It felt like summer had come early to Portland this year at Callaloo's opening party on April 6. This Caribbean-themed restaurant has a tropical atmosphere and great food. I started with conch fritters and a tropical fruit salad, which contained mango, papaya, avocado, jicama and sapote. The cocktail menu features a wide variety of drinks, but I especially liked the Painkiller (rum, coconut, pineapple, orange, and nutmeg). Then I tried the callaloo stew. This is a gumbo made with crab, callaloo, pumpkin, okra, coconut milk and spices. It was peppery and spicy in a pleasant way.I very rarely eat red meat, but for this occasion I had the hangar steak as a main course. This came with grilled scallions, onions, and sweet potato. I finished with a "Piranha," which is a Coke with vodka and chocolate flavoring -- it tastes kind of like a cola truffle.
Callaloo is owned by Kevin and Colleen Peck, who are also responsible for the Capitol Coffeehouse and Bistro. I like both restaurants for a lot of the same reasons: they have high quality food with a creative menu and a fun, relaxed atmosphere.
Callaloo is located at 1639 NW Glisan in Portland, OR.
3 comments:
Wow, sounds great. I now have the final incentive to visit Seattle. I just hope they stay open long enough til I can afford the trip.
We stopped there for a late lunch on 5/4. It was happy hour ("Island Time" at Callaloo) so the menu was somewhat limited. We were not disappointed though. My wife had the grilled prawns and I had a chicken curry wrap. Both were great. The prawns were huge and nicely grilled, and the curry, while not spicy-hot at all, was savory and delicious. We also had an order of "Midshipman's Butter" and chips, which is guacamole with mango chutney on top. Chips were fresh, the guacamole was good, and the friut added a nice note of interest. The table water was laced with star fruit, which was a pleasant surprise. The house tea was nice, with mango and some spices added to give it some zip. We finished off with coconut flan, which was creamy-smooth and given some character by the boiled cumquats it was topped with. Everything was presented nicely, the decor brought to mind a plantation house, and the service was great. We highly recommend Callaloo.
Thanks for writing about your experience.
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