Tag Archive for 'Vegetarian'

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: , , , , , .

Restaurant Review: Asaase Ital Palace

Ah food carts. I love the food carts in Portland. They provide a nice, home-grown and informal food culture to Portland, which is very enriching. Them are big words, but I mean them! Food carts are the places where a lot of us grab a quick lunch. Asaase Ital Palace is located next to PSU in a little food cart lot down there. They offer African-Caribbean vegan-vegetarian cuisine. The menu is not long, but there’s a little something for everyone. The first time we visited, they were closed, even though we showed up during their posted business hours, which was a little strange. I’m thinking that may be part of the food cart experience?

I’m unclear on whether or not everything on the menu is gluten-free, but at the very least it looks like the majority of their offerings are. On the plus side, the person who was working when we visited was familiar with gluten and able to answer all my questions about our order. Everything they prepare is vegan.

Asaase Ital Palace Food Cart

They serve a tofu scramble, smoothies, a salad, and fried plantains. For entrees, they have more interesting offerings. #1 Ofie ne ife – “Steam ground spinach in a savory red oil sauce with boiled plantain or rice.” # 2 Red-Red – “Black eyed peas in a savory tomato sauce and palm oil with fried plantain and Gari” #3 Ites Gold & Green Plate – “Red beans stewed in tomato & coconut milk over yellow rice with greens. #4 Waakye – “Cook-up rice and peas with traditional spices.” They also have a Jerk Veggie Chick-un, which is vegan chick-un marinated in sofrito grilled with spicy sauce. Last, they have some soups.

Ites Gold and Green Plate

Red-Red

This is a cuisine that I have no experience with, and so I end up having to judge it with no context other than whether it tastes good or not. The top picture here is the #3 Ites Gold & Green Plate. The bottom is the #2 Red-Red. Everything about the Ites Gold 7 Green Plate was good. I am a real sucker for rice and beans. The rice was delicious, and so were the beans. The flavors were unique and interesting. The #2 Red-Red wasn’t quite as good. Except for the plantains, the dish was a little monochromatic and dry. On the plus side, the plantains were freshly fried, and delicious! The food took a little longer than I am used to with food carts, but everything was well put together. The food had a very wholesome feel. As mentioned above, the friendly person working the cart answered all my questions.

They have two sizes of most of their dishes, a large and a small. The small is definitely enough to feed one person. You might get a large if you’re going to pick up a few dishes to share between a group of people, which would be an ideal way to get this food. It is very interesting food, so it’s fun to sample more than one dish.

If you’re looking for a small adventure with some take-out food then it’s fun to check out the food carts in town, and you could do much worse than checking out the Asaase Ital Palace. We enjoyed our dishes and if we lived down near PSU and/or were vegan, we would probably visit them regularly.

We want to know: Do you have any favorite food carts in Portland? Have you eaten at Asaase Ital Palace? What did you think? Let us know!

Gluten-Free Safety Rating: Gluten-Free Friendly But Ask Questions
Times we have visited: 1 (So your experience may vary.)
Overall rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Price compared to “regular”: Same

Asaase Ital Palace
Asaase Ital Palace Facebook Page
1600 SW 5th and College / 503.851.2511

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Published on January 18, 2010 in Restaurant Review. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Restaurant Review: Seres Restaurant & Bar

Many of you probably know Seres as Sungari Pearl. It is in the same place. I’m not sure what motivated the name change. Their “About Us” page says that they are still under the same owners, and our waiter for the night was one who had waited on us back when it was Sungari Pearl. Although Sienna isn’t exactly mad about the place, I had always liked Sungari Pearl. So you can imagine my excitement when they announced that they had a gluten-free menu.

You can check out their gluten-free menu here. There’s a little bit of something for everyone. From Prawns with Snow Peas and Bamboo Shoots, to a Curry Claypot, to Fried Rice. We were a little disappointed that two out of three of their appetizers involved tofu. I was interested to see that they had Buddha’s Delight, because that was like comfort food to me back in San Francisco (back before “comfort food” meant Southern Food). In fact, when people ask me what ethnic food I would choose if I could only eat one on a desert island, my answer is Chinese. I love Chinese food!

Hot Tea

I also love sitting down at an Asian restaurant and getting hot tea, even in the summer. We decided to go “family style” and share our orders. So we ordered the Curry Claypot with Chicken, and the Vegetable Fried Rice.

gluten-free fried rice

gluten-free curry claypot with shrimp

The food was well-prepared, the vegetables seemed fresh, and everything was done just right. We ended up with a bunch of complaints, however. Here’s the list: One of our plates was dirty when we sat down. The Curry Claypot was rather spicy. This wouldn’t normally be a problem except that the menu has little stars next to the spicy items, and the Curry Claypot wasn’t marked as spicy, so it was kind of unexpected. It wasn’t too spicy for me, but it wasn’t to Sienna’s liking, so we ended up not being able to share, which was a bummer. The Vegetable Fried Rice was impressively good, but would probably have been better with some gluten-free soy sauce in it (I hope the restaurant owners know that you can get gluten-free soy sauce). Finally, our waiter did not seem to know what we were talking about when we asked him if any of the desserts were gluten-free. This made us a little nervous. If a waiter doesn’t know what gluten-free means, then we start wondering if the chef does.

Chocolate Mousse

Here were the good things: As we mentioned above, the menu has a large selection, which is awesome. All the desserts were gluten-free! We had a chocolate mousse, which was really excellent. The food came out promptly and was hot. The service was great. Also, the hostess seemed to be in-the-know about gluten and was able to give us information about the desserts. Also as mentioned above, all the ingredients were fresh and cooked just right.

So to sum it up, despite the problems, we are curious to know how the other dishes at Seres are, and will probably go back to find out. I’m hoping they’re good. It’s nice to have a local Chinese place that has a gluten-free menu. I say give it a try!

We want to know: Are there other gluten-free friendly Chinese restaurants in town? Have you tried any of the gluten-free dishes at Seres? Let us know!

Gluten-Free Safety Rating: Gluten-Free Friendly But Ask Questions
Times we have visited: 1 (So your experience may vary.)
Overall rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Price compared to “regular”: Same

Seres Restaurant & Bar
http://seresrestaurant.com/
971 222 7327
1105 NW Lovejoy Street, Portland, OR 97209 / 971.222.7327

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Published on December 10, 2009 in Restaurant Review. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

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