New England Portuguese

New England Portuguese



New England has long had a sizeable Portuguese population. Recently, I obtained a copy of The Portuguese Times, a weekly newspaper published in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where about half of the residents are of Portuguese or Cape Verdean descent. New Bedford was known as “the Whaling City” in the 19th century, and many Portuguese immigrants of that period worked in whaling and in the textile mills. As far as I know, there may be dozens of Portuguese enclaves in the Northeast. From my perusal of the summer festival announcements in the The Portuguese Times, it appears there are strong cultural connections between Portuguese Canadians and Portuguese New Englanders.

In The Portuguese Times, I came across several references to the Portuguese Diaspora of which I was previously unaware. This weekend I visited Hartford’s Parkville neighborhood, the commercial center of Portuguese-speaking Hartford. It was clear from my visit that the Azorean, Madeiran, Cape Verdean and Brazilian communities in Hartford each contribute to the Portuguese cultural life of the city. A Brazilian soccer store and a Brazilian pizzeria/churrascheria were packed when I visited yesterday noon. Events advertised on the local bulletin boards were variously sponsored by Azorean, Madeiran, and Cape Verdean churches and social clubs.




At the Solmar Fish Market, a variety of products from the Azores, Madeira and the Cape Verde Islands were available, along with a wide selection of fresh fish. The owner helped me select a sheep and cows’ milk cheese from Portugal that reminds me of Port du Salut, with a bit of a bite. Too late, I realized that the market makes their own farmer’s cheese fresh every day. This is apparently a favorite in the Azores. But I will have to wait to taste it; the last one had just been sold.

The owner also explained the differences between the various types of linguica. Some of the sausages were drier, some wetter, some more heavily spiced and some milder, some were coarser, and some finer in texture. One was a dry-looking, dark, spicy blood sausage. I feel sure that the encased meats selection would have interested any of the legion of sausage-obsessed LTH-ers (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!), but at that point, I was still working up to asking about pictures.

What really caught my eye—actually, my nose- was the display of salt cod, or bacalao.
.
The top-of-the-line salt cod is the Norwegian variety in the foreground at $9.99/lb. If you are economizing, you can get a smaller, wetter Canadian salt cod for $5.99/lb. The Canadian cod is leathery in texture and somewhat yellow as compared to the snowy Norwegian fish.

There were some enormous casseroles that have “Xmas gift” written all over them.


I also visited three Portuguese Bakeries. The Abrantes Bakery and Pastry Shop had the largest and freshest-looking selection of baked goods, as well as a few deli cheeses and meats. I will return there to buy one of their lovely flans that have a layer of chocolate cake on the bottom, even though it is unlikely Cathy2 will be there to help me eat it. What I did decide to buy was a fresh sausage roll, which proved to be an excellent call.





At La Estrella Bakery I came across pasteis de nata which are custard tarts made with a crunchy carmelized puff-pastry shell. This tart is their most popular item, and they are made fresh every day. I thought I had seen them in Chinese bakeries, but was scratching my head over this when I came across this post in my LTH search of the term “Portuguese.” (According to Wikipedia, the Chinese Macau connection has a Cape Verde Islands element, though I’ll need someone else to explain that to me.) With a week's notice, they will also prepare lechon for take out.




Today I went to Providence to the Festa de Nossa Senhora do Rosario e Santo Christo. This is a three day festival that culminates with a Mass and procession from the Portuguese parish of Our Lady of the Rosary.


This was clearly an important religious event for the community, and those who carried the holy figures on litters of fresh flowers kept solemn faces that befitted their important responsibilities.




The final devotional figure was Santo Cristo. The flowers in this spectacular display were all real. I know, because I could smell them as they went by. There’s no mistaking a lily.


Most of the parishoners turned out in their Sunday best and followed the Procession for the hour it took to make its way from the church around the local streets. My favorite part was the children dressed in angel wings who carried signs identifying them as various Saints.




Now to the food:
Chickens in a red marinade were grilled on huge racks. I opted for the linguica on a Portuguese roll. This was a sausage with a hot, smoked taste that had a very random grind. Parts of the sausage seemed chopped, rather than ground. I apologize for losing the picture I took. But here is a snap of the sauce for the sandwich. It seemed to be onions in hot paprika and oil, but had a touch of a giardiniera quality to it—vinegar, green pepper, celery. Very nice.


Grilled sardines were a real treat, the bones posed no problem, as they were soft enough to chew.

It was a lovely day to eat fried dough. You see these at clam shacks in Rhode Island, where they are called “doughboys.” The Portuguese call them malassadas.



