Traveling around Portugal a few years ago yielded an unforgettable number of vineyards, vistas, warm people, and some of the best seafood in the world. While a wine press trip took me all over the magical Douro region, I went on to food and drink research in the cities of Lisbon and Porto.
Lisbon’s connections to San Francisco are many: steep hills, historic streetcars akin to our MUNI F line, and even a 1966 bridge the color and look of the Golden Gate Bridge: “25th of April Bridge.” It’s also a food town. Maybe the most lauded Portuguese restaurant in the world, two Michelin-starred Belcanto is the pinnacle of chef José Avillez’ restaurant group, just moving to #42 at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards in Belgium last week, where I attended as W50 Best Academy Chair over W. North America. Belcanto is a prime example of the range possible in Portuguese cuisine.
While we have spare few Portuguese restaurants in the Bay Area, they are mighty, including longtimer LaSalette in Sonoma and the great Adega, San Jose’s only Michelin-starred restaurant. But here in San Francisco, we’re lucky to have chef Antelmo “Telmo” Faria. He spent his childhood years in Portugal’s Azores archipelago, on the small island of Faial, and brings a genuine taste of Portugal to SF (I dream of joining his culinary tour of the Azores in 2022).
During his time as chef at Tacolicious and now-closed Chino, he hosted Portuguese pop-ups before taking over the lofty Noe Valley space that previously housed my beloved Incanto from Chris Cosentino. Opening Uma Casa in 2015, Telmo and team brightened the space in Portugal’s ubiquitous blues and whites, from tiles to ceiling, while the recent gain of a liquor license this summer means they have cocktails (beyond low proof) for the first time, created by his wife Jessi Graham, who was bar lead/manager at Pearl 6101.
Her drinks highlight Portugal in ingredients like piri-piri salt, Azorean green tea, native spirits, and even sumol (Portuguese natural soda with a touch of fruit pulp). The Lisboa G&T is as crushable as you think it’ll be, laced with Mediterranean tonic, lemon, and cucumber. Island Hopper is equally fun, the subtle funk of Royal Standard dry white rum playing nicely with Madeira (my favorite category of drink from the Portugal island of the same name), Azorean green tea syrup, and pineapple. It tributes pineapples that grow on the Azores and the green tea the island is famous for. I found Moda Antiga the most intriguing cocktail, with Macieira Five Star Brandy’s stone fruit and anise notes gaining nuttiness from Amendoa Amarga bitter almond liqueur, plus bitters and a spritz of anise liqueur.
If you can snag a taste of housemade ginjinha/ginja — Portugal’s famed liqueur of ginja berries (aka sour Morello cherries) laced with cloves and cinnamon. Bright and tart, it’s far less sweet than many versions I had around Portugal, a true sign of Graham’s skill with spirits.
I was sorely overdue to return to Uma Casa, but an ever-booked dining calendar keeping up with constant new openings, restaurant changes, plus global bar and restaurant research, keeps me from regularly returning to many places I love. But on a cozy September night, I returned. Chef Telmo offers a crazy-reasonable three courses at $54 or four for $65, especially when you experience the generous portions and the option to choose ANY three or four courses.
This means: if you don’t want dessert, you can go all savory, etc. I wish all prix fixes were this flexible.
As the first dishes arrived, I was transported straight to Portugal with pastéis de bacalhau (salt cod-potato fritters), bacalhau being a staple of Portuguese cuisine. These warm pockets of salty goodness are dipped in cilantro aioli, though the rissóis de camarão (shrimp turnovers) with spicy piri-piri aioli are equally good. Arroz de pato, aka duck confit rice fritters, layered in cured duck breast and dried cherry chutney, beautifully (and decadently) contrast sweet and savory.
Salt cod shines again in a hearty, classic bacalhau à gomes de sá, or baked salt cod casserole, rich with potatoes, caramelized onions, parsley aioli, olives, and egg. With my first salty-savory bite, I was transported back to a family winery in Portugal’s Douro region where the father cooked for us as we ate and dined together in their 1800s wine cellar. Telmo’s casserole recalled the heartwarming care, laughter and comfort I remember vividly from this family meal. It’s a dish to share with those you love.
Uma Casa’s almost entirely Portuguese wine list is a peek at a country packed with historic wineries, lush soil, and some of the world’s greatest affordable wines. Sipping a 2019 Vinhao red wine from Vasco Croft of Aphros, took me back to the unforgettable day I spent with Croft, tasting his unique natural wines on his property. 2011 Luis Pato Rebel Bical showcases the underrated age of Portuguese white wines, which I made a case for after my first taste of a 1970s Arinto at the aforementioned Belcanto (believe me: at a fraction of the price, this Arinto white wine was in the company of aged White Burgundy or Riesling).
The feast moved on to carne de porco à Alentejana, or braised pork shoulder simmering with clams, linguiça sausage, and fingerling potatoes in a lively tomato-wine sauce. Cornmeal-crusted, pan-fried local rock cod (peixe frito) balanced between silky and crisp, contrasted by roasted sweet potato, sautéed collard greens, and molho cru, a Portuguese-style chimichurri sauce.
While you’ll do right with a dessert of bolo de laranja (toasted orange-olive oil cake, citrus, passion fruit sorbet), do not miss Portugal’s most famed dessert, pastel de nata (egg custard tart). You’ll taste the influence it directly made on Chinese egg custard tarts (daahn tāat) common in Hong Kong; Uma Casa’s pastel de nata completes the narrative that you’ve been whisked away to Portugal for the night.
Lisbon-San Francisco similarities are heightened as you dine on seafood as Muni trains go by. Finish with a sip of Madeira and consider planning a trip to the small-but-mighty country that has influenced so many cuisines of the world, its stamp heavily felt from Hawaii to Macao. There is nothing like Portugal’s unadulterated foods and rustic dishes, which is exactly what Uma Casa delivers in a relaxed neighborhood setting. Here, Telmo gives us a taste of a cuisine — and a culture — that is soulful, rustic, generous, and sincere. And in sleep-charming Noe Valley, no less.
// 1550 Church Street, www.umacasarestaurant.com
