Rural Isaan is void of any fancy, sit down restaurants.
Often the only choices are family food shops which are all open air.
Villages have local markets which sell food.
It is customary for Thai locals to go to these local markets to buy their daily dinners.
The food is hand prepared at home, then brought to the market to sell.
You can point to the food you want and the sellers will scoop a serving into a plastic baggie for you to take home, warm up and eat.
Many families cook and sell the same meals and have really excellent recipes.
After some trial and error, you will learn which vendors make the food the way you like it.
It is the way of life here and going to the market to find dinner becomes a daily ritual.
The markets rotate locations on different days, so you will have to learn which villages have the markets on specific days.