Inside Maria Celeste, an intimate 36-seat Portuguese eatery
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As I sat down to eat at Maria Celeste on its second night open to the public, I asked Justin Isidro how the soft opening of his new restaurant — one he opened with his brother, Cristian — had gone. The brothers’ hardest crowd yet, he joked, had already come through the door. Not critics, not even strangers: The people who raised them.
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Friends and family were the first to get a seat at 4181 Fraser Street. The eatery’s entry, framed by gold cursive signage and pastel tiles, invited a crowd steeped in Portugal’s tasca culture to pull up a chair and taste what the duo had built in their 36-seat space.
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Named for their mãe, Portuguese for mother, Maria Celeste is Vancouver’s new gathering spot and aims to make every visitor feel like family.
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West Coast Table
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“It kept coming back to mom, grandma and those people being the conduit to all the beautiful food experiences we had growing up,” Justin says, explaining how he and Cristian landed on the restaurant name. “In Portugal, mom is everything. So we were like, well, why don’t we call it after mom? And it just felt right.”
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Serving family recipes back to the people who introduced them to you could be a mildly nerve-racking experiance, but Justin and Cristian are seasoned vets.
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Justin, the former longtime director of operations at Kissa Tanto, Meo and Bao Bei, also took home the Michelin Guide Vancouver’s first service award in 2022. Cristian, a chef with Michelin-calibre training and experience in kitchens from Vancouver to London to Porto, says there is only one word for the feeling of greeting his loved ones into the restaurant that first night: Saudade.
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“It means that which is, like, a longing of missing something. For me, it kind of felt like that, but like roles reversed. Usually it’d be me and my brother sitting at the table with our cousins, running around,” Cristian says. “Now we are hosting and giving out the food and giving out the hospitality. So it felt really good. It felt like a dream come true.”
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That role reversal means Cristian was tasked with creating an array of dishes that pay homage to his family’s culinary traditions while putting his own, modern spin on things.
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“Everything on this menu starts with memories of the way our mãe cooked and the way Portugal eats,” Cristian says in the restaurant’s opening release. During our chat, he puts it more simply:
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“I never want to deviate from the flavours of tradition at all.”
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The 1,300-square-foot room represents a lifelong dream for the brothers, and they teamed up with Studio Roslyn to design it. Stepping in, you’ll be greeted with faces you probably don’t know but make you feel instantly at home, as family photos of Justin and Cristian’s relatives are at the heart of the space’s atmosphere. The room is soaked in nostalgia, just as they intended. Think wooden built-in shelves with glassware and stacks of patterned plates, a woven roll-up bamboo blind over a window and devotional nooks and crannies you’d expect to find at a grandparent’s house.
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“We did a little baptism shrine in the corner near the restrooms,” Justin shares. “If you go to grandma’s house, there’s always going to be this crazy shrine of the grandchildren getting baptized, their first communion. It’s just very, very Portuguese to be having those celebratory photos up on the wall and just kind of showcasing your family or being proud of your family. And that always again comes from mom and grandma too.”
