM NOM NOM!
Although this event was much less rowdy than previous ones, it was still five-​star awesomeness! Great group of people, fab drinkies (like a Unilocalmopolitan? Haha!), and exxxxxxcellent food. All of it. All of the food was great. And not greasy. And delicious.
And I snuck back in to say hi to my friends at the 8 p.m. seating, and it looks like it was another great crowd! Stay tuned for photos. :)
What a great way to make an otherwise blah Wednesday extra SPICY!
PHOTOS (mostly 5 p.m. seating) CAN BE FOUND HERE:

Unilocallet = YUM.
Thai food = YUM.
I got a sweater and it was awesome. The food was amazing! The people were, duh, totally rad. Good times were had!
Thanks to everyone that put it together!