And now a word or two about food. The above title is tongue-in-cheek, for we never had any actual hot dogs (those not being a thing in Portugal), though as those connected to us on Facebook know that we did have haute cuisine our last night in Fortaleza do Guincho. There we had everything from crispy sardine heads (quite tasty believe it or not) to barnacles (also good). Those were just little things sent out by the chef.  Our actual courses included an amberjack  appetizer for me and prawns for Pat, and for main courses I had pork done several different ways and Pat had sea bream.

For the most part we have had a lot of seafood, mostly roasted whole fish. Last night we picked a place at random on the Gaia waterfront, which is the city across the Douro River from Porto. While touristy it is less crowded than on the other side of the river and the place we went to was very good. It billed itself as barbecue, but that basically meant they did a lot of stuff on the grill. Pat had grilled salmon, which was superb, and I had grilled prawns with monkfish garnished with slab bacon.

Tonight brings the hot dog reference, and this might be the most fun we’ve had dining. We went to a place called Cafe Santiago, which makes a version of a sandwich, for lack of a better word, called a “francesinha.” It is a combination of mortadella, two types of sausages, ham, steak and cheese, covered in a spicy brown sauce. We had heard about it from an episode of one of Anthony Bourdain’s travel shows. While you will see the same sandwich featured at restarurants around Porto, our host and guidebook told us to go to Santiago. We had a blast and the best seat (for us) in the house. It’s in some ways a “fast” food operation, fast being relative in this part of the world.

We sat at the counter in front of the principal cook and watched him operate. It was amazing. The baseline for the sandwich is pre-prepared and consists of the bologna as it is referred to on the menu, along with the sausages and the ham on one slice of thick bread. He would take those sandwich halfs out, slap them on the grill meat side down to heat. Then he would take out a fresh, trimmed tenderloin of beef, slice it and press it down into a steak, and cook it. When the sandwich half was heated, those would first go on a panini press, bread side down so it could be grilled. Later it is topped with the freshly cooked steak, cheese and bread to. Later, more cheese on top and it is then dressed with the spicy brown sauce. Health food this is not, but it is amazingly tasty. The “hot dog” reference comes from the fact Pat ordered a version that comes on what was referred to as hot-dog bread, basically a long roll filled with the same ingredients except the beef.  The basic sandwich can be topped with a fried egg, which judging from the number of eggs we watched the cook make is a popular option, and still more sausage if there isn’t enough meat for you. But we had the opportunity to chat with the chef and the counter staff (everyone in the cities we have visited speaks English) and had and absolute ball.

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