Fox Coffee

Outside of an airy pink wedge of a building off of Praça do Chile, protected from the bright midday sun by an awning with “Fox Coffee” printed on it, we waited with great anticipation for lunch: cachupa do curaçao, a specialty of the house which involves stuffing a leaf of steamed Lombardo cabbage with stewy cachupa and a poached egg. This was our third visit to the so-called “King of Cachupa” and we were working our way through the menu trying to identify what was so different and superior about this cachupa, the signature dish of Cape Verde, a former Portuguese colony situated off of the coast of West Africa.

Tasca Baldracca: Tasca Re-Boot

In your granddad’s Lisbon, lunch in a tasca may pass silently, the television, on mute, tuned to the mind-numbing variety show Praça da Alegria. It may take years to achieve a first name basis with the dour man behind the counter. On his menu, scribbled on a paper napkin and taped to the window, anything but cozido portuguesa on a Thursday would be tantamount to treason. Now don’t get us wrong, we have a deep appreciation for the code of that bastion of traditional Portuguese cooking that is the tasca – the knee-jerk resistance to change that has helped preserve neighborhood culinary traditions against a ferocious tide of globalized sameness – but, let’s admit it, fun is generally not on the menu.

Farewell, Mutfak Dili

The first time we officially met was at our bacchanalian book launch down a Galata side street in 2010. A natty beyefendi with neatly manicured sideburns hovered around the edges of a group as we signed copies of “Istanbul Eats, Exploring the Culinary Backstreets” and clinked Efes cans with friends, readers and party crashers. He found an opening and approached. “Do you know who I am?” He introduced himself as Levon bey, the owner of Mutfak Dili, a small restaurant down in the Perşembe Pazarı hardware market, in the seaside neighborhood of Karaköy. He’d come to thank us in person for reviewing his restaurant and the strange fortune it had brought to him.

Napoli Pizza: A Heavenly Treat

We caught these sisters enjoying Naples' famous pizza alongside a cold Peroni. Such simple yet brilliant delicacies can be sampled on our culinary walk in the city. 

Scenes From a Naples Tripe Shop

It was a great disappointment for Francesco, owner of this tripe shop in Naples, to learn that the website, Tripadvisor, was not just about entrails. Wouldn’t it be great if it were?

Lunch Hour on the Lisbon Docks

The lunch hour winds down (or starts up), among the stevedores in the Lisbon docks. This is a sight one is likely to encounter on our Song of the Sea walk.

Cape Verdean Grog and Grub in Lisbon

Senhor Domingo serves up a wicked homemade Cape Verde “grog” from his simple restaurant in central Lisbon. The toast goes to him, for cranking up the morna, stirring up the cachupa and making this corner of the city a bit more Cape Verdean. We’re all better for it.