Cafe De Casa

Oh man. Complicated feelings about this place.

The food? So legit. I should’ve known I was in for something incredibly special when the line was packed at 12:45pm on a Friday, with equal parts yuppies and hippies and people who looked like they had just walked off a construction work site. The woman in front of me in line turned around and spoke to me in Portuguese, and I’d say 80% of people who ordered did so in Portuguese as well, so that alone was super promising. Everything I ate was amazing. The bife lunch platter ($15) was insanely huge and insanely flavorful, and served with incredible beans, surprisingly tasty steamed veggies and rice, as well as a cole slaw and fresh salad. (For reference, I was decently hungry and only managed to eat less than half). The coconut and mozzarella bread was also really tasty – just a surprising combination of fatty, salty, and sweet flavors that really works.

I’m docking a star here because it took around 40 minutes for my takeout order to be prepared. I would have really liked to know it would take so long as I was getting some food prior to a flight; it was just really stressful and since the place was so busy, the person taking orders told me I could either wait or he could cancel my order…later (and I wasn’t comfortable just trusting that he would remember to do so).