Skip to main contentProbably the best reason to set foot in the Pearl District, Andina serves up dishes that are as superb as they are unusual. While Portland is rife with praiseworthy Euro-Northwest restaurants, there's little Peruvian fare, and Andina stands a head taller than the best of its scant competition. Though its meat-starch-veggie entrees are reliably excellent, and everyone should try the potato-and-cheese timbales that accompany Andina's rack of lamb once, it's more fun to stick to seafood-heavy tapas, available in small, medium and large portions. Try a half avocado stuffed with crab and prawns, the creamy green flesh a perfect vehicle for the shellfish. A puddle of garlic-lime butter leaks from plump diver scallops, seared nutty brown top and bottom. The meaty bite of grilled octopus is deftly accented by rocoto-and-caper chimichurri. But no visit is complete without a taste of Andina's anticucho de corazon: rare-grilled beef heart, tender and flavorful as fine steak, and dipped in huacatay-peanut sauce.
Order this: Beef heart, it's what's for dinner.
Best deal: $4 happy-hour skewers.
I'll pass: Cured tuna loin was dry and salty, especially compared with the fresh, bright flavors of most of the menu.
WWeek 2015