Friday night. NW Portland. Andina Restaurant. Atmosphere busy and elegant. But wait. What’s that out the window? A guy in a truck. A police car. Are they patting him down. Yep. Oh we’d like water and Diet Coke please. Nice. Oh and some Conchas a la Parilla ( grilled diver scallops with a garlic lime butter sauce and crispy onions) and Papa a la Huancaina (yellow potato slices in a sauce of ají Amarillo and ricotta cheese, served cold) for appetizers.
Is that his girlfriend in the front seat doing scratch-its? Here’s your water. What’s happening out there?
We repeat the whole story. The most important part: the girlfriend is nonchalantly doing scratch-its while her boyfriend is being arrested. That is totally broken.
Wait. Is the policeman winking at the guy he is arresting? Odd.
Scallops are amazing, buttery, flavorful. Potatoes are lovely palette pleasers. Jeff and I both order the special, which has to do with sturgeon and a lovely sauce over sweet potatoes. Ansley orders Dorado al Rocoto y Kion (roasted mahi mahi over a shiitake mushroom, smoked bacon, and bok choy broth, topped with slivers of ginger, rocoto, and scallion basted with smoking sesame oil, served with asparagus-quinoa fried rice).
The truck guy is getting away! With his scratch-it obsessed girlfriend! The cops retreat to their car making small talk, and maybe even a laugh. Does anyone else think this is weird? Our waitresses do. Extra points for them.
We get our main courses. Is it lame of me to just say Yum? Look at the picture for heaven’s sake! It’s beautiful. There was a tiny hard boiled egg (quail egg?) on top of the onions and purple sweet potatoes. I was a sturgeon virgin before that night. I’m so glad I gave it up. It was so worth it.
The nice Peruvian lady owner comes over and talks to us. “I guess I don’t need to ask you how your food was! The plates are all clean!” She tells us how we need to go to Peru to visit and how beautiful it was.
Turns out, Indiana Jones was headed to Peru on Friday night and we went along with him. I bet it would be much more beautiful in person. Do you think the food is as good there as it is at Andina?
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Lunch and Dinner
Seven days a week
