More Food in Portugal

I hope you'll excuse the cynicism with which I begin this article.  I know there are excellent European restaurants everywhere in America, so I'm not trying to belittle them.  It's just that having eaten in many other places, I think it would be much nicer if we had a wider variety to choose from, particularly in place of chain restaurants that work so hard at not offending anyone's taste buds that the result, while certainly not offensive in most cases, is not really great food, but is relatively expensive.  I'm reminded of a Sunday afternoon meal at a newly opened Red Lobster in Waldorf, MD, in which the dish I had was over salted and still not hot in the center as if it hadn't been microwaved long enough.  This was easily 15 years ago and the meal for two of us was over $65.00.  The very next weekend, we went into Bethesda and ate at a favorite place, not part of any chain, and had a truly delicious meal for less that $60.00. 


Italian food is well known in America - Chef Boyardee is often the way it is introduced to American children when they are really young and then they progress to pizza delivered in that flat cardboard box, so by the time they are in high school, they know Italian food.  In fact, their mother is often overly proud of her spaghetti recipe, particularly if it includes meatballs the size of silver dollars.


French food is a little bit different.  Most American youngsters have heard that escargot is really a dish of snails (ewww), that the French eat frog's legs, and that every meal in France is served with French fries.  Lets not forget Mom's great chicken cordon bleu, preferably made with Velveeta.


Spanish food has been recently introduced to America in the form of tapas, but American children are still rarely, if ever, put in contact with any food from Spain beyond olives and Spanish peanuts.


German food in America is often limited to pastries, schnitzel, sauerkraut and bratwurst.  Every grandma in American has her own version of German Chocolate Cake.


Greek restaurants have come to most cities, so American's have heard of souvlaki and moussaka, although the percentage of those outside Greek communities who have actually eaten them is probably small.  


The gist of this introduction is to point out to the reader that most Americans can say they know something about foods of Europe until you mention Portugal.  In an earlier blog, I mentioned grilled sardines, stuffed squid and chourico mouro, blood sausage, and while I suppose I really didn't say anything that would make one run right out and look for a Portuguese restaurant, just reading back over that blog make me salivate.  Conditioning, Pavlov would probably say.


One of my favorite places to eat in Portugal is a place named "Restaurante Derrapagem" which is on the corner of a busy coastal highway and a narrow two lane street that leads to a train station and a bustling shopping area.  The corner on which the restaurant is situated is sharp, thus the name which roughly translates to "Skidding Tires Restaurant."  They serve a fish dish that consists of two 6" or 8" fish placed in a circle so that the tail of one is in the mouth of the other.  The fish are crisp and tasty, served with a crusty bread, some boiled potatoes, and a small salad.   Wine is available only in a pottery carafe, whether you order red or white - the only bottle wine they sell is vinho verde, a slightly effervescent white wine, vintage yesterday.  This is a family restaurant - I remember seeing a young girl, perhaps 12, sitting at a small table doing her schoolwork, occasionally asking the lady in charge for some help.  Her older brothers would come in from time to time and the last time I was there, one of them waited on me.  That fish dish has it's own real name, but I've always thought of it as "The Fish With Its Head Up Its Ass," and in spite of my name for it, it has been delicious every time I've tried it.


When you have a home that you only visit once a year or so, when you arrive, the first thing you need to do is pull the covers off the furniture, open the windows, and let the place air out.  Such was our little one-bedroom apartment on the Marginal in São João do Estoril.   Our choice of flights usually put us into Lisbon's Portela Airport around 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning.  By the time we'd retrieved our luggage, wound through customs, and picked a rental car, it would be close to 9:00 AM.  A shorter route to Estoril is available via the A5 Auto Estrada da Costa do Estoril, but it is rather like driving on I-85 through Georgia - fast but not much to see, so I've always preferred to drive into Lisbon and out the Marginal.  I'd be tired, but seeing the city, driving along the coast and seeing the sights, no matter how familiar they'd become, was the way I'd want to start my stay.  We'd get to the apartment, unload the car, open windows, make the bed, hang up clothes and then get back in the car.  We'd drive on up the coast through Estoril, Cascais, past the Boca do Inferno, and out along the Guincho beachs.   By this time, we'd be ready for lunch, so we go up into the hills though the eucalyptus grove to the small town of Malveira da Serra and a restaurant named O Camponês that was always busy, but always seemed to have room for us.  


