Rainy Day Musings
And Our Gumbo Recipe
Hello from sunny, errr, rainy Lisbon.
While many compare Portugal to America’s left coast, the reality of living on this Atlantic shoreline is decidedly different. That reality comes with plenty of sun and generally mild temperatures much of the year but, when it rains, the rain often comes in sheets. It also comes in what Daryl calls cycles. In Lisbon, a rain cycle typically lasts about a week but, occasionally, a cycle can last much longer. In 2022, it rained every day from the end of September to the end of January 2023.
It cracks us up every time people ask if we live in the tropics or when a social media inquisitor asks if it’s shorts weather in March. We say yes to the latter question but with the caveats of potentially catching hypothermia, shivering from the cold and being wetter than the ocean. Some visitors are shocked by how much it rains here. One storm was so bad that it turned our street into a river. A post storm sewer rebuild closed our street, a major transit thoroughfare, for almost a year.
So, as we sit here listening to the rain pound against our windows, we’ve had time to contemplate some dining trends that have annoyed us lately. Admittedly, you may consider some of them to be old news, but the Lisbon melancholy has made them feel fresh to us. So here goes…
Small Plates
We have a bit of regret with this gripe. When we first moved to Portugal, we wrote about about the lack of modern dining and bistros in Lisbon. Aspiring restaurateurs received our message. Now, 40-seat dining spaces featuring small plates seem to occupy every other corner here. The restaurants at those spaces serve ‘date friendly’ plates with meager amounts of colorful cheffy food that leave a diner hungry afterward.
Yes, we live in Iberia - a land famous for its small plates. But we’re not complaining about tapas which we love in Spain or petiscos here in Portugal.
We’re referring to the joy of eating a dish from the begining to the middle and the end, like a bowl of soup, a sandwich or a piece of chicken or fish. The next server who starts our meal with the statement “Plates are meant to shared” better be ready for some exasperated looks from these two hungry diners.
Dining While American in Europe
We’re totally related to last week’s John Oliver show which featured tipping as its main subject. However, we relate to it differently depending on where we’re located.
When we dine at restaurants in the United States, we typically leave a 20% tip. But, as many can attest, the way that tip screens now show up at American retail stores has gotten out of control. I think many of us agree on this point but that’s not making the practice disappear. It’s also not our main complaint about tipping.
Lately, American style tipping practices have jumped the pond. We blame it on Ameriacan travelers who feel compelled to leave American level tips when they dine in Europe. That leaves us in the precarious position of Dining while American in Europe.
Lately, when we dine as Americans in touristic European neighborhoods, requests for gratuities have become the norm despite the fact that tipping is not a local custom. It’s not uncommon for us to receive. dirty looks for not leaving extra money at restaurants where locals never leave tips. We’ve twice been given menus that state that tips aren’t included while menus in the native languages, specifically German and Spanish, stated that service and VAT were included.
So, you may wonder, when you visit Lisbon, how much of a tip you should you leave. First, remember that tipping in Portugal is optional and it’s up to you. As for us, we only leave a tip when the service is noteworthy. Sometimes we round up the bill and sometimes we leave a tip equal to 5 to 10 percent of the bill. Often, though, we simply pay the bill and say goodbye. When we’re in local neighborhoods, most servers wave goodnight with genuine smiles on their faces when we pay what’s required and nothing more.
To those who disagree, ask a Dutch person whether they ever leave a tip. You’ll be met by a definitive ‘no.’
Smash Burgers, Ramen and Pizza
There was a time when we were desperate for good burgers in Europe. Most burgers we encountered when we were nomadic, especially in Eatern Europe, were best described as ‘meatloaf on a bun’. Back then, a decent bowl of ramen was hard to find.
Boy have times changed. Now, a quick google maps search reveals 13 smash patty burger places in Lisbon alone. And what’s with ramen? Another google search reveals more than 23 ramen joints. Some of those ramen spots are good lunch spotsbut do we need two on one block? And, while we love pizza, do we really need so many pizzerias?
We miss the days when Lisbon was loaded with family owned restaurants and pastelerias. These cheap eateries were our go-tos for for affordable Portuguese prato do dia meals in a pinch. Now, due to the influx of more tourist-friendly eateries, they’ve become an endangered species. We’re hearing that similar things are happening in cities like Florence too. Even though we like smash burgers, ramen and pizza, it’s sad.
