Bom Cafe

Nothing beats a local, neighborhood restaurant where the owners know the neighborhood, know the guests, and consistently dish out fantastic food.

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you would know that Muqueca, a (formerly tiny) Brazilian seafood restaurant, is one of my favorite restaurants in the Boston area. Why do I say "formerly" tiny? Well, since my last post about Muqueca, which was only about a year ago, Muqueca has moved into a larger space down the street.

In some ways, this is a welcomed relief. The biggest limitation of the old restaurant was always the tiny space, which translated to looooong waits for a table. The bigger restaurant can accommodate so many more guests and the food is still just as good. Better yet, the new place has a liquor license as well.

However, in other ways, it's bittersweet because I'll miss that old space. That tight space made it cozy and intimate. Visiting Muqueca was like visiting a Brazilian family and having them cook a fabulous meal for you. The new place just isn't quite the same.

Well guess what? You might just have a chance to visit that old space again and relive some of the nostalgia.


Less than a month ago, Bom Cafe opened in the old Muqueca space. You'll feel right at home here because Bom Cafe is owned by the same folks who own Muqueca. They've repainted the space and opened it up a bit, so it feels much brighter and much more airy. Other than that, it feels a lot like the old Muqueca.

Antonio and Fatima (Fafa) Gomes own both Muqueca and Cafe Bom. Antonio holds down the fort at the cafe while Fafa watches over Muqueca. When the cafe closes in the late afternoon, Antonio heads over to Muqueca to help out.
Antonio Gomes making a cappuccino at the cafe

I asked Antonio, "why did you decide to open a cafe in this spot?"

"Because I wanted one in the neighborhood."

Now that's a true neighborhood cafe! If only I could just build my dream cafe down the street from my home because I wanted one. Antonio made me a lovely cappuccino as he told us a little about the cafe. He gets up early every morning to bake everything from scratch. It's just him and his one helper right now, although they hope to hire more people soon.

For now, he's started out with a small, simple menu, although he hopes to expand it soon. He dreams about providing other simple grocery items for the neighborhood, like fresh baguettes.

One of my favorite items on the menu is the cheese bread. If you've never had Brazilian cheese bread, you have got to try this stuff. It's cheesy, chewy, and absolutely delicious. The texture almost reminds me of mochi in some ways, which might explain why I like it so much.

The passion fruit muffins are also packed with genuine fruit flavor. I'd never tried anything like it before, and I was wowed by the sweet and tart "zing" of the strong passion fruit flavor. It's even got passion fruit seeds strewn throughout! If you like softer muffins, I would get a large muffin. The mini muffins are purposely baked to be a bit harder for people who like to dunk them in their coffees. I wouldn't advise eating it alone - it's a bit hard!

As I mentioned earlier, the cafe menu is simple right now, with just omelets and sandwiches as savory choices. Of course, everything has a slightly Brazilian bent, which makes this place so much fun!

We ordered an omelet with ham, peppers, and palmitos (palm hearts). The omelet was quite enjoyable and came with a side of boiled yucca and bread. The boiled yucca was fine, although we preferred the deep fried yucca fries we tried before at Muqueca (ha ha, who wouldn't like a fried version more?).
We also tried a linguica (Brazilian sausage) sandwich, which came with sauteed onions and peppers. The sandwich was fine - nothing fancy, but it was good. It came with a side of potato chips.


They also have fresh fruit smoothies which are fun to try. I decided to try the most interesting thing on the menu - cashew fruit drink! The fruit of a cashew plant is pear-shaped and very juicy (you can see it in the painting above on the left most side next to the papaya).  Unfortunately, its skin is super fragile, so it's quite difficult to transport the fresh fruit to the US from Brazil. Instead, it either comes frozen or as a concentrate.

I tried the cashew juice (from concentrate right now because it's not in season yet) and I loved it! It's light, slightly tart, not too sweet, and just really refreshing.

I had a lot of fun hanging out at Bom Cafe. Antonio is really friendly, and he was really generous in giving us little tastes of his baked goods. It's too bad Bom Cafe is not closer to my home. I would love to have that exact sort of intimate and friendly neighborhood cafe right down the street.

