Chennai Masala [NEW]

[October 17th, 2007] 2088 NW Stucki Ave., Hillsboro, 531-9500. Lunch and dinner Tuesday-Sunday. $$ Moderate.

This guide places a premium on ambience and style, but when the best Indian food in Portland happens to be found in a suburban strip mall in Hillsboro, one does not quibble over white tablecloths. Don’t be fooled by the empty buffet steam table or kids’-coloring-contest scribbles tacked to the fridge doors. This small chamber is a South Indian revelation. Start with an order of crisp-perfect samosas with a side of puckery tamarind sauce, or deep-fried lentil doughnuts floating in a heady golden broth. Cautious eaters will delight in Chennai’s brightly spiced takes on dinner standards like silky spinach saag with fall-apart chicken and deep-scarlet rogan josh , a pleasing mélange of lamb slow-cooked in a tomato sauce, popping with the flavors of black cardamom and cumin. Feeling more adventurous? Look to Chennai’s no-nonsense servers, who dispatch questions about the Bible-sized menu and empty water glasses with equal alacrity. (KNC)

Signature dish: There’s a reason why every person of Indian descent in this joint is hunkering over a cafeteria-tray-sized dosa —an airy Indian crepe made from lentils and rice, filled or spread with everything from potatoes and onions to ghee, spinach or cheese.

Standouts: Dynamite chutneys, an exceptional sweet-sour mango lassi and hands-down the best samosas in the metro area.

Regrets: Flesh-colored walls decorated with heinous Mylar party streamers.