Tasca Tasca

Tasca Tasca opened in 2016 at 122 West Napa Street, just off the Sonoma Plaza, in the former Epicurean Connection space that chef Manuel Azevedo bought the year before. A native of Portugal who had already made his name with LaSalette, Azevedo conceived this second Sonoma restaurant as a true tasca, the casual tavern where Portuguese friends meet over small plates and a drink. "I want it to feel like Portugal," he said as it opened, "so that immigrants and the descendants of immigrants feel at home here." The room keeps that promise: white walls, tables built from Port and Madeira wine boxes or painted Mediterranean blue, a nine-seat wooden bar, family photographs and soccer on the television. Small, lively and unmistakably Portuguese, it rewards those who wander a block beyond the square.