Cape Verdean Food/475 Dudley Street/Upham's Corner /Roxbury, MA 02119

"Restaurant"

There are times, albeit not often, that going to a restaurant feels similar to the IKEA commercial where the woman can't wait to leave the store and jump into her car as quickly as possible because after looking at the receipt she realizes that there is no way all of the stuff she just bought could have really been as cheap as it was.  That was how I felt today when I left the Cape Verdean restaurant in Upham's Corner which is called, conveniently enough, "Restaurant."  I will take a cue from President Obama and not comment on the wisdom of naming your restaurant "Restaurant".  Besides, judging a restaurant by its name would be analogous to a number of other things, none of  which I have the time or energy to think of or look up right now.  The point of the matter is that my absolutely beautiful dish (dish=styrofoam container) of Bacalhau, Cachupa, Seafood Rice, and Chickpeas weighed upwards of 6 1/2 pounds and cost me $8.50.  It would have been 7.50 but they charge $1 extra for seafood as opposed to chicken, beef or pork.

Bacalhau, Cachupa, Chickpeas, Seafood Rice

 Back in the day this place evidently had a much less clever name.

Disclaimer:  Anyone who spends any amount of time reading this blog will find that a lot of the restaurants I choose to dine in are not exactly your everyday pizza joint or sit-down/waiter type food establishment.  Where the vast majority of Americans go to lunch is not typically where you will find me.  Many of the places I go have no printed menu, no prices on the wall, and often no one that speaks much English.  With that in mind I will give the novice a rundown of what happens at "Restaurant" which is almost identical to what would happen in, let's say, a standard Dominican, Puerto Rican, or Salvadoran restaurant.  You walk in and everyone stares at you because you look like you are or could be lost and quite possibly scared that you will never make it out of the neighborhood alive.  You have already gotten over that because chances are you live up the street or drive by every other day.  I like staring back at everyone for an uncomfortably long period of time, but do so at your own discretion.  When you get to the counter there is a small cafeteria-type setup where the food has been prepared and is sitting in metal containers with covers and water underneath that is warm enough to keep the food steamy hot.  You choose a small, medium, or large plate (plate=styrofoam container) that are priced accordingly.  It's very interactive and quite a hoot when there is a language barrier.  You ask how much each size is and what you get with it.  Generally you get some sort of starch and two other entrees, but everywhere is different.  Many of these things you may have never seen before or understand what they are so sometimes you sort of have to go with it until you have been in a few times.  The very nice girl serving me spoke perfect English and no one stared today.  I was kind of disappointed to tell you the truth, mais c'est la vie.

I hate disclaimers.  This post is already too long, so let me sum up what I got.  Bacalhau, is Bacalao for you non-Portuguese (or Cape Verdean Creole) speakers, or Baccalà for the non-Spanish speakers, or dried salted cod for everyone else.  See, Bacalhau sounds much more elegant, doesn't it?  This is going to sound stupid, but the salt cod was a little too salty.  I ate it like it was ice cream because I love salt, but it did maybe need a few hours more of fresh water soaking.  Other than that, everything was perfect.  Cachupa is one of my favorite things to eat, mainly because you never quite know what will be in it.  It's pretty much hominy and whatever else the chef decides to throw in there.  Today's Cachupa featured white beans, beef (pork?), collard greens, and yams.  The chickpeas seemed like they were sauteed with a little onion and olive oil, and then there was the rice.  The Seafood Rice had mussels, calamar, and lobster in it.  There was lobster tail meat in the rice.  Need I say more?  There seemed to be some Krab (that famous California Roll "Crab") in the rice too, but I suppose these guys need to justify selling this food for so cheap.

Bacalhau Gomes Sa, Cachupa, Seafood Rice

I may find out the real name of this place sometime soon, but I would much prefer that its name really be "Restaurant."  Either way, it's great, cheap, and parking is pretty easy.  The only drawback as far as I can tell is that the food tends to be different every day.  That can be a plus for those of you that want something different seven days a week, but the Seafood Rice isn't made everyday, nor is the Bacalhau, and those dishes are the main reason that I have gone back once or twice.  Or three times.  The second food picture is actually what I was expecting to get today because I got it a little bit ago.  The Bacalhau is de-boned (and not as salty) and mixed with chickpeas and hardboiled eggs, and the Cachupa has no collard greens, yams or pork (beef?), and the rice had everything afore-mentioned plus shrimp.