What Chefs Buy at Portugalia Marketplace

Fall River, Massachusetts, is home to the nation’s largest concentration of Portuguese Americans, so it makes sense that the country’s greatest concentration of Portuguese products would be found here, too. Sometimes compared to Eataly, the iconic New York City marketplace that has made high-quality Italian food more accessible to the masses, Portugalia Marketplace stocks over 6,000 distinct grocery items and 1,500-plus Portuguese wines and spirits.

“They have an extensive inventory of amazing products that would be hard to find even in Portugal,” says Christopher Dos Reis, chef de cuisine of New Orleans’ 34 Restaurant & Bar. The restaurant is owned by E.J. Lagasse and his father, Emeril, who grew up in a Portuguese American household in Fall River.

Just as important as the inventory here, though, is the sense of community. Azores-born Fernando Benevides founded Portugalia in 1988. It began as a wholesale operation before it added consumer sales to meet the needs of immigrants who craved a taste of home. 

Over a decade ago, his children, Michael and Jennifer, more than quadrupled the retail footprint when they took over a beautifully converted former mill. (It’s now 20,000 square feet.) Fans praise the warm service provided by staff, 80% of whom speak Portuguese. Roughly the same percentage of products come from Portugal, supplemented by local goods.

“My biggest struggle at the new market was how do I satisfy my ethnic customers but also open it up to other people?” Michael says. He hasn’t stopped carrying products that cater to his dad’s original customer base, even as the business has become a serious e-retailer and showcases more and more niche items from Portugal.

“We’re respectful of our original base — I want them shopping there all the time. It legitimizes our business,” he says, but second-generation immigrants consume differently and often have more disposable income. 

In addition, Portugal has become a major travel destination from the U.S., so he’s leaning into that serendipity. “Now daily we see someone in the market who says, ‘I just got off a flight,’ wants to continue the journey, shouts out vineyards they visited and shows us photos of food they want to know if we have. And we either have it, or we try to get it.”

He also partners with individuals and organizations to create gift sets like the Visit Portugal Box, which includes a unique item from each of the country’s eight regions. The toughest to track down was Madeira’s Chábom Sugarcane Cake, whose spiciness will increase the longer you age it. Michael says the producer was content to not export the cake, so he had to convince them it was worth it and help navigate import regulations. It’s a common theme in his search for the best that the country’s artisans have to offer.

This dedication has paid off in new business and devoted regulars, especially among the Northeast restaurant industry. “One of the reasons I am grateful for a place like Portugalia is because I feel very nostalgic when I walk in, from the way it smells to all the fantastic products from wine to cod,” says Natália Paiva-Neves, owner of O Dinis in East Providence, Rhode Island. “Portugalia has become a place for us Portuguese to find items from back home for a taste of home.”

“Portugalia Marketplace is a story of preservation,” adds Robert Andreozzi, co-owner and chef of Pizza Marvin and Club Frills in Providence. “No one in America is doing more than the Benevides family to make sure the stories of Portuguese farmers, fishermen, artists, musicians, and others continue to be told.”

Here are the Portugalia products that chefs like Paiva-Neves and Andreozzi recommend if you want to enjoy a taste of Portugal.

Tinned fish

“No Portuguese table is complete without a nice, tinned fish, or ‘conserva,’ as we call it,” says Dos Reis, who praises Portugalia’s extensive selection. Andreozzi cites the deep cuts you won’t normally find in the U.S. like garfish, stuffed squid, lapas (limpets, in English), and his personal favorite, razor clams.

Eli Dunn says the oil-packed tinned tuna options from Azorean company Santa Catarina, whose fish is caught with a traditional pole and line for sustainability, is “the best of the best.” That’s why it graces salads and a tuna melt at Folklore Provisions, the café in Bristol, Rhode Island, that the chef co-owns with his wife, Rachel Lopes-Almeida, whose family is from the Azores.

You’ll find a selection of Portugalia tinned fish at Fearless Fish Market in Providence, which includes Minerva mackerel and sardines, and Bom Petisco tuna in olive oil. “This stuff is not dried out. It’s super tasty and high-quality,” says owner Stu Meltzer. Andrew Hebert, partner-chef of Boston’s Baleia, says his go-to brand is Nuri, “especially spiced mackerel or simple sardines in olive oil,” while Clayton Errett, executive chef of Portuguese-inspired La Plage in Mystic, Connecticut, is partial to Sardinha Sardines in Escabeche Sauce.

Sausages

“The market’s selection of Portuguese chouriço and linguiça is a chef’s dream,” says Lauren Covas, owner and executive chef of Chef Covas Catering in Long Branch, New Jersey and author of the cookbook Little Portugal. “Each type brings its own depth of flavor — smoky, garlicky, spicy — and is a game-changer for everything from rustic stews to elegant small plates.”

Dunn uses the market’s housemade mild chouriço, a cured and smoked pork sausage seasoned with wine and paprika, for Folklore’s Portuguese-inspired Rhode Island–style chowder, while Errett recommends the hot chouriço. Paiva-Neves says her favorite is alheira, a pork and chicken sausage whose history traces to Jewish attempts to evade persecution for eating kosher during the Inquisition.

