Chalino

For a less tradtiontake on Mexican, head to North Portland.  At Chalino, chips and salsa don't automatically come to the table when you sit down, but I highly recommend choosing a salsa and ordering some chips.  The tomatillo and thai basil salsa was fresh and tangy and the chips were huge and crispy.  

This was probably my least favorite of the night - mushroom mojo de ajo with fried shallots citrus spinach.

Food doesn't get much prettier than this, the spring pea tostada with tomatillo, sunflower seed, and cotija was crunchy and creamy.

I love beets and I appreciate finding different ways to prepare them as they frequently tend to fall into the same beet salad category.  This beet mole with toasted sesame, puffed rice, queso fresco, cilantro, mint was not an average beet salad.  The puffed rice particularly made the texture interesting.

Chalino has closed.