Fonda Portugesa: Lisbon revisited

A soccer player for a semi-pro league in northwestern Portugal fell victim to ojos tapatios more than a decade ago while on a trip to Spain and now is cooking up a mean Bacalhau a Vizcaina at his Fonda Portuguesa, located in Colonia Americana.

Nino Ramos Trigueiro offers up recipes culled from the north and south of Portugal, including a daily special, that in these blustery days tends more toward the bean and garbanzo-based specialties of the north.  His tapas — salt cod with spices, Pamplona chorizo, egg and potato omelette, Serrano ham —are delicious, but the only difference from Spanish tapas he admits is that they are being prepared by a Portuguese chef.

The main menu includes fresh tuna stew, Norwegian salt cod a la Vizcain (stewed onions, tomatoes, olives, almonds served with potato slices), Mozambique-style shrimp and both octopus and conch salads. Also available are sandwiches of beef, pork loin and a Salami-like chorizo.

Saturday specialties are chard soup with potatoes and a seafood and rice dish.

A Portuguese-only wine list includes a fruity house red, two dryer reds, a sparkling wine and a semi-dry white. Two ports for dessert or apertif round out the wine cellar. Some Modelo beer brands are available. A creme tart and peach and pineapple pie finish the meal.

None of the dishes is spicy, although a hint of chili is used in some dishes.

Fonda Portuguesa is open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 to 6 p.m., Fridays until 10 p.m. and Saturdays from 2 to 10 p.m.
Morelos 1895, corner of Av. Union
Phone 13-68-26-00