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© 2007 Dan Perlman
Casa SaltShaker
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Chef: Dan Perlman
Host: Henry Tapia
October 5-7, 2007
I’m going to claim a complete lack of creativity… more or less. I don’t know alot about Portuguese food - I’ve tried some things here and there - and I’ve always loved having someone point out the subtle differences from Spanish cuisine. And there are differences, no question. But I handed myself over to the one expert I’ve encountered in my life, whom I had indirect access to. Roughly two decades ago I was invited to an event at the Portuguese Trade Commission in New York by Pasquale Iocca, the commission’s wine expert. Part of the event, as I recall, or maybe it happened tangentially, was the introduction of the book I quoted above, which can probably lay claim to being the English language bible of Portuguese cooking. I may have even been introduced to the author, I simply don’t recall. For our Portuguese seafood dinner, celebrating Republic Day there, I simply delved into the book and did my best to recreate the recipes and flavors that the author described. I hope I did them justice.
Thoughts from some of our guests:
"Thanks again for a wonderful evening and meal! I really enjoyed it. The soup dish was especially fantastic!" - C.F.
"We were very pleased, I've recommended Casa SaltShaker to others, and you'll be seeing us there again soon. Meanwhile, keep up the good work." - P.T.
"Thanks for hosting the dinner, it was a nice opportunity to meet an eclectic group of people. Would have liked to have you more engaged with the group; we were all a bit disappointed that you weren't more social - didn't realize you would actually be in the kitchen preparing the meals. Thought you would also be at the table.... I didn't care for Portugese, the food was just alright for me. Starter was heavy on the salt and main course was a bit bland. I liked the soup the best.... The wine pairings were excellent and, i think, the highlight of the meal for me." - M.P.
"I loved everything about the evening! Possibly one suggestion would be placecards so I can remember who's who. I'm terrible with names, so just having someone's first name in front of their place might have been a help. Thanks again for a wonderful evening." - C.F.
"We thoroughly enjoyed our evening with you and especially appreciated your explanations of the dishes. We wish you the best of everything." - J.&B.L
"First off, many thanks for having us into your home and for the lovely evening - we enjoyed ourselves a lot! The food, the wine and the company were all marvelous. A really nice mix of people, and I think everyone felt comfortable and had a good time, so that says a lot for the setting.... Regarding feedback - as someone else had mentioned I already, I think we would have loved to have a little more time with you and Henry during the evening, but I can imagine that is not always possible, especially depending upon what you're preparing for the evening. Think we just thought we might have more time to "pick your brain" re the wines you picked and/or how you paired them the way you did (and of course, about the whole SaltShaker enterprise). I think the only comment I could make about the meal itself was that probably 4 courses would've been plenty (though can't say which one I would've dropped, because they were all great). Perhaps if you do that particular meal again, smaller portions of the bacalao and/or the hake would definitely be fine." - C.L.
"Thanks for the follow up. We did have a great time at Casa Saltshaker a few weeks ago - such a great time, in fact, that we forgot to pick up the book before leaving! Me and my girlfriend realized it the next day, we kicked ourselves. We had such a good time though and the food was delicious." - T.H.
