Leitao is a friendly bar and kitchen serving Portuguese food in the West Village. We lucked out with the only window table giving us great light plus little noise as we weren’t seated by others. Loved that.

We shared everything, eating what we ordered in three waves after our craft cocktails. I sipped their Bourbon Old Fashioned, one friend a Negroni and the other a Margarita ($18 each)—all hearty-poured, well-prepared drinks. We were off to a great start.

Our first dish was their Porco Preto ($22). Those were Iberico pork ribs cooked with wine, capers and housemade Calabrian garlic chili where the flavorful meat fell off the bone.  With that, we shared a bottle of the Portuguese Mainova, Alentejo 2019 ($64), a red wine that married well with the food.

Next, we shared two scrumptious salads. Their roasted beet salad came with oranges, arugula, pecans and gorgonzola ($26); and the perfectly grilled octopus came with salsa verde atop arugula ($26).

One dining partner has a shrimp allergy, so we requested — and their kitchen accommodated — cooking the shrimp separately, allowing all of us to enjoy their Arroz de Marisco ($37, seafood with rice) and dip with bread into it.

We also sampled their braised whole baby lamb ($38) with fingerling potatoes and spinach. It was tender, but the only dish I wouldn’t recommend as it was too bland.

I do, though, recommend Leitao. The staff ended our meal with complementary Pasteis de Nata, the traditional custard tarts flavored with lemon and cinnamon. Delightful.

Leitao
West Village
547 Hudson St
New York, NY 10014
(212) 810-9944
leitaonyc.com/