"Beyond" New York … To Cambridge, Mass for the Most Authentic Portuguese Food

I quietly added the “And Beyond” to the title of this blog over the summer when Murray made a trip through New England visiting various consulates in Hartford, New Haven, Providence, and Boston. Countries generally maintain consulates in areas where they have a significant population.  And where a country has a significant population, it probably also has a significant restaurant.  Based on that logic, Murray asked each consulate he visited about restaurants serving authentic cuisine, and got several recommendations – including one from the Portuguese consulate in Boston about the most authentic Portuguese restaurant in the area.

On Labor Day weekend, when we joined thousands of other families with college-aged children in the fall migration to campuses in the Boston area, we had the pleasure of eating at the diplomat-recommended Portuguese restaurant – Sunset Café, in Cambridge.

Portuguese people started coming to Massachusetts during the colonial times and continue to immigrate there today.  Four areas in particular – Martha’s Vineyard, New Bedford, Fall River, and Providence, RI – have had significant Portuguese populations for about two centuries.  Portuguese have generally come to New England to improve their standard of living – at first going after opportunities in whaling, and then in industrial and factory work. Over time they have established churches and other culturally Portuguese institutions (like restaurants), which in turn have attracted more and more Portuguese and Portuguese-speaking people (from Brazil and Cape Verde as well as Portugal).  Two good internet sources of information on this community are this chapter of the "Reports of the Immigration Commission," Vol. 22, by the U.S. Immigration Commission (1907-1910), and this article on everyculture.com.

The food of Portugal includes a lot of fish, especially cod, sausage, and meats cooked with plenty of garlic and a variety of spices and herbs.  This is what we ate at Sunset Café:

Chourico a Corisco, hot sausage marinated in a red wine sauce

Bacalhau a Sunset, barbecued codfish with potatoes

Mariscada a Chefe, lobster, shrimp, clams, scallops, and mussels in a red sauce

Frango Assado, roasted Rock Cornish Hen

The food was wonderful.  The chourico was spicy without being overwhelmingly hot, and the Cornish hen was tender and flavorful.  And, just look at that pot of shellfish!  How could anything that looks like that be anything but superb?

Oddly, the restaurant had very few customers the night we were there.  I’m chalking that up to the fact that it was Labor Day weekend, and – although many out-of-towners descend on Boston at that time for the same reason that we did – Inman Square in Cambridge may be a bit off the beaten track for anyone not terribly familiar with the area.  Live Brazilian jazz (a singer and a keyboard player) started at around 7:00 pm, another clue that this restaurant probably is used to more of a crowd than we experienced.

In any case, you may want to note that we had phoned in reservations, and I suggest you do so as well. It’s hard to imagine food this good being a secret.

Our bill, including a bottle of white Arinto wine, one chocolate mousse dessert (which we shared), and the tip, was just over $90 – not bad for three people eating so well.


Where and When

Sunset Café
851 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA  02141

(617) 547-2938

www.thesunsetcafe.net

Sunday – Thursday
11:30 am – 10:00 pm

Friday – Saturday
11:30 am – 11:00 pm