Definitely stop by for a baked good, a cappuccino, or smoothie. There's plenty of space to sit now, and the space is bright and friendly.

Don't miss the cheese bread!

Ceiba

One thing I hate most when I travel is being stuck in a touristy area and being forced to eat expensive but not very good food. Of course, it's usually my fault that this happens - it's the curse of being someone who's naturally not organized, someone who doesn't plan. I still remember being stuck in Times Square, looking around frantically, seeing only places like the Olive Garden, that huge McDonalds, and other loud places that just did not look promising at all.  If only I had known at the time that this place was just a short jaunt away.

But I digress.  This post is about DC, not New York.

We visited the nation's capital over Easter/Cherry Blossom weekend (talk about crowded!). We had just visited the White House (which looks stunning at night!), and were hungry for a bite to eat. Unlike that sad, unfortunately time in New York, this time I had the help of locals. A friend who had worked in DC recommended Ceiba, saying it was her favorite Latin restaurant in DC. Better yet, it was just a short walk from the White House, perfect for tourists who like good food!
Ceiba is a modern Latin restaurant that focuses on cuisine from the Yucatan region of Mexico (Vera Cruz and Cancun), Brazil (Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro), Peru, and Cuba. The space is trendy, the architecture is beautiful, and the food is really enjoyable.

Walk in, and you'll see a nice, airy lobby with plenty of seats in the waiting area. We were having dinner early on a Thursday evening (around 6pm), but I could totally see this place filling up on a weekend.

A cool trendy bar appears on the left as you walk over to the dining area.

Guacamole de Mocajete
Mocajete is a stone bowl that is typically used in a Mexican kitchen for grinding spices or making sauces.  In this case, the waiter mashes your guacamole table side.

We got the Ceviche Sample, a great way to try all of their ceviches. Each of these individually costs $10, but you can get the sampler for $16, which is what we got. All of the seafood was extremely fresh. I really enjoyed this appetizer.

Yucatan Shrimp Ceviche (Pico de Gallo, Avocado, Crisp Corn Tortillas)
Wild Striped Bass Ceviche (Spicy Rocoto Chili, Sweet Potato, Toasted Peruvian Corn)
Yellowfin Tuna Ceviche (Cucumber, Mango, Jicama, Aji Amarillo Lime Dressing, Crushed Cashews) Peruvian Cevichee "Clasico" (Fresh Lime Juice, Red Onion, Cilantro, Aji Picante)

Dos Equis Beer Steamed Mussels ($15)
Mexican Chorizo, Sofrito, Warm Garlic Bread

Whole Crispy Red Snapper ($27)
Tomato Sofrito, Manzanilla Olives, Capers, Pickled Jalapenos
The waitress highly recommended this dish, so Bryan decided to order it. The flavors are fantastic, but if you don't like having your dinner stare at you all night, you might not want to order this.

Moqueca Bahiana Brazilian Seafood Stew ($28)
Rock Lobster, Prawns, Calamari, Mussels, Traditional Accompaniments
We love moquecas, and we love how we can get them all the time in Cambridge for what seems like a steal (especially compared to this place).  This moqueca is made "Bahiana"-style, which had the added ingredient of coconut milk.  Nice seafood flavors, well executed.

Slow Braised Pork Shank "Feijoada" ($26)
Black Beans, Collard Greens, Rice, Traditional Accompaniments
This pork shank was fall-off-the-bone soft and really good. Bryan's dad was very pleased with this dish.  Originally Portuguese in origin, the feijoada is the national dish in Brazil, and is a stew of beans with pork or beef.  I must concede that the feijoada here is a lot better than the one I had at Muqueca in Cambridge, although it's a slightly unfair comparison as this one costs over twice as much.

Maryland Style Crabcakes with Sweet Potato Home Fries ($15?)
I got the crabcakes. I loved the accompanying side (the sweet potato home fries), although I thought the crabcakes were only OK, not as good as others I've had.

