PORTUGUESE IN PLAY Luis Caseiro is the new chef at Alfama (551 Hudson St. at Perry Street, 212-645-2500 ). Mr. Caseiro, who most recently was at Flor de Sal restaurant in Viana do Castelo, Portugal, had dined at Alfama a few years ago as a tourist.”When I walked in, I said to myself,’Why don’t we have in Portugal restaurants like this?'” he said.

Mr. Caseiro liked the decor and overall style of Alfama, which reminded him of the Lisbon neighborhood after which the restaurant is named.

Restaurants in Portugal these days are straying from tradition, going avant-garde in terms of food and design, the chef lamented.

“Alfama was really following the 100% traditional Portuguese,” he said.

But now that he’s at the helm, he plans to change Alfama, to lighten up the traditional flavors that he says are too strong for the uninitiated.

Mr. Caseiro, who spent two years in Asia, working in the former Portuguese colony of Macao, also is bringing Macanese influence to the menu.

That includes a dish he’s calling frango naufra gado, or shipwrecked chicken. The bird is marinated in ginger, chile, garlic, onion, and coconut milk, grilled, and then topped with a sauce made from the same ingredients, plus lemongrass and peanut. He serves it with a white- and wild-rice pancake and sauteed spinach.

MOVING THE FEAST Some of the staff at Alfama have decamped to Tintol (155 W. 46th St., between Broadway and Sixth Avenue, 212-354-3838 ), a new Tapas-type eatery with a focus on small Portuguese plates rather than Spanish ones. The restaurant is owned by Portugal native Jose Meireilles, who for many years was a co-owner of Les Halles and now owns Le Marais, the kosher steakhouse across the street from Tintol.

At a kosher restaurant you can’t use such nonkosher items as roasted shrimp, blood sausage, or chorizo. Mr. Meireilles missed working with those goodies, so he opened the new spot to fill that need.

BREAKFAST ONLY Brasserie Ruhlmann (45 Rockefeller Plaza, West 50th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues, 212-974-2020 ) has opened where Medi once stood, at least for breakfast. Former Tavern on the Green chef Georges Masraff is cooking up truffled sunny-side-up eggs and Anson Mills grits along with more typical fare like bread baskets and lox platters. Dinner, of what promises to be mostly French food, is scheduled to start the week of January 30.

DESSERT ONLY Room 4 Dessert (17 Cleveland Place, between Spring and Kenmare streets, 212-941-5405) is open for afternoon service, starting at 4 pm during weekdays, 5 p.m. on Friday, and 6 p.m. on Saturday. At the brainchild of Will Goldfarb, formerly of Cru and Papillon, guests can sample items such as violet cotton candy, meringues, and something called “lychee sorbet with tea air.” The dessert, wine, and tea bar is planning to open for breakfast in March or April. Takeout service will be offered at around the same time.

MAKE THE GRADE If you would rather have your kids make the dessert, take them to the Sofitel New York Hotel (45 W. 44th St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, 212-782-3029 ) this weekend for a parent-and-child cooking class. Pastry chef Vincent Mary from Paris’s Lenotre cooking school will be teaching the classes, offered on Saturday and Sunday, for $75 a person. Two children, ages 8 and above, are allowed per adult. Apart from developing their pastry game, participants also will receive personalized shirts and aprons, souvenir pictures of the class, and a signed copy of the chef’s new children’s cookbook. Morning and afternoon classes are available.

Mr. Thorn is food editor at Nation’s Restaurant News. He can be reached bthorn@nrn.com.