Around the side of the church, in a garage next to the convent, a group of women were working elbow-deep in big steel basins and chatting. One team formed the saucer-sized rounds of yeast dough, while another floated them on vats of hot oil. I think I would have liked to be the woman coating each pastry in sugar. It seemed to me that she was in the best position to smell the treats hot from the oil. I sat and ate mine in a lovely flower garden next to the convent. There were shaded benches and a cool breeze. If a life of contemplation involves malassadas, maybe I should reconsider my path.

Hartford Portuguese Shopping

La Estrella Portuguese Bakery
1916 Park St
Hartford, CT 06106
(860) 523-4545
(seating available)

Abrantes Bakery and Pastry Shop
1851 Park St
Hartford, CT 06106
(860) 232-1464
(seating available)

Solmar Fish Market
1860 Park Street
Hartford, CT
860 232-5694
Wide selection of fresh fish
Frozen fish, potatoes, and Canadian farmed quail
Groceries: pastas, dried beans, soft drinks
Azorean Canned Tuna
Stockfish-Bacalao (Canadian and Norwegian)

Portuguese Festivals
As reported in the Portuguese Times
http://www.portuguesetimes.com

Festa de Nossa Senhora do Rosario e Santo Christo
Church of Nossa Senhora do Rosario
463 Benefit Street
Providence, RI
August 8-10, 2008

Madeiran Festival of the parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
New Bedford, MA
July 31- August 3, 2008
Largest Portuguese Festival in the U.S. (maybe next year)

http://www.PortugueseFeast.com

also in New Bedford: Museum of Madeiran Heritage

Festas de Nossa Senhora do Monte
Sponsored by a Clube Sport Uniao Madeirense
46 Madeira Ave., Central Falls, RI
August 8-10, 2008

Remaining Festivals for Summer 2008

Festas do Senhor Bom Jesus da Pedra
New Bedford, MA
15, 16, 17 August, 2008

Grandes Festas do Divino Espirito Santo da Nova Inglaterra
Various locations including the Church of Nossa Senhora do Rosario
Providence, RI
Banquet 8/25 Swansea MA Restaurant Venus de Milo
August 21-25, 2008

Wow, Josephine, beautiful post - although my ancestry is from New England, the portugese part of me is Argentine...so though we drove to Boston every year, I never explored this culture growing up.

We've been planning a "someday" trip to NE, this area will definitely be a place to explore!

This is a great post, Josephine! I've never been able to make it to the Portuguese part of New England, though it's been on my list for quite some time. Thanks for the peek.

This is a terrific post (great pictures!) and a timely one for me, as I have been starting to look at Portuguese restaurants, bakeries, and festivals in the area over the past few weeks.

Last month, we went to what I consider one of the best restaurants I have been to in the last two or three years. It is called Estoril, and is in the Flint Village section of Fall River (a heavily Portuguese city on the south coast of Massachusetts. The Portuguese soup, Madeiran steak, and chicken Estoril were simply amazing, and the atmosphere was very elegant. I can't wait to get back to this place.

While Boston has a few Portuguese restaurants and bakeries (mostly in Cambridge, which is next door), most of the Portuguese dining spots, markets, bakeries, etc. are indeed south of Boston, in places such as Fall River, New Bedford, Provincetown, Providence, RI, Bristol and Warren, RI, and other places along the south coast of New England. From what I hear, some of the restaurants to try include the aforementioned Estoril, Sagre's, also in Fall River, Cafe Funchal in New Bedford, and Madeira Restaurant in East Providence, RI. If anyone has been to any of these, I'd love to hear what they thought of them!

Thanks for the nice comments, friends.

Although I have just begun my exploration of Portuguese New England, hiddenboston has a good idea. Why don't we post our leads for others to follow up on if so motivated?

Here are a few of the Portuguese spots I have not yet been able to check out.
Open season for those with access!

Portuguese Restaurants
Lisboa Restaurant
19 Layfayette Street
Waterbury, CT 06708
(203) 754-0789
http://www.lisboarestaurant.com
(The NYT got there first, folks:http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9503E0DC163BF934A3575AC0A9659C8B63)

O’Porto
2074 Park Street, Hartford, Connecticut
860-233-3184
Lunch: Tuesday - Friday 11:45am - 2:30pm
Dinner: Tuesday - Saturday 5:00 - 10:00pm
Sunday (Brunch & Dinner): Noon - 8pm
Closed Mondays
We will be closed August 25th through September 4th
http://www.oportohartford.com

