He Got His Start Washing Dishes in Lisbon

Like many chefs, Joao Rieff got his start in a kitchen as a dishwasher.  After earning a degree in economics in Lisbon, he followed the trail through many mainland kitchens and worked for a time in the Hotel Meridien in Paris. Through all of the years of cooking in New York, Italy and Spain, however, he never forgot that his roots were here in the Azores.

He runs two restaurants now in Ponta Delgada, and in both, fish plays a central role. It’s his favorite menu item to prepare at 100 Espinhas, or ‘100 fishbones.’  We visited him on a rainy night and outside, blond Swedish tourists drank heartily and smoked. But we were here for his flavorful parrotfish, and the house specialty, big eye tuna.

Over the years he’s learned what his clients enjoy most…for Swedes, a predominant proportion of the tourists here, it’s different sauces like the pimento-inspired drizzle that lined the top of my parrotfish. Our meal began with another nod to the north–herring.

“Here it’s crazy or lazy,” he said. It is either a line out the door to his waterfront restaurant or just a few tables full. The summer months bring bounty, the winter is a tough slog through slow nights, at both locations.  Getting locals to come out on a regular basis is difficult, he said, so he relies on the city’s tourists to fill his tables. “Carpacio, I tried here, it didn’t work…Azoreans like to eat at home, not go out so much.”

He told us about the under appreciated species that more and more he is serving instead of endangered fish like bluefin tuna. Pointing to pictures on a chart of Azorean fish, he showed us the parrotfish, grey triggerfish, and jack mackerel both common and abundant. Prepared the right way, they are as delicious as any endangered species.

Starters and fish are his specialty, and the limpids (tiny clams) he brought out were infused with garlic and a perfect way to begin our meal.  He told us he’d love to be back on the line, cooking again, but instead of runs the administrative and front of the house for both places. “If someone calls when I’m preparing menus, I can’t stop, I need to focus,” he said.