Chennai Masala

• Restaurant website
• Area: Hillsboro/tech corridor (across from the “Streets of Tanasborne” shopping center)
• Price to stuff two people for dinner, with leftovers: About $30

Many glasslanders feel that the best Indian restaurants are out in Hillsboro, close to Intel and the tech corridor which employs a substantial number of subcontinentals. That’s where Chennai Masala, i.e., “a taste of Chennai,” lives, and so far it’s probably the best Indian restaurant I’ve tried in this area.

It’s not fancy, but it’s clean, well-appointed and an acoustical nightmare; Robyn and I went there early Friday night, and could barely hear our conversation when only three distant tables were filled. Once every table was occupied, all the hard surfaces combined to create about the same ambience as Madison Square Garden on fight night.

But the smells, now, the smells were delightful. Good Indian food is redolent with spices–they toast the spices before use (“NEVER use raw spices, they’re bad for the stomach,” an Indian grandma once warned me) and that sends incredible scents through the air, as it did here. We sniffed, closed our eyes, and got hungry.

I’d arrived a bit early and ordered my favorite Indian beverage, salty lassi. It’s an acquired taste and, sipping it, Robyn made a face. “Ugh. It’s like liquid cottage cheese.”

Well, THIS was. Salty lassi is rich yogurt diluted with water or sometimes milk, mixed with fresh herbs and spices. The Chennai Masala version was almost spiceless; I didn’t know if this was their usual, or if they pulled back on the spices out of consideration for my Americanness. It was still tasty, and a nice offset to spicy-hot food, but a bit of a disappointment.

The menu wasn’t; it was extensive and paid homage to South Indian, i.e., vegetarian, dishes. I personally think that Indian vegetarian is some of the best cooking on earth, and all my favorites were here, and then some. We kept the choices simple and ordered enough to ensure a doggy bag: Idli Sambhar (spongy lentil and rice dumplings in a rich vegetable broth), Masala Dosa (huge, thin lentil crepe filled with potato curry), Chicken Korma (braised chicken in a tomato-rich curry) and my favorite, Aloo Gobi (roasted cauliflower and potatoes in a turmeric curry).

Entrees here are a la carte, apparently, and you’re asked if you want rice OR naan (a delicious wheaten flatbread cooked in a tandoor (wood-fired) oven. They charge for both. We both asked for naan; what they brought out could wallpaper a small bathroom, so there were plenty of leftovers.

The Chicken Korma was flat-out delicious; Robyn sopped up the gravy with naan long after the chicken was gone. The Aloo Gobi was done to a turn and quite good. Both the idli and the dosa, though, were a bit bland, which surprised me. Most places serve idli with sambhar on the side; Chennai immerses the idli in sambhar which may make the difference; they were a bit soggy.

Not that they weren’t good; they just lacked that sourish, tangy spark of the lentil flour. I’m not sure I’d order them again, frankly. (BTW, if you’re in the Washington DC area, head down to Dupont Circle for dosas; there’s a tiny shop just off the circle that serves the best dosas outside of Mumbai. Heavenly)

Overall, though, Chennai Masala is going to be a good, reliable source of Indian food, particularly for those on the west side of town. It’s noisy enough that I’m not sure I’d want to eat in the restaurant again, but I’ll sure as heck order takeout.

Update: I did order takeout a few days later and, as predicted, the food was much better without the noise. This time I tried Malai Kofta (vegetable cutlets in curry), Paneer Korma (home-made cheese cubes in a tomato sauce), Chicken Tikka Masala and raita (yogurt sauce with chopped vegetables, and yeah, when I get takeout I get enough for 2-3 days of meals).

The kofta were spicy and a little soggy, but good, the paneer was delicious, the raita well-made, but the chicken was incredible–absolutely perfect. It looks as if chicken is the way to go at this restaurant.

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