Restaurante Lusitano
820-824 King Philip St.
Fall River, MA
(508) 672-9104
19.995 and 29.95 specials (for 2) advertised
(caution: live music)

Azorean Restaurant and Bar
133 Washington St.
Gloucester, MA
http://www.azoreanrestaurant.com

Cavalier Restaurant
366 Chicopee St
Chicopee, MA
(413) 533-9195
http://www.cavalierrestaurant.com/index.html
(disregard the misleading Americana turkey photo on the website. Scroll ahead to Portuguese specialties on the menu).
Lunch:
Monday - Friday
11am-2pm
Dinner:
Monday - Thurs.
4pm-9pm
Friday and Sat.
4pm-10pm
Sunday
12am-9pm
Lounge Hours:
7 days a week 11am-2am
Food in Lounge:
Sunday – Thurs. 11am to 9pm
Friday & Sat.
11am to 10 pm

Primavera Cafe Restaurant
257 East Street
Ludlow, MA 01056
http://www.primaverarestaurante.com/index.cfm
Open Tuesday - Sunday
Closed on Mondays
Lunch 11:00am - 5:00pm
Dinner 5:00pm - 9:30pm

Portuguese Bakeries
Ludlow Central Bakery
270 East St
Ludlow, MA 01056
(413) 583-8657
Ludlow, MA

New Bedford Bakery
98 County Street
New Bedford, MA
(508)992-5413

Fish & Seafood Shops
Cumberland Seafood
40 Macondry St.,
Cumberland, RI
(401)728-6088
Cozinha regional portuguesa todas as sextas-feiras
com pratos de peixe e carne

Meat & Deli
New Bedford Salsicharia Meat &Deli
2 locations:
53 Belleville Ave.
New Bedford, MA
(508)997-0538

5 Rockdale Ave.
New Bedford, MA
(508)992-6257
Home-style linguica and chourico

Seabra Supermarkets
Portuguese, Brazilian & Hispanic Products
8 locations:
1150 Hope St., Bristol, RI
579 G.A.R. Highway, Swansea, MA
440 Stafford Rd., Fall River, MA
550 Pontiac Ave., Cranston, RI
41 Rockdale Ave., New Bedford, MA
738 WAshington St., South Attleboro, MA
217 South Main St., Attleboro, MA
2000 Mendon Rd., Cumberland, RI

Damn! What we need is an icon that drools God knows that's what I'm doing. I haven't had good Portuguese food since...Lisboa Antiga down on Wells Street about a hundred years ago. Due to bad timing, we missed it in SF and somehow never get to New England. Thanks, Josephine, for a wonderfully evocative post.

Let's see...if I send you a large enough check, and it includes money for dry ice....

I'm with you, GB!

My goodness. Josephine, I research restaurants throughout New England in nearly every spare moment I have, and thought I knew just about every interesting restaurant out there. But other than Lisboa, I haven't heard of any of the places on your list. Time for me to do a couple more road trips!

Most of the list above came from The Portuguese Times. Picking up the paper that Romanian speakers read in Chicago gave me a few leads, so I just applied that approach here. (It helps to have a Romance language under your belt to decipher the text, but google translator might work, too.)

Wonderful post. Most of my family is on the east coast (these days, Connecticut and Massachusetts), and I hopefully be able to plan a future trip around one of these festivals.

Suzy

Josephine wrote:New England Portuguese

Josephine,

Lovey post, terrific pictures. Really drives home the fact there is no, none, nada Portuguese restaurants or groceries in Chicago.

Enjoy,
Gary

Wow. That is an amazing and informative post. Great pictures, too. I used to live just north of the New Bedford area (Bridgewater, MA) and I miss good Portuguese food, especially the pastries, sweet bread, and breakfast (eggs and linguica). And the Portuguese people I knew and worked with were the best folks to have as friends and the absolute worst to have as enemies. Luckily I had only friends.

M_Six wrote: I used to live just north of the New Bedford area (Bridgewater, MA) and I miss good Portuguese food, especially the pastries, sweet bread, and breakfast (eggs and linguica).

M_Six, is this the breakfast dish you remember? It’s the only version of linguica and eggs I have had. It was interesting, but I might have liked the linguica to be more coarselychopped. As it was prepared, the linguica was fully incorporated into the egg mixture.
]
Portuguese fishermna’s breakfast: eggs and linguica with a Portuguese roll.


The sign identifying Kitchen Little in Mystic, CT.

