Galinha com vinho do Porto ($14.95) made for a fine answer to chicken Marsala, with a good dish of rice, white beans, and a few tomatoes. Peito de Galinha com queijo S. Jorge ($15.95) was the same chicken breast topped with grilled, aged cheese and bits of hot sausage, but the “broccoli rabe risotto” lacked the creaminess of real risotto.
The wine list is all-Portuguese, which means Dão (from $5.50 per glass for Costas de Santar) for a soft, big-bodied red, and vinho verde ($6.50/glass; $29/bottle for the better-grade Quinta de Malgaço) for a light, spritzy white. You can also have sangria ($4.50), which is a small wine glass of reasonably well-made sweetened wine and orange juice. But the best choice may be Portuguese beer (four choices), of which we had Sagres ($4.50), a lively pilsner from the westernmost point of continental Europe. Dessert coffees are espresso ($2), cappuccino ($4), and galao ($3.50), which is like an un-frothed latte served in a glass.
All go well with small, sweet desserts, such as pasties de Nata ($5), a mini custard tart with orange liqueur, and arroz doce ($5.95), a fine little rice pudding. Chocolate mousse ($5.95) was simple and satisfying, as was the baked apple ($5.50): a large baking apple with lots of flavor.
Service on a slow summer night was excellent and helpful, except on the pronunciation of Portuguese, a language as treacherous as English, and for some of the same reasons: it absorbed several local dialects and a lot of Arabic sounds on its way south during the “Reconquest.” Castilian Spanish floated above those influences as a court language, and can now be written phonetically.
The atmosphere at Atasca has been transported surprisingly well out of the old neighborhood. There are probably better Portuguese pop songs than the ones on their tape, but no one has a better collection of plates, jugs, and ethnic décor this side of the Atlantic.
Atasca, 50 Hampshire Street, Cambridge | AE, MC, VI | Mon–Sat, 11:30 am–11 pm; Sun, noon–11 pm | full bar | no valet parking | sidewalk-level access
Email the author
Robert Nadeau: RobtNadeau@aol.com
