[tejon]

I'll be out in Portland this weekend, house shopping. Staying with a friend who decided to take me out to her favorite restaurant. Now I'm excited! Any menu recommendations?

[Amanda]

The Cebiche and stuffed yucca are two of my personal favorites, but I haven't had anything there I didn't like to be honest!

Best regards,

Amanda

[ExtraMSG]

Concur with Amanda, especially the mango ceviche. I think they're more consistent with the big tapas menu. I really like the stuffed peppers, too. The causitas are a very interesting dish as well. Buen provecho.

[FoodDude]

tejon, on Apr 27 2006, 08:14 AM, said:

I'll be out in Portland this weekend, house shopping. Staying with a friend who decided to take me out to her favorite restaurant. Now I'm excited! Any menu recommendations?

Ken over there dropped me a note this week saying "FYI: Please come to andina to try Amy's new dish, Arroz con Pato. Leg of Duck Confit and homemade Duck Sausage over green Risotto flecked with chunks of white cheese, crunchy whole baby vegetables and a mache salad on the side. It's one of the best dishes I've had in Portland. For white wine accompaniment, try the Albert Mann Pinot Blanc. For red, the Adea Dean-o's Pinot Noir."

I haven't made it yet, but it sure sounds good!

[tejon]

Well, shoot. Looks like there wasn't an opening at Andina until 9:00 Saturday night, so that's off. Going to Higgins instead - but I will make sure to get out to Andina once we're moved in, if only to try that duck confit!

[ExtraMSG]

The bar doesn't take reservations and their extensive tapas menu is available in there. An option. Don't know how busy it will be.

[tejon]

We ended up going to Higgins and it was amazing. Andina (and that Arroz con Pato) will have to wait until we're moved in next month . Thanks for the recommendations!

[Amanda]

I took myself solo to Andina last night for dinner. I got a spot in the lounge just right for one person between the hostess stand and the fireplace. I ordered an awesome salad with mixed greens, palm hearts, mild cheese and pepitas; and scallops baked in lime butter and parmesan off the tapas menu. I also got an order of the fresh fish cebiche. I washed it down with their purple corn (and hibiscus - as Nick says) drink and water. It was terrific. It has been a while since I went there. It's as popular as ever with excellent food and outstanding service. It is easy to see why it is so packed all the time with fare that fine and original!

Best regards,

Amanda

[MaBell]

We had guests in town this past weekend and after dinners at Kyo-fu and Yoko's plus a barbeque, we were looking for something with a bit nicer atmosphere. Andina was one of the few places open in the Pearl on July 4th. Like Amanda, I hadn't been in awhile but was reminded that it's a great atmosphere and the food and drinks are great.

We ate in the bar and stuck with the menu de entradas, ordering all medium plates to share for the four of us. The favorite at our table was the Yuca Rellena. I love the texture, color and the cheese sauce.

We also had the pimento piquillo peppers stuffed with cheese, quinoa and Serrano ham; the baked scallops with parmesan and lime butter sauce; crispy prawns battered in quinoa; the grilled octopus kebob and the causa with tuna and crab salad topped with crispy shrimp.

The white sangria was very fruity and light. I also had a few sips of the mojito and the caipirinha which were equally as tasty. If you're going to pay $8 for a drink, it should be as good as these.

[Kristi]

I could go for a Pisco Sour and the Yuca right about now. I like their bar menu a lot. Thanks for the reviews Amanda and MaBell, Andina is one of those places I always forget about.

[Plump_and_Juicy]

Our friend is taking us (Mr P and J and I) to Andina this Friday for dinner. I've never been there, but I've been advised that their ceviches are not to be missed. Anything else that we *have* to try? I'm more of a small plates type of person than a big entree person. Thanks!

[mkmnw]

Hurrah for small plates! Having only eaten food from Andina's entradas menu, I can't speak to main dish recs; however, I do have this to say:

Yuca Rellena

From their entradas menu:
"YUCA RELLENA cheese-stuffed yuca with an aji Amarillo and cheese sauce"

I also like the Solterito causa, but I love love love their yuca rellenas.

Hope you enjoy your meal.

[Angelhair]

If you are eating in the restaurant, I really like the duck dish...pato something. But I think you can order the entire menu in the bar. So I would sit in the bar and order the duck (to share) along with any/ALL of the small plates: any of the ceviches, papas, yuca, and the skewers (beef heart...YUM) are all good.

I haven't been there for happy hour for about a year, but they used to have a good one.

PFG went a while ago too:
http://portlandfood.org/index.php?showtopi...ndina&st=40

http://www.extramsg.com/modules.php?set_al...=view_album.php

[truth]

I'd have to second the yucca rellena. I also like the pimientos pequenos (sp?) Which are little red peppers stuffed with quinoa, serrano ham and some cheese. The crispy golden shrimp is also incredible.

[Plump_and_Juicy]

I've read all your responses and will print them out for tomorrow. Also I've looked at Nick's photos and they've educated me well. Thanks all, and keep the recommendations coming if you have any.

[LadyConcierge]

I really like the scallops with lime-butter sauce. And the ceviche was the best I've had in this town.

