Casa do José - Menu

"José Gregório de Mendonça Vasconcelos. This is the full name of the operator of two Portuguese pleasure slaves in Karlsruhe. A name that would honor any first-class port wine. Only that, after a pleasant meal, the one goes down the neck to warm the body and soul, and José said this with culinary delicacies from his home country. He runs his Casa on the busy, often “permanent” war road. And that since spring 2013. The proximity to the Badische Staatstheater, which is virtually on the other side of the street, was also the reason why I already visited a few “Petiscos” here a few years ago after a theatre visit. In the meantime there is a second restaurant, the “Tasca do José” in the forest road. The Portuguese tavern, opened since May 2018, stands with its magnificent courtyard at the top of my Karlsruher “I still have a list in summer”. Maybe the one or the other Oparazzo will be humbled and come back with me. At the beginning of February, when, together with my mother, we visited the piece “My Year without Udo Jürgens” in the small hall of the Staatstheater – my mother is still passionate fan of the deceased percussion singer – a return to the house of José was already offered by himself alone for the short walkway. I easily reserved a place for three people by phone and looked forward to a classic Pre Theatre dinner with the two most important women of my life. It was still relatively early in the evening and in the Casa there was the famous rest before the storm. We had already hired our car in the underground garage of the Staatstheater. Parking around the restaurant is as good as no one. With a little luck you can get your car in the neighboring southern town. But parking garages are enough in the environment. Or you can get to the tram, whose stop is just a few meters away. Casa do José is such a restaurant where you feel comfortable right now. Pleasant lighting conditions, good furniture and quiet background music were warmly welcomed together with the friendly hosts. We had a table in the middle of the room and as the first guests of the evening, we first had the interior of the guest room decorated with great attention to detail. On the bare wooden tables there was only the most necessary. Polished wine and water glasses shined around the bet. Simple cutlery and bread plate had made it comfortable on the dark table sets. The folded, radiant white mouthpiece offered the bread knife a soft base. A lonely tealight hardly flickered perceptible. Extravagant Murano crystal lights murmured from the tasteful ceiling lined with dark wood. The bright wooden floorboards contrasted well with the dark furnishings. Interior 1 A few framed works of art and photographs were attached to the bright walls painted in subtle purple and gray tones. Here and there a little broken plaster flashed out. On the right side of the sink, there was a passage to the kitchen. Before that, well-filled wine shelves and a wonderful wine refrigerator woke my interest. Here a glimpse into the wine map would certainly be worthwhile, so much was clear. Interior 2 Covered – done. The Casa's cellar compendium was quite versatile in white wines. Vinho verde, Dão, Alentejo and Co. greeted the Palatinate Instincttrinker. A helmet that drinks whites. So go on to the ink drops. And then there were also the words that best suited my red wine desire: Touriga Nacional. For around the 20 euros there was a good fabric to discover in a bottle-like manner. The mentioned noble grape varieties from Portugal were missing in almost none of the Cuvees offered. Some of the names even told me something. I had discovered the Quinta de Chocapalha many years ago in the BASF wine cellar – an excellent drop with a wonderful wood note. On the other hand, the enjoyment of Crasto DOC from Douro was preceded by an online order. He was also able to use his percentages in a rich manner. Unfortunately, there were both wines not glassy and a bottle was too much for me as a driver of two such lovely ladies. But a quarter of the 2016 Burmester DOC from Douro made quite sense, I still had some songs from the Austrian percussion in the following days. For the 9 months in the Barrique, Cuvee from the varieties Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz and Touriga Franca were well developed. A velvety flatter who knew to please with his delicate elegance. Burmester can't just be Port. The lower thirst should create two bottles of Selters medium 0,75l for 5,10 Euro remedy. That was also good, because the reading of the three-language menu took a little more time. For my mother, it was the first visit to a Portuguese restaurant and that she had one or the other question about the dishes offered, of course, was understandable. But we also had to read ourselves through the sounding offer of “Petiscos” =Appetithappen and “Pratos Principais” main courts. “Salgadinhos” call the Portuguese small snacks, which are fond of a glass of wine or a hop dish. This is understood in José fried Bacalhau cams – at the Spaniard the things are called stick fish croquettes – or dough bags with meat or Crab filling. Chamuças, a kind of Portuguese samosas with spicy interiors of beef chop or vegetables, were also on the rich menu as “Entradas”. Flambierte Chouriço Chorizo, roasted garlic