Feast on Portuguese Bar Snacks at Telmo Faria's Late Night Uma Casa Pop-Up

After stepping down as executive chef of Tacolicious, chef Telmo Faria has been hard at work on his next project, a Portuguese restaurant by the name of Uma Casa. Faria, who grew up in the Azores, has been hosting a series of pop-ups at Merigan Sub Shop. Now Faria is providing another opportunity to taste his version of Portuguese food with a San Francisco twist, at a late night pop-up at The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen. The idea centers around the of petiscos, which are Portuguese bar snacks typically served at tascas (bars), paired with low-proof sherry, beer and port cocktails from Nora Furst (Belga, Lolinda).

The menu will include late night favorites like salt cod fritters, grilled octopus salad and bifanas, traditional pork tenderloin sandwiches. But most importantly, Faria plans to introduce San Francisco to Portugal's most beloved sandwich creation, the Francesinha. As the story goes, this sloppy, delicious monster of a sandwich was inspired by the French croque madame, and transformed to suit the Portuguese palate sometime in the 1960's. It is now the ubiquitous bar snack of the region, and is found in almost every restaurant in the country, in one form or another; apparently, every version has its own secret sauce.

Faria's version of the many-faced sandwich will incorporate Panorama pan de mie, Silva's linguica, jambon de Paris and sliced roast beef; then the whole shebang will be topped with a a sauce made from local Early Girl tomatoes and Anchor Steam beer, a sunnyside-up farm egg and handcut fries from Kennebec potatoes (the same variety used by In 'n Out). In the words of Faria, "Imagine a croque madame, a torta ahogada, and a french dip had drunken night of debauchery...this would be the result."

In the welcoming spirit of the Portuguese table, there are no tickets or reservations required. Just bring an appetite for insane sandwiches and cocktails and it's game on. The late night snack event takes place Friday, July 10 from 9 p.m.-midnight.