An old mansion on Avenida Nove de Julho, right on the border between Jardim Europa and Jardim América, in the west zone of São Paulo, exhibits a renewed façade since the end of September. The 1934 construction now houses Casa Cascais.
The sign on the sidewalk announces that the place is a mall, the equivalent of a shopping center in good Portuguese. For now, it has two restaurants, a grocery store and a gym, but a beauty salon is also planned for January 2023.
Actor Ricardo Tozzi is at the forefront of the venture with investor partners. He says he fell in love with Portugal in 2018, when he took the play Os Guardas do Taj to the country, in which he co-starred with Reynaldo Gianecchini. “I fell in love with the food and the fado vadio houses, where young fadistas sing impromptu”, he says.
On his return to São Paulo, Tozzi rented the 2,000 m² property ready to transform it into a complex dedicated to Portuguese culture. The source of inspiration, he confesses, is Casa da Guia, located in Cascais. “Only that they caught me in short pants, because I found out that the property’s facade was listed. I couldn’t change almost anything about the project.” Conserving the original lines turned out not to be a problem — on the contrary, they became the charm of the place.
Anchor of the development, the Pátio das Cantigas restaurant spreads over two beautiful rooms and a sunny patio under a retractable roof.
From the kitchen, headed by the Portuguese Maria Conceição Costa, called Ção, come out traditional dishes of impeccable execution, such as the duck rice served in a small clay pot (R$ 98), the codfish à lagareiro with mashed potatoes (R$ 129 ) and cod fritters, a practically mandatory order (R$35 with six units).
Ção also presents its own creations, including the codfish puff pastry with spinach purée (R$109), and reserves some specialties on weekends. This menu includes mountain lamb with roasted potatoes and cornbread migas (R$120), suckling pig from Bairrada (R$120), Portuguese stew (R$180, for two) and Beira Baixa chanfana ( R$ 110), which consists of goat meat marinated in red wine, long cooked in the oven, in a clay pot.
Prepared by sommelière Mariana Cestari, the menu is almost entirely Portuguese, with prices ranging from R$31 (glass of Cistus Reserva, red or white) to R$7,800 (bottle of Barca-Velha red).
Egg sweets, of course, make up the dessert menu. The soft Dom Rodrigo style cake (R$28) alternates layers of sponge cake with soft eggs. But it is also possible to vary with the pear cooked in red wine (R$ 22) or with the bolo de bola (R$ 17), our famous biscuit pave with coffee cream.
Drinks such as the negroni (R$39) and the Évora (R$41), made with gin, blackberry syrup, Porto rosa and prosecco, are prepared by bartender Dennis Oliveira and go well with the regional starters —which work as snacks and are listed in the menu with the respective regions of origin. Typical of the Algarve, the Algarve-style squid (R$48) is fried in olive oil, with garlic and coriander, for example.
Born in Porto de Vacas, in Beira Baixa, located at the foot of Serra da Estrela, Ção knows a part of Brazil well. From 2012 to 2019, she led Taberna Portuguesa, in Recife (PE), which had three units. But she has been finding the São Paulo palate strange.
“People complain a lot about the cod bones, we need to remove them 100% with tweezers. But the biggest difficulty is actually the coriander, which I had to reduce a lot and sometimes I can’t even use it. I really miss it”, he laments.
Those who leave Pátio das Cantigas towards the back of the house pass by Empório Tia América, where wines and other imported products are sold, until they reach Café do Santo, the second restaurant in the complex.
With an informal atmosphere and kitchen, outdoor seating, bar and pool table, the place is open from breakfast to dinner. Eventually, there is live music — there has already been a samba circle and a performance by the voice and guitar duo Camomilá.
Music, by the way, is the next stage for Pátio das Cantigas. According to Tozzi, the name of the house is not by chance. His idea is to receive fado singers, but not as background music.
“These will be presentations like those that take place in Lisbon: the service will be interrupted so that the public can hear the music, respecting the fado singer”, he says. “I’m still planning how to create this culture here, but the idea is to start as soon as possible.”
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