And an image from New London, another Whaling City:

Whale and Damsel in Distress with Parka and Backpack

Kitchen Little
135 Greenmanville Ave
Mystic, CT 06355
(860) 536-2122

No, the breakfast I remember was classic scrambled eggs with a split linguica on the side. But the breakfast you posted looks delicious. My wife is from Newington, CT, so next time we're there, we'll have to trek over to Mystic to try out Kitchen Little. Mystic is a great place to spend the day anyway. And of course there's always the Niantic Book Barn on the way back.

M_Six wrote: And of course there's always the Niantic Book Barn on the way back.

I had no idea anyone knew about this place. It is about 5 minutes from my house. Oh, what a small LTH world.

Flip

Wonderful post Josephine! Next time I'm down that way, guess where I'll be eating?!

Montréal is just chock-full of Portugese restos, groceries, and, most importantly, butchershops, most of which make their own sausage.

If anyone wants to do Portugese when they visit Montréal, just let me know and I'll recommend a few places.

Geo

Flip wrote:I had no idea anyone knew about this place. It is about 5 minutes from my house. Oh, what a small LTH world.

Flip

We never miss it when we're back east for a visit. My wife and her father are both book collectors and we always leave "The Barn" with several boxes of books.

Josephine, would you know of a fresh fish market that would be accesible through Internet?

Rafa--I don't know about any Portuguese fish market accessible online, but there are several places that you can order lobster and shellfish. The one I have ordered from, lobsters-online.com has worked well for me in the past. You can only order on certain days of the week, but they have been great whenever I have dealt with them. The shipping charge is what breaks the bank.

I don't really need them now, though, since my local supermarket in CT offers lobster at $5.99 a pound. A couple of weeks ago, I found myself debating between ground beef and lobster. Guess which one I chose?

Josephine wrote:I don't really need them now, though, since my local supermarket in CT offers lobster at $5.99 a pound. A couple of weeks ago, I found myself debating between ground beef and lobster. Guess which one I chose?

I heard a piece on NPR this week where they were talking about how lobsters are become scarcer, but the economy is keeping folks from buying them, so demand is down and the lobsters are cheap. It's killing the lobstermen because they're catching fewer and selling those few for less. The only winner is the consumer. Still, the part about lobsters becoming scarce is bad.

This past week I made a visit to O'Porto, Hartford's "nicest" Portuguese restaurant. (Note: O'Porto is closed for vacation beginning 8/25/08). Solo, I wasn't feeling up to the sports bar atmosphere of some of the other recommended Portuguese spots. The website has good pics of the interior of the restaurant, which is stylish, though not off-putting. So I will share my picture of the main course:



Carne de Porco Alentejana is a dish of pork, clams, and potatoes. In this version, the broth appears based on linguica, and pickled vegetables cut the richness of the other ingredients. I have to say that I was disappointed with this version of the dish, though I have only had one other opportunity to try it. In this case, the ingredients remained quite separate, though they made for an interesting combination. I felt that the pork loin was too lean, and that the pickled vegetables were too dominant.
Moreover, the broth made the whole dish too salty.

A previous iteration of carne de porco alentejana remains as one of my top culinary memories of all time. In Seattle in 1993, I had pork with clams. The pork was lechon-style, with bits of crisp skin still sticking to the meat. The potatoes were roasted fingerlings. The pickled element consisted of lightly pickled cippolini, and the broth married all the elements perfectly, while letting each maintain its integrity. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name of the restaurant. It was a "new" place recommended by Gourmet Magazine in a little blurb about restaurants that offered common tables.

As it often happens, I am now on a bit of a tear, needing Portuguese flavors on a regular basis. So I decided to create a pasta dish with the salpicao sausage I had purchased at Solmar Market the previous week. This is an interesting sausage, more like smoked, garlicky pancetta than anything else. Note that the ingredient statement on the label includes "wine." Diced, the salpicao fried up nicely, (though my ventilation system was not quite up to the challenge.) I stir-fried some garlic in olive oil, and added shredded Swiss Chard and tomato. I wanted to capture the spirit of the Portuguese soup made with kale and linguica, but I felt that kale would be too tough for a pasta dish. I added an egg, which actually detracted from the flavors I was looking for, being too rich.









I would make this dish again, minus the egg, and minus the parmesan I sprinkled on top.

M_Six wrote:The only winner is the consumer.

And, of course, the lobsters.

Josephine wrote:As it often happens, I am now on a bit of a tear, needing Portuguese flavors on a regular basis. So I decided to create a pasta dish with the salpicao sausage I had purchased at Solmar Market the previous week.