Wine Prices in America
Living in Portugal has turned us into spoiled wine drinkers.
Drinking wine is part of daily life in Lisbon as it is all over southern Europe. The vinho here is good and cheap. We buy quality table wines at our local supermarket for less than €5 while better bottles cost between €15 and €25. At restaurants, a carafe of wine is often the same price, or less, compared to a bottle of sparkling water.
The sticker shock is real when we visit America where a glass of wine easily costs $14 and sometimes more. And bottles? Forget about it. $100 for a bottle in a nice restaurant used to be a splurge but now has become more and more typical.
Wine is a simple liquid with a definitive shelf life. And, while we understand the tremendous value placed on fine vintages, it’s gotten to a point that we use trips to the US as an opportunity to dry out.
And, yes, we know that American eggs are expensive too. That’s a diffferent topic for a different day.
QR Code Menus
As much as we appreciate modern technology, it’s not all good. It can regressive. creating more problems than it solves. This leads us to the subject of QR code menus.
After dealing with more than our share of phone-based menus during the pandemic, we’re glad to see many restaurants move back to the printed page. It’s said that the human brain can process multiple elements on a page at the same time. That’s why many people, including us, are likely to order more food when using a physical menu. And, yet, some restaurants are only offering QR code menus.
That being said, we DO like paying restaurant bills via QR codes. That feature is a true game changer that enhances the dining experience.
Impossible Reservations
In cities like NYC, Paris, London and Rome, it’s become practically impossible to score tables at popular restaurants without some kind of connection, reservation service or (eek!) a payoff. We used to be pros at scoring restaurant tables, often timing our reservation to the seconds hand of a clock. We did this for Septime with great success. But now, even when we’re fast, it’s becoming more and more difficult to score reservations at the most popular restaurants in the aforementioned cities.
Today’s TikTok/Instagram culture is likely a large culprit behind this trend. Certain prominent influencers have have made it so that the everybody wants to eat at the same popular eateries. (An upside is that some legendary restaurants which lack social media popularity have become easy to get into.)
Some of those restaurants, like a certain trattoria we busted our buns to get into in Rome, offer fairly simple dinner experiences. Do we really need to wake up at all hours of the night and walk through rings of fire for a simple plate of pasta? As we say in Portugal - Está locura!!
Dish of the Week
Daryl worked hard to develop his gumbo recipe to the point that we didn’t publish it until the final day of Mardi Gras. His gumbo, with it’s melange of classic Louisiana flavors, will immediately transport you down to the Bayou.
Be warned that making this gumbo is an all day project. However, the results are spellinding and worth the extra elbow grease. We served it to friends last week with success. It tasted great hot out of the pot and was just as good when we heated up the leftovers. Also, worth noting, it paired perfectly with New Orleans cocktails.
Drink of the Week
It’s a short way to cocktail bliss when you craft Tipperary cocktails at home. As a bonus, the classic cocktail with Irish spirit is ideal to sip on St. Patrick’s Day which will be here before we know it.
Save the Date
We’re featured panelists on the following Walks / Devour webinar: Lisbon & Beyond -Planning Your Perfect Portuguese Adventure.
It’s happening on March 13th at 5pm Portugal time (i.e. 12pm EST).
Sign up if you’re planning a trip to Portugal or if you’re simply curious. It’s free!
Links We’re Liking
Laurie Woolever worked as an assistant to both Anthony Bourdain and Mario Batali. We can’t wait to read her memoir which will, most likely, expose the culinary industry’s dark underbelly. | NY Times (gifted)
You have to respect Australia. Soup dumpling conglomerate Din Tai Fung was forced out of the country and fined 3.89 million Australian dollars after underpaying its workers. | Taiwan News
We’re not the only gumbo fans. Check out Chef Emeril Legasse’s favorites. | BBC
Until next week,
Daryl & Mindi
Great post! Eager to try this gumbo recipe. Questions: what Portuguese sausage is a good substitute for andouille? And, at what step are the meats added back into the gumbo? TIA. Happy Trippin’