🍮 Portguese Cadinho Bakery lives on

Plus: your chance to (kinda) be a food writer [View this email in your browser]( [READER Logo]( [Food & Drink]( | May 3, 2024 The Abbot of Priscos was an accomplished gastronome, often enlisted to organize baroque feasts for the Portuguese royal family. But from his tiny parish in northwestern Portugal, Padre Manuel Joaquim Machado Rebelo kept most of his recipes to himself. His name might have faded into obscurity if he hadn’t given up just one: the Pudim Abade de Priscos, a lush, jiggly flan that glows like amber, tastes of port wine and pork fat, and, almost a century later, lives on as one of the triumphs of Portuguese gastronomy.  In Portugal, it lives on, anyway. Here, it’s relatively unknown, which is inexplicable given that it’s often misidentified as “bacon flan,” a name that should attract pork belly–obsessed Americans like flies to hon— . . . or rather, fat-saturated caramel.  I have a strong sense that’s about to change beginning this Monday, May 6, when Cadinho Bakery returns to [Monday Night Foodball]( the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at [Frank and Mary’s Tavern]( in Avondale.  Last December, when we last left pastry chef [Alejandra Rivera]( call her the Abbess of McKinley Park—she had just previewed some of the treasures she’d be featuring at the forthcoming brick-and-mortar cafe she’d just begun building out with husband Eric Carlson.    Today, Cadinho Bakery is very close to opening its doors—the couple is targeting June—and Rivera has broadened her repertoire, which now includes the Pudim Abade de Priscos, the extra-eggy, port and pork–spiked flan she mastered with the discovery that it’s not meant to be imbued with smoky American bacon fat, but subtler presunto ham—or in her case, prosciutto.  On the savory side, she’s bringing back her baked rissóis, and in collaboration with her friend, Emanuel Meireles, aka [@tascanortada]( the cachorrinho, the Portuguese hot dog that might just settle the incendiary hypothesis that the hot dog is a sandwich.  Of course, Rivera’s bringing back her pastéis de nata—and introducing the doce de casa, a layered dulce de leche trifle topped with almond brittle.  She’s also leaning into her Honduran roots with a trio of sweet, tart tropical desserts including a reprise of her stunning passion fruit pie, a hibiscus-lime pie with a ginger-almost crust, and a coconut guava cake.  You can lock in your pudim, cachorrinhos, and the rest of these treats by preordering now [in Rivera’s DMs](. Or just step into the bar at 2905 N. Elston beginning at 5 PM this May 6 in opulent Avondale.  Meantime, check out what else is happening on the patio on Mondays at Frank and Mary’s: [a caramel dessert on a plate with blackberries]( [Cadinho Bakery previews its new cafe at the next Monday Night Foodball]( Check out Alejandra Rivera’s Portuguese and Honduran pastries at the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at Frank and Mary’s Tavern. by [Mike Sula]( | [Read more]( → [the outside of a restaurant with wooden tables and barrels]( [Bo Durham is Mindy Segal’s right-hand man]( There’s a longtime familial working relationship between the famous pastry chef and her prolific mentee. by [Amber Gibson]( | [Read more]( → Reader Bites celebrates dishes, drinks, and atmospheres from the Chicagoland food scene. Have you had a recent food or drink experience that you can’t stop thinking about? Share it with us at [fooddrink@chicagoreader.com](mailto:fooddrink@chicagoreader.com?subject=Reader%20Bites&body=). [Gỏi vịt (duck salad) at Nhà Hà ng Vietnam Restaurant]( “‘The duck is better,’ a server might tell you if you’re caught dithering between the gỏi gà and gỏi vịt at this excellent yet often overlooked Argyle Street anchor. The chicken expression of this miracle of the salad arts is one of the best in the city, for sure, but the waterfowl-based alternative is singular.” -Mike Sula [Chicago Craft Beer Week is no more; all hail Illinois Craft Beer Week]( May 2018 | P.S. Check out [Illinois Craft Beer Week 2024]( running from May 3-10. by [Julia Thiel]( | [Read more]( → [Dinner and a show]( January 2020 | Theater doesn’t have to make you hangry. by [Mike Sula]( | [Read more]( → Get the latest issue of the Chicago Reader Thursday, May 2, 2024 [READ ONLINE: VOL. 53, NO. 15]( [VIEW/DOWNLOAD ISSUE (PDF)]( [Become a member of the Chicago Reader.]( [Facebook icon]( [Instagram icon]( [Twitter icon]( [LinkedIn icon]( [YouTube icon]( [Website icon]( [Logo] You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from the Chicago Reader. Want fewer emails from us? [Click here to choose what you want us to send you](. Or, [unsubscribe from all Reader emails](. We’ll miss you! [Sign up for emails from the Chicago Reader]( | [Forward this e-mail to a friend]( © 2024 Chicago Reader. All rights reserved. Chicago Reader, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102, Chicago, IL 60616