Thattu

Thattu is a Kerala restaurant at 2601 W Fletcher St in Avondale, run by chef Margaret Pak with Vinod Kalathil. The cooking draws on the coconut, curry leaf and spice traditions of the southwest Indian coast, with dishes like beef fry with porottas, Malabar biriyani, appam and pork chop peralan, plus cocktails built to match the food. The restaurant grew out of a food-hall stall and now runs a full dinner service with takeout and catering.

What to know

• Thattu began in 2019 at the Politan Row food hall and moved into a permanent Avondale home in 2023.
• Food & Wine named Thattu one of the best new restaurants of 2020.
• The New York Times picked Thattu for the paper’s 2023 Restaurant List of 50 places nationwide.
• Reservations are taken through OpenTable, and the restaurant recommends booking ahead.
• Beef fry with two porottas costs $25, and the Malabar chicken biriyani costs $24.