Tandoori Alfredo? It's Tasty At Chutneys Bistro

----------------------------------------------------------------- Restaurant review

XXXChutneys Bistro, Wallingford Center, 1815 N. 45th St. ($$) (East Indian). Buffet lunch ($5.95) 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily. Dinner ($5.95 to $13.95) 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; until 10:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday. Lounge (license pending). Major credit cards. No smoking. Reservations: 634-1000. -----------------------------------------------------------------

The most remarkable thing about Chutneys Bistro is that it actually IS a bistro. Most so-called bistros in America aren't.

When the original Chutneys announced several months ago that it intended to spin off two additional restaurants from the hugely popular, small but posh Indian restaurant on Lower Queen Anne, it came as no surprise that one of them would be called Chutneys Grille (it opened a couple of weeks ago on Capitol Hill near Group Health Central and is already booming). After all, there is no reason why high-end Indian food cannot be grilled.

But when the ruling triumvirate of Bill Khanna, Nazir Khamisa and Geogy Shako said they intended to create a bistro, one had strange, cross-cultural food forces to contemplate: Cassoulet avec tandoori duck? Vindaloo frites?

Most of Chutneys fans (and there are now thousands) assumed the "bistro" would be just a downscaling of the original. Not quite. Would you believe Tandoori Alfredo? Or a splendid "pizza" called Baigan Wala? They're there - and fine.

Simpler, more informal

Chutneys Bistro occupies space last allocated to a since-departed spinning-chicken joint called Capons. Some of the rotisseries remain; tandoor ovens replaced the rest.

Chutneys' complex menu has been simplified and is more informal.

A couple of the starters are absolute musts. The Curried Mussels in wine sauce ($6.25) are the best on this side of the lake, and the equal to those at the Moghul Palace in Bellevue. The Baigan Wala ($3.95) is a marvel of south Asian flavors in a tomato sauce, dotted with cubes of roasted eggplant, cilantro, green onions and shredded paneer (a dry, Indian farmer's cheese), all heaped on a freshly baked naan bread crust.

Screamin' Chicken Wings ($3.95; I'm embarrassed to admit I ate 11) will make you forget the Buffalo originals.

Three basic curries carry on the Chutney tradition: Tikka Masala, Creamy Kothmir Coconut and Jeera Saagwala. You can order them with chicken breast, lamb or shrimp for $9.95. The clay Tandoor oven-grill offers four specials and three "super sizzlers" - rack of lamb, prawns or mixed grills presented on a hot steel platter on a bed of onions and peppers, with biryani rice and cucumber-yogurt raita.

The Lamb Tikka Masala is rich, buttery, complex and not too aggressively hot (even if ordered so).

Menu has much for typical diner

The rest of the menu, although Indian in emphasis and techniques, aims squarely at the typical American casual diner: vegetarian specials (all $8.95), including a hearty Aloo Gobi, with braised russets, cauliflower, vine-ripened tomatoes and some gutsy subcontinental seasonings; entree-sized salads, from $5.95 to $7.95 (with smaller options around $3), including a Green Garden Salad (with a dynamite saffron-mint vinaigrette) available with either tandoori shrimp or chicken; "wraps," employing steamed roti instead of tortillas ($7.95); Indian-styled pastas ($7.95 to $10.95) including the Tandoori Alfredo, with the usual cream sauce augmented with ginger and garlic and topped with tandoor-roasted chicken, shrimp or vegetables.

The rotisserie does splendid things with venerable Indian chicken recipes. The Kashmiri Chicken is rubbed with a red herb paste; Bombay Chicken (they are both $8.95) is more exotic with tamarind, jaggery and fennel. Like most rotisserie-handled poultry, they emerge tender and bursting with juices.

On a couple of visits (out of four), the rice dishes - biryani, pilafs - seemed perfunctory. The Bistro kitchen may not be preparing them with frozen vegetables, but if not they are going to some trouble to make it appear that they do. There is something about uniformly diced carrots, faded peas, occasional kernels of corn and a chopped string bean or two that suggests a box of Birds Eye. And in any account, the rice (a premium basmati, fragrant with cardomom) should always be hot.

In one aspect, Chutneys Bistro is not yet a true bistro (which always serves alcohol, along with home-style meals). The liquor license is still a week or so away from its expected arrival.

Spinning off a restaurant and maintaining quality is always a tricky endeavor. Shako, Khamisa and Khanna (along with chef Tar Singh Sodhi) have more than pulled it off. (Copyright, 1996, John Hinterberger. All rights reserved.)

John Hinterberger, who writes the weekly restaurant review in Tempo and a Sunday food column in Pacific, visits restaurants anonymously and unannounced. He pays in full for all food, wines and services. Interviews of the restaurants' management and staff are done only after meals and services have been appraised. He does not accept invitations to evaluate restaurants.