af&co. eats – Lani Pays a Visit to Uma Casa

A longtime affinity for both Portuguese food and Chef Telmo Faria’s cooking led me to Uma Casa – one of San Francisco’s only Portuguese restaurants located in Noe Valley. I first experienced Faria’s Portuguese dishes at a pre-opening pop-up for Uma Casa that was held at Maven in 2016 – I was sold after just one taste of his mariscos.

Uma Casa’s menu offers a variety of options to share with a group. We started with the Azeitonas: warm olives, olive oil, lemon, garlic, herb; the Pão com Manteiga: house-made bread, chouriço butter, olive butter (I could eat that chorizo butter every day!); and the Pasteis de Bacalhau: salt cod fritters and cilantro mayo. The Grilled Lamb Meatballs and Pan Seared Octopus were also huge standouts for the table, followed by Faria’s renowned Frango Churrasco – a grilled half Mary’s Chicken with piri-piri glaze, fries, and greens. An uncommon dish for the Bay Area, I couldn’t have been more excited to find piri-piri chicken in my neck of the woods after experiencing it abroad.

My visit only further confirmed that I need to take a trip to Portugal in 2018 – and in the meantime, I couldn’t be more thrilled to experience their style of cuisine at both Uma Casa and Faria’s forthcoming fast casual piri-piri chicken concept he’s opening with Khalid Mushasha this spring: Piri Pica!