Salt cod (bacalhau)

“For Portuguese cooking, bacalhau is beyond a staple. It is our mascot,” says Covas. Portugalia devotes an entire temperature-controlled room to salt cod. Called “O Fiel Amigo,” the room contains “one of the most beautiful and unique displays I’ve ever seen.”

“We have the only salt cod selection like this anywhere in the world, including Portugal,” Michael says. Back in the day, customers had no qualms about negotiating rates with his father. “The salt cod room is where the haggling still happens, with the old ladies who flip the fish and shake off the salt to save pennies on weight.”

“Portuguese people like to brag that Portugal has more recipes for codfish than days in the year,” says Dos Reis. For 34 Restaurant, he seeks “the largest salted codfish possible — it needs to be stiff and have a sweet smell of fish and salt and beautiful ivory color. It goes without saying, what makes our Pastéis de Bacalhau or Bacalhau à Brás so good is the amazing codfish Portugalia is able to source for us.” A few versions are available online, including Norwegian and Canadian bacalhau.

Cheese

“Portugal produces some of the best artisanal cheeses in the world, and Portugalia carries only the best,” says Dos Reis, who offers several choices at 34 Restaurant’s jamón bar. Nuno Sousa, owner and executive chef of New York City’s Leitao, says his top pick is Pastor da Beira Alta Queijo da Serra, from the mountains of Serra da Estrela. “It’s a creamy, spreadable sheep-milk cheese that’s a staple both in my home and in Portuguese cuisine overall.” Hebert uses it for the filling of a cheese tart with pineapple jam. His favorite is the Azorean São Jorge Cheese Aged 7 Months DOP, “a raw cow-milk cheese that is perfectly sharp and tangy. We put it on our salads and sometimes I just snack on it.” 

Olive oil

“Portugalia carries a range that showcases the nuance and complexity of Portuguese olive oil, from grassy and peppery to smooth and buttery,” Covas says. Sousa uses the brand Herdade do Esporão, also a winemaker carried by Portugalia, “for everything: cooking, salad dressings, or just dipping it with warm Portuguese bread,” both at home and at Leitao. Hebert does too, and finishes dishes like octopus carpaccio with Azeites do Norte Alentejano DOP Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Patrick Lowney, owner-chef of Fred in Providence, finishes nearly every dish on the menu with the “very full-bodied and slightly nutty” Distintus Extra Virgin Olive Oil. It goes particularly well with shrimp Mozambique and a seasonal carrot dish that features peaches, olives, and salsa verde.

Fresh foods

One of the best things about visiting Portugalia in person is the café at the front, Ponto de Encontro. Hebert says “It’s my first stop for a pastel de nata and an espresso.” Portugalia imports its version of Portugal’s famous custard tarts, Avo’s Pasteis de Nata, unbaked and frozen from Lisbon. Dunn buys them in cases of 60 and bakes them each day at Folklore.

For Benjamin Sukle, owner-chef of Gift Horse and Oberlin in Providence, simple sandwiches on Pão D’Avó rolls (aka papo secos) are the main draw. “Truly the best snack to get on your way to and from the beach.”

Ceramics

Portugalia has a location of Portuguese design shop Artigos that features home goods, jewelry, and a collection of handcrafted ceramics that’s “not only beautiful but connects us back to the artistry of Portugal, which people really [aren’t aware of],” says Covas. Andreozzi loves the work of Bordallo Pinheiro. Famous for its ceramic sardines, the company also makes cabbage bowls “present in almost every Portuguese household I’ve been to, including mine growing up. Currently, I am obsessed with the collection of fruits and vegetables, if anyone reading this would like to buy me one,” he says.

Michael also recommends the Lateira Regional, a handmade terracotta container used to serve rectangular tins of fish. “Tinned fish can get really messy, so the lateira is perfect for keeping things under control.”

Snacks and sauces

“Portugalia is truly a snack lover’s paradise,” says Hebert, and olives are one of his weaknesses. At Baleia, the marinated olives with orange zest and chiles start with the Maçarico Whole Green Olives.

For Dunn, it’s the chocolate peanuts. “Every time I go to Portugalia, I buy a bag of their dark chocolate–covered peanuts and eat them all in the parking lot.”

Lowney uses vinegar-marinated Malagueta Vermelha peppers in many ways at Fred. He turns them into piri piri sauce that becomes piri piri vinaigrette for seared squid and piri piri Dijon sauce for chicken Milanese. The piri piri–vinegar marinade for the malaguetas even spices up a tequila cocktail called La Matadora. Portugalia sells a number of bottled piri piri options like the classic Quinta d’Avó Piri Piri Portugal, flavorful but not too spicy.

Andreozzi, meanwhile, loads up on mineral water. “European sparkling mineral water hits different. Is there anything better?”

Wine

With more than 250 native grape varieties, Portugal has by far the world’s greatest grape diversity, per Wines of Portugal. Portugalia’s cellar is similarly impressive. “The selection is absurd,” says Andreozzi. “There’s not a better collection of Portuguese wine outside of Portugal.” 

Chat up wine specialist André Ramos for help navigating unfamiliar grapes, like the Trajadura and Avesso that sometimes augment Vinho Verde blends, or figuring out which port or Madeira to pair with the cheeses you’ve loaded up on. “If you are planning a trip to Portugal,” says Andreozzi, “learning about the country through wine is a great place to start.”