Before the waiter would even bring the menu, he would place a half dozen or so appetizer plates on the table.  If you ignore them, no charge.  If you eat from a couple of them, you are charged for the plate, but not the others.   In other words, they ain't free like the nachos or bread sticks you get in American restaurants, a fact I learned the hard way.


The house specialty is a dish made from dried cod, potatoes, onion and cream called Bacalhau com Natas.  While the Portuguese say there are more dried cod recipes than there are days in the year, this is by far my favorite.   It is rich, creamy and delicious.


The owner of this particular restaurant also owns another one nearby, a bit more upscale and my choice over the two for dining at night.  The second one, Adega do Zé Manel, features a stone facade and vaulted stone ceilings inside with small rooms all about a central hall, providing a sense of privacy in a rather popular restaurant.  The times I've eaten there I usually had whatever cod dish was available and once had their Vitela Mariscos (Veal with Shellfish) that melted in my mouth.  However, neither the cod nor the veal are what comes to my mind when I think of  Adega do Zé Manel.  The first time I was there I was introduced to Bolo de uísque, or whisky cake.  Hardly a fancy pastry, it was a piece of hardy chocolate cake with a creamy chocolate frosting served in a shallow bowl.  In the bottom of the bowl was a healthy dram of scotch whisky.  Just typing this my mouth begins to water.    


My (now former) brother-in-law had a neighbor who owned several restaurants in Lisbon and often insisted that we all come to one of them when we were in town, and he always insisted on picking up the check.  He found out that I had a particular liking for Bolo de uísque and would serve me his version, which was a piece of good chocolate cake served with a bottle of Johnny Walker Black. 


That same neighbor once sent lunch to that same brother-in-law when he knew we'd be there.  The contents of the main meal escape me, but the standout was a small (8" or so) wheel of Portuguese mountain cheese that had been warmed in the oven and wrapped in foil.   After the main course, we opened the foil and cut away a circle of the rind on top, revealing a warm, smooth, rich, creamy cheese that we could dip out with a knife and eat on crusty bread.  I ate too much of it and afterwards had to sprawl out on a sofa for an afternoon nap.  Or maybe it was because I drank more wine with the bread and cheese.


There are many other Portuguese dishes that I like.   Caldeirada de Peixe, a fish stew is a delight to those who like fish.  Cataplana, a seafood stew with chorizo, linguica, clams, shrimp, mussels and fish.  Lingueirão, razor clams or jacknife clams (because they resemble a closed pocket knife), served steamed with a crusty bread is a favorite, particularly in some of the seaside restaurants out in the country.

The foods I've written about here are not the Portuguese version of haute cuisine, but rather the kind of food you get in their down-home version of a restaurants.  Sort of their version of comfort food.   Even  Adega do Zé Manel which I described as more upscale isn't as terribly expensive as the places in touristy Cascais or on the Praça Dom Pedro IV in Lisbon.  


For readers who live near Athens, GA, I'm afraid you'll either have to look up recipes and cook the dishes yourself, or do without.  There are no Portuguese restaurants in the area.  For readers in Maryland or thereabouts, one of my favorite restaurants in your area is Nova Europa in the Kemp Mill Shopping Center in Montgomery County. A little pricey, but worth it.   If you happen to go there when the special is braised veal shank, look no further.  It is as near to heaven you'll get without going through the Pearly Gates.

Let me not leave without dispelling the notion that I might only like Portuguese food.   In future blogs I plan to talk about a favorite Greek restaurant (alas, it is no longer in business) in Waldorf, MD, some Italian restaurants I've enjoyed, a seafood restaurant hidden away in New Hampshire, and other dining delights I've known.

Thank you for reading.  Pleaser feel free to comment in the space provided if you so desire.