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1932 NE Broadway, Portland, Oregon, 503.288.3333
I drove by Colosso for months, wondering how such a big name fit the tiny space. When I finally stopped and went inside, I found out. Julie Colosso's eponymous restaurant, expansive but not giant-sized, fills the former home of Kitchen Venus like a gold ingot turned inside out. The gilt walls of the boxy, low-ceilinged rooms shimmer in the long light of late afternoon. Windows along one entire wall bring a little of NE Broadway inside, and the bar tucks cleverly back into a corner for an illusion of depth.
The Spanish-inspired offerings consist of nearly a dozen small plates under the heading of tapas, along with a few salads and a handful of slightly larger entrees. If you think the menu listings look like of glorified bar food, you're right. Tapas, after all, were originally things like a raw quail's egg on a little plate perched atop a glass of strong rioja to keep the flies away. But we're a long way from from the arid wine country of Spain. At Colosso you might opt for a lime rickey to go under your little plate, which won't hold a raw egg but may be filled with tentempies-roasted filberts and almonds, all salty and hot with a crackling morsel of sweet housemade nut brittle alongside.
More traditional, I decided that a glass of mellow tempranillo, Spain's number one red wine grape, was just right with a round of creamy baked goat cheese paired with an unusual spread of ground pumpkin seeds mixed with chipotle chile. It wasn't the best match for the slice of grilled polenta topped with tequila-spiked apple jelly, which was a bit sweet, but I liked it anyway. I liked the garlicky sauteed shrimp with a fiery dose of red pepper even more.
By now little terra cotta ramekins-Colosso's version of the little glass-topping plate-had began to crowd the table. I pushed them aside to make room for calamares a la plancha, perfectly grilled squid, sweet and tender, served with spinach sauteed in garlic and anointed with a squeeze of lemon juice. A plate of sauteed button mushrooms aswim in a soupy blend of sherry and lemon juice also slipped in somehow. I speared a creamy ring of calamari, took a sip of wine, sopped up the mushroom liquid with a crusty piece of bread, and ate the last barely warm filbert. I was happy.
This Spanish smorgasbord approach is probably the best way to eat at Colosso, which is really more a bar serving good food than a full-fledged restaurant. The tapas cost between $5 and $8, so you can sample a variety without spending a fortune. With a small group you can eat your way through most of the tapas menu.
Their flavors are robust, since these are foods meant to go with strong drink. If you need something fresh and green, there are a couple of options. Wild greens, tomatoes, and cucumber are tossed with caramelized filberts, the sharp Spanish cheese called manchego, and pomegranate vinaigrette in the ensalada Granada. A spinach salad includes capicola ham, pungent goat cheese, and pine nuts, while potato salad flavored with cilantro, red-pepper flecked grilled eggplant, and surprisingly refreshing cumin-marinated shredded carrots make up the trio de ensaladas.
The entrees, listed as platos and distinguishable from the tapas by the inclusion of a few pieces of roasted potato and sauteed spinach, aren't quite as exciting. A nicely moist chicken breast is encased with crunchy ground almonds and served with a red pepper sauce, and a pair of boneless pork loin chops are split and stuffed with herbed goat cheese. They're fine, but you might be happier if you order them as another plate to share. Better are the beef medallions, meltingly thin slices of tenderloin so good the citrusy hot sauce that comes with them isn't really necessary.
Colosso is one of the new breed of restaurants that have begun to appear around Portland in the past few years. They typically cater to a younger crowd, often with late hours so hungry music lovers can get a bite after the show, and the prices acknowledge a lower level of disposable income. Run by a new generation of restauranteur more willing to take chances, they push the notion of eating out a little closer to the edge. Sometimes they fall off.
But when they're at their best, and Colosso hits it more often than not, they prove that moderately priced, casual dining can be imaginative and delicious. While we like to complain that fast food and corporate cookery have dulled the national tastebuds, the offerings at these emerging eateries shows that our culinary future isn't completely hopeless.