We saw Luso Mercado appear on East 14th Street, close to the Bayfair Mall, a few months ago. Apparently it relocated from some place else in San Leandro.
It makes sense to find a Portuguese deli in San Leandro, which until recently had a very large and active Portuguese community. Indeed, San Leandro’s other claim to life is to be California’s sausage capital. Many of these Portuguese settlers apparently opened linguiza factories .
I’ve been meaning to go to Luso Mercado for a while, just to check it out and see if they carry Brazilian products as well (they don’t). We finally did a couple of days ago and found that Luso Mercado is, indeed, operated by Portuguese people (they were speaking Portuguese in the shop). The store concentrates on deli products and Port. They have an incredible selection of aged Port. If you’re looking for a ’69 port to celebrate a 35 birthday, you will likely find it here – expect to pay close to $200, however. Their selection of sherry, madeira and other fortified wines is pretty good as well. It takes us five years to go through a bottle of madeira, but next time we run out we’ll certainly go there.
They had a variety of sausages (and linguiza, now we know where to find the real, real thing) and Portuguese cheeses. They also carry many, many cans of canned fish (specially cod), tons of Portuguese olive oil (I’ll try some next time I run out) and assorted Portuguese products.
Luso Mercado Delicatessen
15100 E 14th St
San Leandro, CA 94578-1904
(510) 352-0163
