My family and I went to Caldeira’s Restaurant for a nice post-graduation dinner. Caldeira’s is a Portuguese restaurant that is located in Fall River, one of the most Portuguese populated cities in the country. The menu was small, and condensed to fulfill only one piece of paper, front and back. The menu, short and concise, provided a nice variation of Portuguese foods.
For appetizers we ordered a tomato, mozzarella and mixed greens salad. This dish was very light and had a very Mediterranean feel to it. It was dressed with a pesto sauce as well as a balsamic vinaigrette reduction that was moderately sweet. Again we had only one concern with this appetizer, four slices of tomato and only three slices of mozzarella (dividing by 4 is a bit awkward). We also got Chourico Bombeiro. Chourico is a Spicy Portuguese sausage. It is close cousins with chorizo which is a similar product except that it is Spanish and uses a few different seasonings. The chourico link was served over flaming liquor. The presentation was rather fascinating and gave a nice crunch to the link. This process slightly over cooked the underside of the link (perhaps we should have taken it off sooner, but pictures were in order sooo…I won’t pass judgment on it).
For my main course I selected the shrimp mocambique (Mozambique). This preparation was very spicy and I choose to get it over penne pasta because I was in a pasta kind of mood. It turned out to be a good choice because the pasta held the sauce very nice. It was salty and fresh, but the heat dominated the dish, and could have benefitted by gearing down on the heat. The shrimp was cooked absolutely perfectly and were slightly butterflied on top to create a very pretty presentation.
We ordered a few after dinner drinks and deserts. My girlfriend and I each got a cappuccino and my father got an espresso with a shot of Sambucca (anise-flavored liquor), Sambucca is slightly sweet so there is no need to add sugar to your espresso or cappuccino if you are adding the liquor. My step mother got a Beira which is sweet passion fruit liquor-The nose of this liquor was very strong and stung a bit but the tase was extremely smooth and slightly syrupy.
For dessert my girlfriend and I ordered Chocolate Decadence, which was simply…decadent. It was a warm chocolate mousse/flan that was served with a scoop of vanilla ice crème and whipped crème. There was a slightly hardened shell of chocolate that you were able to break through to the smooth creamy interior mousse. This desert was extremely rich.
My father and stepmother ordered the crème brule which I should have tasted before devouring the Chocolate Decadence. The caramelized sugar on the top provided an amazing crunch and depth in flavor and texture to the desert. The creamy interior of the desert was light and smooth not quite as rich as our dessert.
This restaurant was a great choice for the family. The service was very friendly and the atmosphere was warm and inviting, with just a touch of sophistication. I will definitely be going back to the restaurant for dinner again. Good choice.
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