Overall Thoughts
This place has a great vibe, excellent food, and is in a super convenient location.  It's a bit pricy, but then you have to consider that you are right in downtown DC, so you're partly paying for that convenience. We had a great dinner there and would consider coming back again if we were in the area.  It sure beats random touristy food!

This post is part of a larger Washington DC Eats Series. Other posts in this series:
Granville Moore's
Il Canale
Ben's Chili Bowl

Ceiba
701 14th St NW
Washington, DC 20005

Muqueca

My favorite kind of restaurant is the small, cozy, family-run ethnic restaurant that has incredible food at a very reasonable price.  This is why Muqueca is also invariably one of the places that I will recommend to out of town visitors whenever they come visit Cambridge.

I love this place!

Unlike your typical Brazilian restaurant, which focuses on various cuts of meat on skewers, Muqueca focuses on cuisine from coastal Brazil. They specialize in a very particular type of dish, called a moqueca, which is a stew full of seafood (typically fish, but can also be mixed with mussels, claims, shrimp, etc) sauteed with onions, garlic, tomatoes, and cilantro and served in a clay pot.  No additional water is added, and thus the liquid in the "stew" is rich full of flavors from the vegetables and the seafood.  Moquecas come mainly from two coastal Brazilian states: Bahia (Moqueca Bahiana) and Espírito Santo (Moqueca Capixaba).

The resulting dish is beautiful, with the fresh aromatic flavors of the vegetables and the seafood - absolutely divine, and relatively rare here in the States.  Because we were entertaining an out-of-town guest, we ordered all of our favorite dishes.

I love their house salad.  It's simple, but it's so good and refreshingly full of quality ingredients.  Simple greens tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette tossed with tomatoes, green apples, green and black olives, palm hearts, and corn.  A great way to start the meal.

Yucca is a huge part of Brazilian cuisine.  Not only does it serve as a base for the sauces, it is eaten alone prepared in countless different ways.  Here, we are enjoying deep fried yucca root mixed with tasty linguica (sausage)!

If you love mussels, you have to get the mussels moqueca.  The soup is beautifully fragrant, full of aromas that come from the mussels and all the vegetables.  Bryan always orders this because it probably has one of the most flavorful broths.  Delicious.

I like the mixed seafood moqueca because of the variety of ingredients (fish, shrimp, and mussels).  The mussels and the shrimp give the broth a beautifully deep flavor that can only come from shellfish.  The fish adds substance to the entire dish.

All moquecas come with this amazing sauce. I have no idea how they make it.  I think it's a mixture of yucca root powder, water, and I think salt cod (since the flavor of salt cod seems present).  It goes great with the moquecas and rice.  I absolutely love this and I can never put enough on my plate.  Even after the moquecas are long gone, you might still catch me spooning this stuff onto my rice and just eating it like that.  So good!

Cooler yet, Muqueca has an interesting drink bar with delicious fresh fruit drinks. Here we've ordered a blueberry cashew drink and a pineapple mint juice.  Both are fantastic.

Over all I love this place.  Prices are quite reasonable, food is fantastic, and you can't beat the tiny cozy atmosphere.  Because it is small, however, the waits are typically pretty long.  They are willing to take reservations, but even they don't have full control over the times because there are so few seats.  When we went, we arrived at 8:45PM and still had to wait a good 20 minutes before sitting down (and this is after another group of 4 who had a reservation left in frustration after waiting for 20 minutes).


So, be prepared to wait if necessary, even beyond your reservation time.  It's totally worth it though.  This is really one of my favorite restaurants in Cambridge!


P.S. I first wrote about this place in 2007.  To see that review, click here.


Muqueca
1093 Cambridge St
Cambridge, MA 02139

Muqueca

My favorite kind of restaurant is the small, cozy, family-run ethnic restaurant that has incredible food at a very reasonable price.  This is why Muqueca is also invariably one of the places that I will recommend to out of town visitors whenever they come visit Cambridge.

I love this place!

