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Vindalho: just right

Friday, January 20, 2006
BOB HICKS
The Oregonian

Vindalho, the new "spice route" restaurant that's been packing 'em in on Southeast Clinton Street, is an Indian restaurant.

More to the point, it's a David Machado restaurant, and that means a lot of things, first and foremost that it's professional: While it's a labor of love, it's also a place with a keen business savvy and a sense for the little things that keep a place running smoothly and turn customers into regulars.

Machado came to Portland years ago to open Pazzo, the downtown Italian restaurant that was one of the hottest spots in town in its early years. As a high-volume hotel restaurant, Pazzo demanded a spry, almost political balance of efficiency, glamour and long-lasting broad appeal. Machado later shifted the managerial and conceptual skills he exhibited there to other corporate-model restaurants, including Southpark, which emphasized his earthy, pan-Mediterranean cooking background.

When he shifted to the east side with his immensely popular Lauro Mediterranean Kitchen, which helped anchor the new restaurant row on Division Street, he dropped a lot of the downtown trimmings but kept things smart: solid, reliable food; consistent quality coming off the line; a well-crafted and modestly priced wine list; efficient and knowledgeable servers; a loud, congenial atmosphere in a peeled-to-the-bones setting -- all of it at a moderate, high-value price point that encouraged drop-ins and return visits.

In all of those senses, Vindalho is startlingly like Lauro, down to its emphasis on the protein at the center of the plate: There are a few good vegetarian options, but meat and seafood dominate far more than you might expect from an Indian restaurant. Like Lauro's, Vindalho's menu is also sharply focused, without the sprawl of options you often encounter at an Indian place. Vindalho makes no effort to be encyclopedic -- but what it chooses to do, it does well.

Vindalho emphasizes spiciness, which doesn't necessarily mean heat: Not much here is likely to get the sweat pouring off your brow. What Machado and chef de cuisine David Anderson supply is the sparkle of flavors playing off hot chilies, with other common flavors from the Subcontinent: ginger, cumin, saffron, coriander, peanuts, cashews, spinach, cilantro, garlic, lemon, yogurt -- and of course, the brilliant combination of exterior crustiness and interior juice that emerges from the 800-degree furnace of the tandoori oven.

One of the best tandoor offerings is Suvir Saran's Prawns, a prickly, wonderfully chewy dish (you'll want to nibble the crispy tails to get at the essence of the smoky heat) marinated in lemon, ginger and cumin. Even better was one night's special of a pair of juicy, crispy, eat-'em-with-your-fingers quail in a spicy rub with a smooth pear and scallion condiment.

Naan bread (the house one comes with cumin and fennel seed) is airy and satisfying; a generous starter of Goan-style mussels carries an intoxicating balance of chile heat and coconut-curry sweetness, creating a delicious broth; a coriander and eggplant curry is more warming and serviceable than illuminating; a side of Bengali spiced spinach with peanuts is lightly cooked, with a nice, pay-attention smokiness.

Portland is hardly overrun with good Indian restaurants. Curry Leaf in Beaverton serves interesting food in a sterile environment. India House and Bombay Cricket Club are comfortable and reliable. Plainfield's Mayur is pricey and unpredictable, although its condiments are the most interesting I've tasted in town.

Vindalho isn't the great Indian restaurant the city lacks: Its ambitions aren't that big. But it's a very good, friendly and reliable place, offering excellent value and enough intriguing dishes to make you want to add it to your list of regular destinations. Those are David Machado virtues, and you can take them to the bank.

© 2006 The Oregonian

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