[ExtraMSG]

MERGING

[Plump_and_Juicy]

Here it is, over 12 hours after we stopped eating, and I'm still full. Last night I was full almost to bursting; uncomfortably full, groaning full. And all I had was tapas.

I ordered their ginger cocktail and loved it. It was intensely gingery, with a good kick and a cardamom/sugar rim. Later on I had the purple corn drink - what a lovely thing it was. The first taste was that of spices one would normally find in a mulled apple cider. Then the sweetness and acid/fruit taste I'd expect from pomegranate or cranberry juice.

But on to the meal -

I had printed out all the recommendations from this group and used them as my guide through a huge tapas menu.

We had:

Yuca Rellena - very potatoey inside (now I know what yuca root tastes like!) and a crisp fried shell. We each had one and the last one wasn't as appetizing to me when it got cold. Mr P and J ate it happily.

Cheeses with quince jam - oh, lovely. I'm not sure what the two harder cheeses were, but they tasted like they were made from sheeps' milk. The brie was the best I've ever had - so creamy. The quince jam was cubed, and everything was set on a bed of crispy corn nuts - not the ones you buy in the store though. These were longer and fresher-tasting.

Grilled scallops in the shell - little bay scallops, nicely flavored by the grilling process.

Baked scallops with parmesan and lime-butter sauce. Oh, incredible. So sweet and innocent under their hard topping of baked parmesan. I want to make these at home.

Crispy golden praws with quinoa - Very sweet and tender inside their crust. Served with a green sauce.

Grilled octopus kebab - great flavor but required some aggressive knife technique.

Spicy tuna, crab and shrimp potato cakes. Loved the crab-stuffed potato cakes and shrimp, but raw tuna just ain't my thang. Mr P and J was happy to eat my portion of the tuna.

Mango cebiche - wow, what a punch of flavor. In fact, every dish we had was the ultimate of intense flavor, the true essence of the ingredients. The mango was ripe, not green, but I think I liked it better than I would have the green mango.

I missed ordering the pimiento piquillo relleno - just missed it in the ordering frenzy I guess - or maybe we did have it. Three red objects that looked like poached pears - but it was roasted red pepper stuffed with quinoa? I didn't taste ham or cheese in them. This was probably my least favorite, but it was elegantly plated.

I knew I would be too full for an entree, but Mr P and J and our dear friend Clif each had one. Mr P and J had the quinoa-crusted diver scallops on spinach and parsnip puree. Oh dear Goddess, the scallops were incredible. I snapped one off of the plate. It was huge, it was the size of a beef tenderloin and had the meatiness of a steak. My favorite seafood of the night.

Clif had the duck confit and sausage, based on the recommendations garnered from this website. I didn't taste any of his, but he loved it and Mr P and J love the samples he had from the plate. His words about the sausage, were that it had the familiar spices of a pork sausage, but with the richness of the duck. "Not like chicken or turkey sausage which have little flavor of their own, but with a depth of flavor that excited me."

The dessert menu came, and I ordered one cookie, which I was unable to finish. Both my dinner companions ordered the triple creme brulee dessert, and I tasted a teeny bite of each. Vanilla, five spice and some fruit ( I forget which) were the flavors of the evening. Wonderful, each one, with a real burnt sugar topping to give them more flavor, not some wimpy pass-over with a torch. Clif said that creme brulee is his favorite dessert and to have three of them made him melt.

The two gentlemen had a pot of coffee each, and I sipped a bit from Mr P and J's cup. Very deep and dark tasting, a perfect accompaniment to the sweet desserts.

The service was fabulous. Our waitress Christie, made sure we had just enough of the tapas on our table to give us a good choice, but not so many as to crowd the table top, nor to get cold. Our drinks were kept refilled, and dirty dishes were whisked away. At one point, one of the owners, a woman, stopped at our table and explained one of the dishes to us. Everything about the service was great, except for one small quibble. The coffee was ordered at the same time as the dessert, but didn't arrive until we were half done. No biggie, absolutely forgiven.

One thing I didn't like about it was the noise level. The restaurant faces onto NW Glisan, and has huge windows. The high open-beamed ceiling was bouncing echoes of everyone talking, and if I leaned back in my chair, I couldn't hear my dinner companions. The place was jumping, every table filled all night (we dined for two and a half hours) so it was very hard to be heard without shouting. Next time I go there, and I will, it will be sometime other than a busy Friday night.

As we left, we could see and hear El Groupo Condor, a pan pipe group, in the bar. I love their music and would have liked to linger, but I was so full I had to go home and recuperate. It was a fabulous meal, and I thank everyone who recommended it to me.

Oh, the bill for everything - two cocktails each, the tapas, entrees, desserts and coffee was $210. Really well worth the price for the quality of the food and the experience of trying a new cuisine. Everything was beautifully plated, in a minimalist Japanese style, I thought.

And thank you to Clif who treated us for both of our birthdays and our anniversary. Mwah!

[tejon]

So glad you had a great time there! The noise level is the only thing I'd quibble with at all - it was a bit loud for us as well, which made conversation more challenging.

[pdxnewbie]

What a lovely birthday/anniversary!
It all sounds wonderful, although I know what you mean about the too full feeling..

Bluehour serves quince jam with their cheese plate, I love that combination!
Thank you for this report, I can't wait to go have the Diver scallops and mango cebiche!