After Seville, we traveled north back toward home. We stopped in another cute Portugal town called Évora where Al and Maren tried a Francesinha, which is a meat, white bread, and fried egg sandwich smothered in a slightly spicy gravy with fries thrown in for an extra shot at a heart attack. It’s really a Porto-born sandwich we are told. C will discuss Francesinhas in our Porto post.

Back at home, we had another guest from the states – JJ! He stopped by for a night on his way to Barcelona. Al, Maren, JJ, C and I started the evening at our favorite cocktail spot in downtown Ericeira called Jukebox, which I constantly mistake for Hemingway’s because it’s right next door and Jukebox makes the most fabulous “GinTonic”. The bartender creates a mini piece of art with whatever twist you’d like (lemon or lime). Here are the party-goers, pre-dinner:

Next, it was onto Avó! It’s one of our 5 go-tos in/around Ericeira. The chef is classically trained in the French style and he really knows how to work his Portuguese-made wood fired oven.

We started with a wild boar croqueta which had a dollop of a lively green sauce on top and a stewed applesauce on the bottom of each one to hold them onto the plate (smart). The mussels were delectable but the star was the quail. The white fish with clams was another knock out. We keep trying cod wherever we go because they love their cod in Portugal. I haven’t had a bite that speaks to me yet. But, I’m going to keep trying.

C loved the black pork as the finisher. There were some pickled root veggies with it that were a nice foil to the richness of the meat and sauce. Jose, the chef-owner, is also a master saucier, as well.

Onto bed! We will be back.