2011 Restaurant Guide ~ A Passage to India
Willamette Week’s 2011 Restaurant Guide has hit the newsstand and Vindalho’s gustatory delights are praised on high. See below.
“For those of us who best know Indian food as “that stuff you pile on your plate from a buffet line and eat so much you have to loosen your belt two notches, then pray for death on the car ride home,” Vindalho will be a welcome change of pace. The sleek Southeast Portland restaurant offers delicately prepared, well-presented fare served without the heart-stopping gloop-sauce that passes for curry at most U.S. Indian joints. Not to say Vindalho’s plates lack richness: The wild boar spare ribs are drizzled with plenty of sauce—both rich and sweet, like a barbecue twist on mole—and the meat slides off the bone without much prodding. The pork Vindahlo is similarly indulgent, and perhaps the sauciest plate Vindalho has on offer. Topped with a crispy garnish that looks and tastes like shoestring french fries in miniature, its spicy brown sauce gives the plate a healthy amount of kick. Lighter plates like the chicken tikka and sag paneer satisfy just as much, especially when enjoyed alongside a sharp tamarind margarita or, for the non-drinker, a soda-pop-style tamarind fizz. If the prices seem a bit out of reach, stop in for the 5-6 pm happy hour and order a $5 chicken seekh kebab: A charred, rich and mysteriously green twist on chicken sausage served on a small sea of creamy mushroom sauce with a twist of (you guessed it) tamarind.
- CASEY JARMAN
Best meal: Start with a chutney sampler and a chicken kebab, then split a sag paneer.
Best deal: The $4 non-alcoholic beverage menu is full of sweet surprises. Pair one of those with some $5 happy-hour food.
5-9 pm Tuesday-Thursday and Sunday, 5-10 pm Friday-Saturday. $$
