When friends come to town for a visit, we enjoy showing them the sights and introducing them to our favorite restaurants. This summer one of our friends, in a roundabout fashion, introduced us to a new treasure — without actually getting to try it himself.

We spent an afternoon in nearby Ashland, a university town which hosts, along with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, a crowd of galleries; unique shops, boutiques and bookstores; and a wide assortment of restaurants and watering holes. The eateries range from high-end, white tablecloth places to college student- and budget-friendly casual spots. We had been discussing where to eat after watching the Festival’s Green Show (see my blog from a few weeks ago on that), and friend Tim mentioned that in searching online he had found an interesting option. It was a small place featured on The Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

We enjoy watching the show, where host and chef Guy Fieri travels the country visiting small, local, casual places, spotlighting their inventive cooks and best dishes. Unbeknownst to us, he had visited Ashland last summer and featured three of its restaurants. Blue Toba, an Indonesian restaurant, was one, and we all thought it warranted checking out. The only problem was that it would be closed by the time we left the Green Show entertainment, so we filed the name away and dined elsewhere that evening.

A few weeks later, Harry and I were in Ashland for a movie and decided to give Blue Toba a try. Located a mile or so from the historic center of Ashland, it shares a small building with a couple other businesses facing busy Ashland Avenue near the Southern Oregon University campus. The tiny dining room can seat maybe 20 patrons (if you don’t mind getting cosy), with a short counter separating it from the small kitchen at the back, where chef/owner Birong Hutabarat can be seen working over the stove. A few tables outside provide a little extra seating, but we noted that there also seemed to be a steady stream of take-out customers stopping in.

The menu boasts no more than a dozen main dishes, with just a few sides (rice and vegetables), but everything is made from scratch, with spices hand-picked from fresh markets in Indonesia, organic rice and produce, and hormone- and steroid-free chicken and grass-fed, free-range beef. The descriptions of each option would be enough to get your mouth watering if you weren’t already salivating over the intriguing aromas wafting from the kitchen. We each ordered what we later learned were two of Blue Toba’s specialties: Rendang, a slow-cooked, spicy beef “dried” curry stewed in coconut milk and a blend of Indonesian spices, served with lime leaf rice and cucumbers; and Opor, a mild candlenut curry (with chicken or tofu), again featuring fabulous Indo spices, garlic and shallots on a bed of rice with veggies and coconut.

Our only other encounter with Indonesian cuisine was at a Rijstaffel luncheon on board a Holland America Line cruise, and certainly that food was prepared to please palates less inclined to spiciness. Chef Birong’s dishes are wonderfully complex, and the Rendang especially had plenty of a slow-building heat which never masked all the flavors.  The entrées are of a pleasing size — filling but not overwhelmingly large — and none costs more than $14. Drinks are limited to water and bottled and canned selections in a small fridge on the counter. Open for lunch and dinner, 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., the restaurant is closed Sundays and Mondays.

We’ll definitely be coming back for more, and now we’ve also got two additional “Triple D” spots in Ashland to try: Agave, for “gourmet tacos and tamales,” and Sammich, for Chicago Italian-inspired sandwiches. And apologies to our friend Tim: Next time you’re in town, we’ll skip the Green Show and hit Blue Toba instead!

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor