The best wine shop you’ve never heard of is in the back of a Thai restaurant on Evergreen Way.

Bhu Ping Thai is a word of mouth, game of telephone type of place. Tell your friends and they’ll tell their friends.

I went there recently with the Live in Everett guys to see what the hype was about. We pulled into the lot and parked in front of a Super Cuts. From the car I watched a stylist buzz a guy’s hair under florescent lights. This strip mall did not seem like a likely place to find gourmet wine.

We went into Bhu Ping and were seated by the owner, Noi. He handed each of us a plastic Trapper Keeper. It took me a second to realize that these were the menus. At first I thought this was merely a practical choice: menus need to be wiped off. Then I opened the binder and found that the pages-long wine and beer list needed three rings to contain it. There were dozens of local, domestic, and imported alcoholic options – most were accompanied by a numerical rating and a written flavor profile.

This is what distinguishes Bhu Ping from your average Thai restaurant: Noi is a real-deal seasoned sommelier. And he seems happy to share his knowledge.

Before we ordered, he poured us generous samples of a “grower” champagne. We sipped as he casually listed the strict criteria by which the French regulate their bubbly.

How’d he know all the specs of this particular batch? Noi said he had been rehearsing – the French vintner who made the champagne would be at Bhu Ping in a few weeks for a tasting on the 29th of October (the info should soon be up on the events calendar).

This is the high-toned vibe cultivated at Bhu Ping: delicious food, wine tastings, mirrors, plants, and live jazz. It’s a very chill place to be.

I ate a sweet and creamy curry topped with crunchy bamboo shoots. The specialty may be drinks, but the food here stands on its own, too. The curry left my mouth tingling with spice.

How about something to drink?

We retired to a small lounge at the back of the restaurant, a place lined with racks of bottles. I took a close look at a wall of vino. Here was a first growth Bordeaux from 2001 with a $375 price tag. No big deal – according to Noi $375 is a very good price for this particular wine.

We hung out until after closing time, sampling the goods. Noi hosted our party affably, pointing out selections from his collection of alcoholic oddities: a three liter bottle of Chimay ($85), a “modern” Italian Chianti (apparently Chianti is making a comeback after burning out in the 1980s), a six-pack of Belgian pale ale featuring little gnomes on the can.

Surrounded by racks of expensive booze, listening to jazz, I felt like I was in the setting of a Murakami novel. It was a sudden where-am-I experience in a place that I wouldn’t have guessed existed in South Everett.

We all left feeling like wine-warm happy campers.

Bhu Ping: go for the Thai food, stay for the Cabernet. And the Chardonnay. And the Riesling.
Now you know.

Go tell your friends.

Bhu Ping is located at:
6600 Evergreen Way
Everett, Washington 98201
Here's a map

Find them on Facebook here.

Editor's note: Bhu Ping also has great lunch specials. This place really checks all of the boxes – affordable, delicious, great service, open daily and superb drinkage.

Cellphotos:

Richard Porter is a social worker and musician. He lives in North Everett and enjoys running on Marine View Drive, bicycling down tree-lined streets, and trying to coax vegetables out of his yard.