(Images: CHS)

Renee Erickson’s three-pronged landing on Capitol Hill —Bar Melusine, Bateau, and General Porpoise Doughnuts and Coffee — won’t debut until the fall. But her neighbor in the humongous Broadstone Infinity development that swallowed up the old Davis Hoffman building at 10th and Union has quietly opened:

SOI is a return to Thailand–a departure from your normal expectations of Thai food in Seattle. Our idea is to return back to what it really like to eat in Thailand, with a focus on the raised plateau of the North East region called Issan. We believe that Seattle deserves better Thai food and that folks are tired with what the expectation are from typical Thai food in Seattle. We also believe that folks are yawing at white table cloths, but still expect top-not meals. We want to help educate our customers and will use the typical native names on the menu–though it may be hard for some, it is important to us.

CHS first reported in May on the plans husband and wife restaurateurs Gabe Wiborg and Yuie Helseth Soi have for Soi and its northeastern Thai-flavored menu. “We wanted to do a restaurant like Soi in the beginning but Kent wasn’t the right place,” former Starbucks product developer Wiborg told CHS. “We had ambitious visions, ideas, and goals.”

Here’s how the new restaurant describes its flavors:

Though there is a focus on Issan style food, we will also provide an exploration through food of the 5 different regions of Thailand, with Nahm Khao Tod (Crispy Rice Salad), Som Tum Issan(Papaya Salad), and Kor Moo Yahng (BBQ’s pork collar) from Issan, Khao Soi (curry noodle soup) and Pad Ped Pla (stir-fired cat fish in a non-coconut milk curry) from Chiang Mai in the North, Gai Yahng (BBQ’d chicken on an actual rotisserie), and Kor Moo Krob (crispy pork belly) from central Thailand.

Our drinks , we’ll have things such as the Tamarind Vodka Collins where we use the Tamarind paste typically found in traditional Phad Thai, mix it with fresh sour and our home made palm sugar syrup. The Songkran–which translates to Thai New Years–where we’ll mix Prosecco–bubbly to help celebrate the occasion, which was on April 13th–mango nectar and grapefruit bitters, stirred, or the Asian Pear Crush where we’ll muddle fresh Asian pear and add it to rum, fresh lemon, palm sugar syrup and crown with soda.

The restaurant is only days old so expect hours to vary and a quiet start to things on a stretch on the backside of Pike/Pine that is about to get very busy.

Soi is located at 1400 10th Ave. You can learn more at soicapitolhill.com.