sausage Alheira frita or grilled blood sausage Morcela assada were nothing for fat conscientious agents. A few cold Vesper plates with cheese, sausage and ham of Portuguese provenance were of course also started. The mixed salads were brought with marinated octopus or cod under the fish-affine people. Venus mussels and fried giant cloves were allowed to bathe in Knobi White Wine Sauce before using the fish served in the Cataplana seafood stew to the ultimate longing dish for crustaceans and aquatic animal vasals. The fact that codfish was then prepared in five different ways was not a – caution now – culinary “Ba Calhau’er”, but rather indicated the importance of dry fish species not to be thought away from Portuguese cuisine. For meat sauces, pork was combined according to “Alentejo Art” with clams and fried potato cubes, pluma of the Iberico pork in Madeira Balsamico reduction, and the Bife Rumpsteak was sent from the kitchen with a coffee Cognac sauce. Of course, the Madeira specialty was also badly on the map: Espetada, a head over served beef, was sold with fried polenta and salad. The additional weekly recommendations were not exactly contributing to the desisting of the menu. Rather to increase my decision. Wild boar Chanfana , Wanzenauer chickens in Madeira sauce and quail in tomato sauce with olive potato stampf did not sound unappetifully. But it didn't help, the young lady from the service had already bred her notebook and wanted to stop our order. In addition, our time window up to the play did not allow long-lasting caution in the selection of dishes. As the only appetizer at the table I chose the Rissóis de Carne 4,20 Euro , three crispy dough bags with meat filling from the bark department. The two ladies had the same desire for food, which is generally not so rare for women. They both opted for the Wanzenauer chicken with Madeira sauce, grilled sweet potatoes and vegetables 17 euros. I was also pleased with meaty pleasures, which wanted to be breast-feeded with a traditional cattle skewer according to Madeira type, of course in the larger 250 grams variant 23,50 euros. The degree of cooking of the meat was asked and “medium rare” in the direction of the kitchen. At first the kitchen greeted with cut-out baguette, good olive oil and a spread that tasted slightly to lemon. Then the kitchen greeted the dough bags, which split up with a few salad leaves and half a cocktail tomato. The richly filled Rissóis were exactly what my empty stomach had longed for. Outer greedy, inside fluffy and the fat from the friteuse did the rest. Rissóis de Carne Well done, José. I'm so happy to feed you through the complete Salgadinhos program. But then with the appropriate bottle wines, my wife as participatory support and without the theater appointment in the back of the head. Well, a tram that would take us over the Rhine at night would be the ideal case. Then the hanging device for my head was put on the table. Little later, the Espetada or the Espetada blurred. It was a spit.... In this case, the meat juice of the beef delivered as desired medium rare drips into a small bowl. From its merciful texture, it could have been quite the end of the beef, which did not allow the price. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask when the service brought a little Madeira wine to the meat dipping. Espetada...medium rare The salad was nicely acidic. As I prefer. Salad to the Espetada If there were not the fried Poleta quads, one could have spoken of a Low Carb dish. The somewhat taste-neutral, quite dry fingers from corn grÃ1⁄4ss did not revive me tastefully, but did their job as a saturation supplement with carbohydrate-producing efficiency. Frittierte Polandta A few decimeters further the two ladies could taste their Wanzenauer chickens. The professionally disassembled chickens were on a well-mean portion of grilled sweet potatoes. Among them there were still Mediterranean vegetables zucchini, paprika, etc. . Wanzenauer Hähnchen So real enthusiasm towers did not evoke the fragrant chicken dishes scented to Madeira sauce. My mother prefers to eat self-cooked cooks from the local herd and it is rather rare that she is particularly praiseworthy about the food in the restaurant. This was all in the green area. But my wife also lacked some kick. The unordered read-out, red wine-pronounced wild boar was later mentioned a few times sighing. But before it went into the honorable house opposite to the theatre performance, a little bit was done. How simply my pleasantly sweet coconut tart 6,50 Euro coconut tart, covered by aromatic rasps, presented itself to the chocolate crumble 8 Euro pimped with vanilla ice, chocolate goose and forest fruits. Chocolate Crumble and Consorts Fruit ice cream, pineapple, cherry and bananas...was dispensed with this evening, because the Portuguese wine had already gone to the neige and the Greek should be sung later. In total, the visit to José was a successful appetizer. Only the selection of “Petiscos” would justify a repetition. And then there was also this fish stew... How did the good Udo sing about 20 years ago in his song “It live the loader” so strikingly “... instead of Vinho and Gambas, whole milk and bread, and what does he have? Because now he's dead..." You can let it stand. Lent is over;"