O My O'Porto

Since starting this project I find I can’t help asking practically everyone I meet where he or she is from and inquiring about their native cuisine. This week’s probings brought me the insider tip of where to find the most authentic, and of course tastiest, Portuguese food in the area. Luckily for us, O’Porto on Park Street in Hartford also happens to be participating in the Taste of Hartford this week so we were able to eat some great food for a great price.

The food was truly delicious. Mr. Meat and Potatoes even remarked halfway through his entrée that unless the dessert absolutely sucks, then he would enjoy this meal from start to finish.

Heavily influenced by the rich surrounding coastal waters, Portuguese cuisine has a pervasive variety of seafood. Clams, mussels, oysters, scallops, lobster, octopus, sardines and especially cod are all popular fare.

Named after one of Portugal’s largest cities, O’Porto’s menu is laden with various fish dishes and even the decor evokes the feel of a seafaring village. Large shades reminiscent of sails hang in the windows and the glass-paned doors that section the dinning room seem as if they might open onto a veranda overlooking the sea.

Similar to Mediterranean cuisine, Portuguese food often calls for olive oil, garlic, white wine, lemon and vinegar, perfect partners for almost any seafood. Indeed, O’Porto offers numerous fish and shellfish combinations with white wine and garlic or lemon and butter. And as in the homeland, tomatoes, potatoes and collard greens also play a large role.

To start our meal, I opted for a glass of vinho verde, or “green wine.” Named for its age rather than its color, green wines hail from the Minho region of northern Portugal and are usually intended to be drunk within a year of creation. Slightly effervescent, the glass of Farol was crisp, light and refreshing, yet nothing compared to the Caipirão that this week’s guest of honor, Josh, ordered.

Similar to the Brazilian caipirinha, a caipirão is made with muddled lime and sugar and Licor Beirão, a double distilled liqueur popular in Portugal with a sweetly herbaceous flavor. Josh and I both agreed it was one of the best drinks we have had in a long time.

For dinner, Adam and Josh both ordered the same thing, Camarão Alhinho, grilled Brazilian shrimp in a garlic butter cream sauce, for an appetizer and Mariscada à Casa, a mixed stew of mussels, clams, shrimp and scallops in a cilantro white wine sauce, for their entrées.

The camarão was rich and robust with garlic without being heavy or overwhelming and my companions lapped up the remaining sauce with house made Portuguese rolls, with my help of course. Although we did practically lick the plates, my one complaint is that we shouldn’t have had to also lick our fingers since the shrimp were swimming in the creamy broth with their tails still attached.

The mariscada was also thoroughly enjoyable as the sauce was delicate enough to not mask the profiles of the shellfish, but rather enhanced their natural flavors. The liberal use of cilantro lent an intriguing quality that would make one’s taste buds cry out if any of the delicious sauce went uneaten. A side of saffron rice was served along with the stew expressly for this purpose.

For my part of the meal I of course had to be different. For my first course I tried the Caldo Verde, a traditional soup of collards greens and potato puree garnished with chouriço, a delightfully smoky Portuguese sausage. I would have been happy to have had more than one slice of that wonderful chouriço, but I still found plenty else to enjoy about the soup. Even Mr. Meat and Potatoes seemed to like the caldo, although I don’t think he’s ever eaten anything quite so green before.

For my entrée, I again took the advice of my Portuguese tour guide, Fatima, and ordered the Carne de Porco Alentejana, sautéed pork loin served with clams, roasted potatoes, carrots, black olives and cauliflower in a spicy tomato and white wine sauce.

Supposedly pork and clams is a traditional combination in Portugal that stems from when farmers used to feed their pigs with the abundant supply of fish. This practice resulted in pork that had a distinctly fishy flavor; therefore, the meat was often paired with clams in order to mask this rather undesirable quality. Whatever the reasoning, it seems a match made in heaven to me.

Although the pork was a little dry, the Alentejana sauce was amazing. A healthy dose of vinegar and red pepper give the sauce a peppy zing that soaked into and tenderized the meat and vegetables. The only problem: I could not stop eating it and left myself no room for dessert.

Well actually, I did have room for a spoonful each of Adam and Josh’s desserts, for the sake of research of course. Adam had the chocolate mousse, and Josh the Pudim flan, both a velvety texture that just melts on the tongue.














The three of us were perfectly happy with our Portuguese experience, and with the relative inexpensiveness of O’Porto’s menu, even without the $20.10 Taste of Hartford selections, our bill was not as high for as full as we were.

Robust, intricate and highly flavorful, Portuguese food just might be a new favorite of ours.