Unlike your typical Brazilian restaurant, which focuses on various cuts of meat on skewers, Muqueca focuses on cuisine from coastal Brazil. They specialize in a very particular type of dish, called a moqueca, which is a stew full of seafood (typically fish, but can also be mixed with mussels, claims, shrimp, etc) sauteed with onions, garlic, tomatoes, and cilantro and served in a clay pot.  No additional water is added, and thus the liquid in the "stew" is rich full of flavors from the vegetables and the seafood.  Moquecas come mainly from two coastal Brazilian states: Bahia (Moqueca Bahiana) and Espírito Santo (Moqueca Capixaba).

The resulting dish is beautiful, with the fresh aromatic flavors of the vegetables and the seafood - absolutely divine, and relatively rare here in the States.  Because we were entertaining an out-of-town guest, we ordered all of our favorite dishes.

I love their house salad.  It's simple, but it's so good and refreshingly full of quality ingredients.  Simple greens tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette tossed with tomatoes, green apples, green and black olives, palm hearts, and corn.  A great way to start the meal.

Yucca is a huge part of Brazilian cuisine.  Not only does it serve as a base for the sauces, it is eaten alone prepared in countless different ways.  Here, we are enjoying deep fried yucca root mixed with tasty linguica (sausage)!

If you love mussels, you have to get the mussels moqueca.  The soup is beautifully fragrant, full of aromas that come from the mussels and all the vegetables.  Bryan always orders this because it probably has one of the most flavorful broths.  Delicious.

I like the mixed seafood moqueca because of the variety of ingredients (fish, shrimp, and mussels).  The mussels and the shrimp give the broth a beautifully deep flavor that can only come from shellfish.  The fish adds substance to the entire dish.

All moquecas come with this amazing sauce. I have no idea how they make it.  I think it's a mixture of yucca root powder, water, and I think salt cod (since the flavor of salt cod seems present).  It goes great with the moquecas and rice.  I absolutely love this and I can never put enough on my plate.  Even after the moquecas are long gone, you might still catch me spooning this stuff onto my rice and just eating it like that.  So good!

Cooler yet, Muqueca has an interesting drink bar with delicious fresh fruit drinks. Here we've ordered a blueberry cashew drink and a pineapple mint juice.  Both are fantastic.

Over all I love this place.  Prices are quite reasonable, food is fantastic, and you can't beat the tiny cozy atmosphere.  Because it is small, however, the waits are typically pretty long.  They are willing to take reservations, but even they don't have full control over the times because there are so few seats.  When we went, we arrived at 8:45PM and still had to wait a good 20 minutes before sitting down (and this is after another group of 4 who had a reservation left in frustration after waiting for 20 minutes).


So, be prepared to wait if necessary, even beyond your reservation time.  It's totally worth it though.  This is really one of my favorite restaurants in Cambridge!


P.S. I first wrote about this place in 2007.  To see that review, click here.


Muqueca
1093 Cambridge St
Cambridge, MA 02139

Mu Que Ca

When I say Brazilian food, what does the average American think of? Most likely, the answer is Brazilian BBQ, which involves all-you-can-eat quantities of endless meats on skewers passed around. The mere thought of that makes me not want to eat anymore.

This is what makes the Brazilian restaurant Muqueca so special. Muqueca is not a grilled meat place at all. In fact, almost all of the food is seafood. This is because Muqueca serves traditional authentic food from a region in Brazil called Espirito Santo. Espirito Santo is a small state in the Southeastern coast of Brazil.

Muqueca is a tiny Brazilian restaurant on Cambridge street in Inman Square. It is owned byFatima (Fafa) and Antonio Gomes, a Brazilian couple who moved to Boston with the dream of showing America "Brazilian food at its finest . . . most principally delicacies from their state Espirito Santo."

They have definitely succeeded. Muqueca is a wildly popular restaurant.

One of our favorite dishes is the moqueca ($11.95 to $14.95), a seafood stew made with tomatoes, lots of cilantro, onions, garlic, and annatto seeds. Our favorite moqueca is probably the mussels moqueca ($12.95), although they are all very tasty.

The house salad ($5.95) is also very good. It contains interesting vegetables such as palm hearts, apples, olives, and corn. Bryan and I usually like to order one as a starter.