Josephine,

That dish looks great. I can only imagine how it will be when you perfect it. I'm ready to hop on a plane to be a taste tester!

stevez wrote:Josephine,

That dish looks great. I can only imagine how it will be when you perfect it. I'm ready to hop on a plane to be a taste tester!

Please do! I need a second stomach to shoulder some of the heavy eating! I think some of the Portuguese dishes might actually earn the Chow Poodle seal of approval as well!

Josephine wrote:

stevez wrote:Josephine,

That dish looks great. I can only imagine how it will be when you perfect it. I'm ready to hop on a plane to be a taste tester!

Please do! I need a second stomach to shoulder some of the heavy eating! I think some of the Portuguese dishes might actually earn the Chow Poodle seal of approval as well!

There's no doubt she would like some of the simpler dishes, but it's a proven fact that $5.99/lb lobster is Chow Poodle Approved.

stevez--the color coordination of CP's outfit and those of the lobsters is a thing of marvel! Pls congratulate her on her fashion sense!

Geo

Something I've noticed here in CT is that mainstream grocery chains offer a selection of Portuguese products. Here is the Portuguese section at Price Chopper in Vernon, CT:



In this case, we are talking about shelf-stable products for the larder, many of them Gonsalves Brand. Most stores also carry linguica and bacalao. Everyone carries Portuguese rolls. They are as ubiquitous as bagels in NYC.

Much too late, I come posting photos.

Earlier in October I had the occasion to go to Hartford for a wedding. I was lucky to be able to wrangle Josephine for an introduction to Parkville (the Portuguese area of Hartford) before she went out of town for the weekend.

We started at Patio Rainha:



Inside, we asked for Portuguese beer:


Patio da Rainha is essentially a bar, but they have a basic menu of appetizers, and they reported that they did a lunchtime buffet on Saturday, maybe also Sunday. We decided we should try a snack, so we ordered some Little Neck Clams:



I am not entirely sure why this was on the wall, but I liked it:


The owner was very friendly, so we asked her to pose for a photo with Josephine.


After a brief respite at PdR, we went two doors over to O'Camelo.


As usual, my diligence to food photography dwindled as the night progressed, and besides, I'm finding that my camera is really ineffective in low-light situations, so all I will share is this shot of our olives:


We also had a sausage and mushrooms appetizer, and... I can't remember exactly what else we ordered, except for some astounding fish... was it flounder? I can't recall, but it was cooked perfectly, firm and dense and sweet. Really delicious.

All in all, we really enjoyed our introduction to Parkville, and I think anyone who happens to be in Hartford would probably have a nice visit to either of these establishments.

Patio Da Rainha
1819 Park St.
Hartford, CT 06106

O'Camelo
1841 Park St
Hartford, CT 06106
(860) 231-8067
ocamelo.com‎

We'll be just outside Hartford (Newington) for Christmas. We'll definitely check out some of these places. Can't wait.

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting up with Josephine, and the distinct displeasure ( ) of meeting up with Stagger for his ”Hello, Hartford” homecoming party.

We congregated at Casa del Stagger and took full advantage of Papa Stagger’s cellar with a few lovely slurps and a fine selection of cheeses.

Down the road, almost stumbling (thumb-in-air) distance, is Hartford’s “upscale” Portuguese restaurant, O’Porto, which Josephine reports on upthread.

O’Porto


O’Porto is only ‘upscale’ in comparison to New England’s other Portuguese offerings – but a comfortable spot in an easy nabe, and certainly not stuffy. As Josephine succinctly states above, it’s stylish but not off-putting.

I’ll probably never figure out how to eat a proper Portuguese dinner without making a kingly meal of the appetizers alone, rarely leaving room for the gargantuan entrees with double and triple-carb servings. Having said that, the small plate approach has never failed me yet, this occasion no exception.

Chouriço Asado

Chouriço came out flaming, having been doused in booze, it was a relatively spicy version with a nice crisp exterior.

Grilled squid in white wine lemon/butter sauce – tender, toothsome, a spritz of lemon it was a fine rendition of a classic.


Shrimp in garlic/butter sauce


Sardines

Highlight of the meal, sardines were nicely grilled, split and stuffed with a layer of proscuitto, and served with a refreshing mix of cukes, melons, onions & tomatoes. A strong statement of summer for sure.

To round out the meal, we ordered a paelha, chockfull of protein resting on a bed of fluffy and tender rice.

Paelha de pato (shrimp, clams, mussels, duck & chouriço


Kind of like its atmosphere, neither upscale nor dive-y, O’Porto plays a pretty safe game right up the middle, and does it well.

Great to have another welcome addition to the LTH New England Team. Welcome Home Stagger !