Barra Santos makes a fun night of tapas feel effortless - Review - Los Angeles - The Infatuation
"Few spots in LA are as effortlessly fun as Barra Santos, a Portuguese bar-restaurant hybrid by the Found Oyster team that spills out onto its Cypress Park sidewalk. We suggest making a reservation if you want a guaranteed seat at the handsome counter, but walk-ins come with perks, too. People sip crisp Portuguese whites on the curb while waiting for a table, allowing a night to kick off before the garlicky prawns show up. If you’re looking to embrace leisure and delicious acid-drenched food this evening, the nonchalance of Barra Santos is delightful. photo credit: Jessie Clapp photo credit: Jessie Clapp photo credit: Jessie Clapp photo credit: Jessie Clapp Pause Unmute Barra Santos’ menu is short, so you can either eat a bowl of olives with a beer or order one of everything. Dishes skew simple, sticking to the bones of Portuguese classics you’d find on a family’s Saturday lunch table, and almost uniformly relying on garlic, white wine, and lemon. Vinegary heat from piri-piri sauce tickles your throat like a goose feather, jamón melts on your tongue, and a cinnamon-heavy almond cake softens up under a dollop of cream. If you manage to corral a friend for a go-with-the-flow kind of night at Barra Santos, split a gorgeous seared dorade, and chase off-dry sherry with a pork sandwich dribbling herb sauce out of the sides. The narrow, blue-tiled dining room is the perfect backdrop for a romantic (albeit cramped) date, but don’t overlook the sidewalk. There’s more legroom, music spills out from the restaurant’s front door, and couples giggle into their wine glasses. The general contentment at every table sets the tone for an evening here, which, with the right company, can transform a run-of-the-mill dinner into a memorable night out. Food Rundown The Lisbon Special If you crave a little salty something, this is a dream spread. The kitchen uses an old-school deli slicer to cut razor-thin pieces of jamón iberico that last three seconds before melting away on your tongue. Add briny coriander-flavored olives and wedges of soft Portuguese cheese (which changes daily) and it’s a perfect snack. photo credit: Jessie Clapp Tuna Crudo A crudo on a menu reads like filler these days, but we’ll eat this one. It’s simple but effective: freshly cracked pepper and lemon zest broadcast the delicate tuna in high definition, and there’s a little pool of fancy olive oil for extra pepperiness. photo credit: Jessie Clapp Bacalhau Fritters Meet one of beer’s best friends. Fried and crispy on the outside, soft and creamy on the inside. The cod filling is salty enough to make you crave another sip of lager, and pops with a squeeze of lemon. We’ll take a dozen. photo credit: Jessie Clapp Prawns The garlicky smell of these hits you like a waft of perfume at Macy’s. The sweet, parsley-sprinkled prawns soak up the garlic and white wine with gusto, and the residual sauce is great mopped with bread. photo credit: Jessie Clapp Bifana We like that this pork sandwich is designed to be shared (it’s sliced into four pieces), but we also like being selfish and rude and finishing the whole thing. The pork is marinated in a spicy-tangy blend of coriander and chile powder, and unleashes its juices the moment you sink your teeth in. photo credit: Jessie Clapp Piri Piri Chicken Think of this as a Hulk-ified hot wing: a full chicken leg confit with crackly skin and tender meat, slathered in an acidic piri-piri sauce. It’s spicy enough to need to wash the heat away with a sip of chilled wine, but you won’t get blown away. photo credit: Jessie Clapp Seared Whole Fish Sometimes it's dorade, sometimes it’s branzino, but this crisp-skinned fish always arrives flaky and perfectly cooked. The real star, though, is the zippy parsley-caper sauce that tastes like a jar of salty capers got blitzed into a green juice. (We’d drink that.) photo credit: Jessie Clapp Spiced Almond Cake Planning your night around a slice of cake sounds dumb, but it's required here. It typically sells out by 7pm. It’s not too sweet thanks to a big dollop of tangy creme fraîche, and the warm spices are present without tasting like an “Autumn Breeze” candle. photo credit: Jessie Clapp" - Sylvio Martins