The seafood pie ($15.95) is also interesting and quite tasty. It has a conglomerate of seafood, (salt cod, crab, shrimp, mussels, and fish), all ground up and mixed with olives and eggs to create a pie that is baked in the oven. The blend of flavors is nice, not too overpowering yet quite flavorful.

The last time we went we got the deep fried red snapper ($18.95). Essentially, they take the entire fish, season it, and deep fry it whole. Although it takes a little work to pry the fish off the bone, the flavor of the dish was quite tasty.

We also like the interesting variety of authentic Brazilian appetizers and fruit drinks. They eat a lot of yucca, and thus have some yucca based appetizers. They also make interesting shakes, the most interesting one being the blueberry cashew shakes.

Both of the desserts they offer, the passion fruit pudding and the flan, are excellent and quite a bargain at only $3.

Essentially, almost everything we've ever ordered has been very good. You really can't go wrong with this place.

Well, there is one bad thing. The worse thing about this restaurant is the wait. It is a tiny restaurant (probably only about 7 tables) and super popular. Furthermore, they cook each moqueca to order (takes about 20 minutes) so the service is not what you'd call super fast. If you want to go, try to go at a non-peak time (week nights before 7 PM). Otherwise, you could easily wait an hour for a table.

I highly recommend this restaurant. The food is very authentic and very well made. Moreover, the prices are very reasonable and the people are very friendly.

http://www.muquecarestaurant.com/

Mu Que Ca

When I say Brazilian food, what does the average American think of? Most likely, the answer is Brazilian BBQ, which involves all-you-can-eat quantities of endless meats on skewers passed around. The mere thought of that makes me not want to eat anymore.

This is what makes the Brazilian restaurant Muqueca so special. Muqueca is not a grilled meat place at all. In fact, almost all of the food is seafood. This is because Muqueca serves traditional authentic food from a region in Brazil called Espirito Santo. Espirito Santo is a small state in the Southeastern coast of Brazil.

Muqueca is a tiny Brazilian restaurant on Cambridge street in Inman Square. It is owned byFatima (Fafa) and Antonio Gomes, a Brazilian couple who moved to Boston with the dream of showing America "Brazilian food at its finest . . . most principally delicacies from their state Espirito Santo."

They have definitely succeeded. Muqueca is a wildly popular restaurant.

One of our favorite dishes is the moqueca ($11.95 to $14.95), a seafood stew made with tomatoes, lots of cilantro, onions, garlic, and annatto seeds. Our favorite moqueca is probably the mussels moqueca ($12.95), although they are all very tasty.

The house salad ($5.95) is also very good. It contains interesting vegetables such as palm hearts, apples, olives, and corn. Bryan and I usually like to order one as a starter.

The seafood pie ($15.95) is also interesting and quite tasty. It has a conglomerate of seafood, (salt cod, crab, shrimp, mussels, and fish), all ground up and mixed with olives and eggs to create a pie that is baked in the oven. The blend of flavors is nice, not too overpowering yet quite flavorful.

The last time we went we got the deep fried red snapper ($18.95). Essentially, they take the entire fish, season it, and deep fry it whole. Although it takes a little work to pry the fish off the bone, the flavor of the dish was quite tasty.

We also like the interesting variety of authentic Brazilian appetizers and fruit drinks. They eat a lot of yucca, and thus have some yucca based appetizers. They also make interesting shakes, the most interesting one being the blueberry cashew shakes.

Both of the desserts they offer, the passion fruit pudding and the flan, are excellent and quite a bargain at only $3.

Essentially, almost everything we've ever ordered has been very good. You really can't go wrong with this place.

Well, there is one bad thing. The worse thing about this restaurant is the wait. It is a tiny restaurant (probably only about 7 tables) and super popular. Furthermore, they cook each moqueca to order (takes about 20 minutes) so the service is not what you'd call super fast. If you want to go, try to go at a non-peak time (week nights before 7 PM). Otherwise, you could easily wait an hour for a table.

I highly recommend this restaurant. The food is very authentic and very well made. Moreover, the prices are very reasonable and the people are very friendly.

http://www.muquecarestaurant.com/