Restaurant Review: Chutney’s Indian Cuisine in Vancouver, WA

Thanks to the readers who left comments on Chutney’s comment page linked from our Gluten Free Restaurant List, we’d heard some about their food before we managed to get there. Even without diet restrictions, getting good Indian food has been a real problem for us in Portland, because we’re both used to the really amazing Indian restaurants that were available in Berkeley and San Francisco. We’re both big fans of Vindalho down in SE. Their food is really amazing, but Vindalho is kind of… not the kind of Indian food we’re used to in restaurants. We were excited to try the food at Chutney’s and finally got a chance this weekend. As a bonus, the restaurant is really close to the Regal Cascade 16 Cinema, so we caught the 4 o’clock showing of Inception and then got ourselves some delicious gluten-free Indian food afterward.

The movie Inception was really good by the way. You should check it out! As for the restaurant, we are happy to recommend it. It’s in a quiet little strip mall. The place was about three quarters full of very obviously happy people when we walked in. The decor makes the restaurant look very new, and there is a warm vibe to the place. We had water brought almost instantly, and our waitress was very helpful. She was almost a little too attentive, and made us feel a little rushed. At one point, we got a little worried because she said “gluten-free means no wheat, right?” which is only part right, but otherwise she was able to answer all of our questions. Besides that, were very happy with how attentive and friendly the staff was.

Gluten-free Vegetable Pakoras

We started with the Mixed Vegetable Pakoras, which are described as “Mixed vegetable fritters dipped in mildly seasoned batter and fried.” These tasted a lot like Samosas, so those of you out there who miss Samosas should check this dish out (sadly, their Samosas are not gluten-free). The Pakoras were so delicious that it took an effort for us to not devour them all instantly.

For entrees, we got the South Indian Dal and Chicken Korma. South Indian Dal is described as “Tomato lentil dal in ginger, garlic South Indian spices.” This is a dish made primarily with yellow lentils and chunks of tomatoes. Dal is one of my favorite things to eat, and we were both very happy with this dish. If we had a complaint, it would be that it was a little watery, which is mostly OK, because you’re just going to mix it up with some rice anyway. The Chicken Korma is described simply as “Chicken cooked in coconut sauce.” This dish was also really good. Like the rest of the food we had at Chutney’s the flavors were complex and delicious.

Dal and Chicken Korma - Gluten-free Indian Food

Our only other complaint of the night was that we ordered vegetables with our chicken and they forgot them. On the plus side, when we mentioned this to our server, it was taken care of very promptly. Other than this, our food arrived in a reasonable amount of time, and it was all served warm. Later on in our meal the host stopped by and we had a conversation about rice and food. Her name was Usha (if you’re reading this, we hope we’re spelling this right!!) We asked if they had brown rice available and she mentioned that they can do special things if we were to call ahead. That was nice to know.

Chutney’s was awarded the Best of Citysearch- Portland Metro Area for Indian food in 2009 and it’s plain to see why. Chutney’s is also sitting at number 3 on Urban Spoon’s best 100 list for Portland. Chutney’s is open 7 days a week for dinner, and also does catering. They’re locally owned and operated, and also gluten-free friendly. The food is great, so we say check them out!

Gluten-Free Safety Rating: Gluten-free Friendly but Ask Questions!
Times we have visited: 1 (So your experience may vary.)
Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Price compared to “regular”: Same.

Chutney’s Fine Indian Cuisine
chutneysvancouver.com
3000 SE 164th Ave, Vancouver, WA. / 360.254.7254

We want to know: Do you have a favorite gluten-free friendly place in Vancouver WA? Got a favorite dish at Chutney’s? What is a donut shop doing at #1 on the Urban Spoon 100 Best Restaurants in Portland list? Let us know in the comments!

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Published on August 2, 2010 in Restaurant Review. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .

Product Review: Udi’s White Sandwich Bread

Our search for the perfect gluten-free bread continues with heavyweight contender Udi’s. Udi’s Bread is in Denver, and we heard about them way before this. As a matter of fact, they contacted us at some point, and then we got back to them, but we never really got it together to try some of their bread for a review until now. Now that you can buy their bread at Whole Foods in Portland, we figured it was high time for us to give them a shot.

