Seattle isn't exactly known for its street food. At least, not in the way that Portland has embraced its food vending carts that are seriously everywhere downtown and usually delicious, where you can get everything from vegan Thai to greasy Mexican. But I had the fortune of experiencing two Seattle street food institutions this weekend: Taco Truk (though I'm still not sure if it was THE Taco Truk from Eastlake/Stranger fame) and Tandoozy, a tandoori street food vendor at Seattle's Fremont Sunday Fair.

"We wanted to do one thing and do it really well," said Craig, the maker of Tandoozy's outside grills and fine, fine chicken tikka, after explaining that they founded Tandoozy as an experiment and upon request from a friend.

This is Craig. He is, by trade, a glass blower; so what's a glass blower doing making fabulous Indian street food at a Sunday fair in Seattle? It was fun-turned-business, but more than that: "It was like everything I had been doing culminated into this," he explained, stating how building glass ovens, gauging temperatures and paying attention to heating and cooling, and learning how to translate that into cooking, prepared him for Tandoozy. So familiar. I know exactly what he's talking about.

So how does he do it? First the meat is marinated in a lemon juice mixture, then a yogurt-spice mixture, for 24 hours. Then they're placed in the tandoor until the meat is fall-off-the-bone tender. "I wouldn't recommend this until after you're 40," he jokes. "You can cook anything else, but grilling chicken is another story."

Whoa mama. That's some chicken.

Craig also explains that food is only best for about thirty minutes after it's cooked. I am pretty darn sure that my plate was fresh.

Let's have another look at that, shall we? Guh. Makes me hungry again.

In fact, it was so good that I forgot to actually take a picture of my plate of food. If you are looking for a good special occasion joint without the finery of a sit-down restaurant, Tandoozy is five-star Indian food. My friend Shadi proclaimed it "proposal-worthy," and the chutneys, by the by, are killer. In fact, this was my second trip (though the mens' first — and they agreed on its amazing goodness), and you can bet I will be back.

You can become a fan of Tandoozy on Facebook for updates about special weekend deals (Craig is trying a new dish next weekend!), or check out a few more photos on my Flickr.