At South Philly's Porto, brunch prayers answered
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
In gentrified swaths of South Philly, brunch is religion. And multitudes of faithful souls lost their house of worship when the cheery, cheeky midday institution at the corner of 11th and Wharton, Carman’s Country Kitchen, closed after 22 years in business. A pizzeria would move in, it was reported. Then, no, a Portuguese BYOB. Longtime customers wondered one thing: Would there be brunch?
There would. The new occupant of the old Carman’s is called Porto, after a riverside grape-growing region known for its fortified wine of the same name. Chef/owner Christine Liskowicz has a resume that includes that other downtown brunch mecca, Sabrina’s. On the menu, you’ll find fantastic house-baked muffins studded with cranberries and perfumed with orange peel — get them with a sidebar of tangy yogurt butter — and elaborate confections like s’mores French toast, but also linguinça, salt cod and housemade piri-piri, the hot sauce that is ubiquitous at Portuguese tables.
Those three staples mingled with two quivering poached eggs and terrific sweet-potato-and-olive hash on a breakfast platter called Black Dawg, one of many cornball names splashed across this menu, where healthy salads are “Afternoon Penance” and pastries are found in the “Confessional Box.” Liskowicz should find a real confessional box to apologize for crude salt-cod cakes, made with powerfully stinky bacalhau that could have soaked another day. The piri-piri is bold, spicy and bright, though, whether splashed on eggs or a juicy grilled half-chicken. Her thick, robustly seasoned chili should be canned and sold across the country.
Converts have already begun migrating to Porto’s sweet, honeydew-hued dining room, but the restaurant still has some work to do. Despite La Colombe beans, the coffee drinks are airport quality and the menu’s dopey nomenclature should really go.
We’ve got a serious dearth of Portuguese cooking in this town and Liskowicz has a real opportunity to show us some authentic stuff. I’m praying to the Virgin Mary Omelet that happens.
PORTO | 1301 S. 11th St. Hours: Mon.-Fri., 7 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Breakast and lunch, $5-$11.