Udi's White Gluten-Free Sandwich Bread

Long time readers will know that we find store-bought gluten-free breads disappointing on the whole, and have resorted to making our own with a bread machine. Recently I’ve been doing a series of posts detailing our experiments with bread recipes from around the Internet, and how they work out with our tester Zojirushi bread machine in the Gluten Free Portland labs.

Udi’s markets their white sandwich bread as their original style, light and fluffy white bread. So we’re probably looking at something that will approximate American white bread. Here are the ingredients:

Filtered water, tapioca starch, brown rice flour, potato starch, canola oil or sunflower oil, egg whites, tapioca maltodextrin, evaporated cane juice, tapioca syrup, yeast, xanthan gum, salt, baking powder (sodium bicarbonate, cornstarch, calcium sulfate, monocalcium phosphate), mold inhibitor (cultured corn syrup, ascorbic acid), ascorbic acid (contains cellulose and cornstarch), enzymes. Contains eggs.

We’re becoming a lot harder to please when it comes to bread ingredients, and the first thing that jumps out at me when I look at this list is that two of the three gluten-free flours in use here are starches. The first being tapioca starch. It seems like there’s something about making gluten-free bread where you need starch to do it, so I’m used to seeing tapioca starch in bread recipes, but it’s not something you want to be eating lots of, and to me, having it as the first ingredient is not a good sign. A quarter cup of tapioca starch is 100 calories, has 26 grams of carbohydrates, no fiber, no protein, and basically no vitamins and minerals except a little iron. Potato starch is even worse. Compare this to a quarter cup of sorghum flour, which has 120 calories, and has 26 grams of carbohydrates, but has 3 grams of fiber, 4 grams of protein, and also has iron, and B-Vitamins. See the attached chart on this helpful page for more information about the nutritional value of alternative grains.

Udi'd Gluten Free White Bread Slices

So OK. OK. Sometimes you just want some bread to make a hamburger or a PB&J and you don’t mind that it’s not really the best thing for you. Let’s talk about taste. Sienna and I both liked it. Being a white bread, it’s on the flavorless side. We didn’t find any strange aftertastes. As far as something you can buy at a store to make a sandwich out of, I would say that this bread has got the Trader Joe’s gluten free rice bread beat hands down. I would put it as equivalent or maybe a little better than Whole Foods own gluten free bread. Whole Foods has got a weird texture problem. Udi’s bread toasts OK and is good with some butter on it. As a replacement for white bread it does do the job, so we can see what the big deal is about.

When compared to bread that you can make at home, though, it’s still not really there for me. I would also say that you should check out Jensen’s Breads, which are available around town, are locally made, and are better.

We want to know: Do you have a favorite store-bought gluten-free bread? How about a preferred flour mix or bread recipe on the Internet? Send us a link. Let us know in the comments!

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Published on July 16, 2010 in Product Review. 9 Comments Tags: , , , , .

News Bites: GIG Pancake Breakfast this Weekend

Gig Pancake Breakfast at Lingonberries

The Portland Metro Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG) is having the first of two pancake breakfasts this Saturday (the 17th) at Lingonberries Market in Vancouver. This weekend they will be using mixes from Bob’s Red Mill, Laurel’s Sweet Treats, and Kinnikinnick. Dairy free options will be available. The cost is $5 per person – $12 max per family. (I can’t say for sure as of this writing, but I can only imagine that the proceeds from this event will go to support the Portland GIG.) I wish that I could attend, but I’m still working on losing weight and can’t do the maple syrup! Here’s the relevant info:

Where: Lingonberries Market – 6300 NE 117th Ave – Vancouver WA 98662
When: Saturday, July 17 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Contact: christina@lingonberriesmarket.com or call (360) 260-4411

The next GIG Pancake Breakfast is scheduled for August 21. We’ll try to remember to give everybody notice the week before.

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Published on July 15, 2010 in Events, News and Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

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