Captain’s Place
Captain's Place sounds like a seafood shanty on Cape Cod, but it's actually a great Portuguese restaurant with amazing value in Acushnet. Joe Marmello came to America from Portugal at age 23 and couldn’t even speak English. Now he owns the coffee shop next door, this restaurant, and the whole plaza. His daughter Jen and her husband Brett now run the show.
“This is what we grew up with. This is all we really know. We've been here as kids, growing up, it's like now family oriented. Everyone that comes here is family,” Jen says. “We're very warm, casual. We're small. It's a small town, but our atmosphere is just definitely family-friendly… most of our clientele are regulars.”
“We definitely keep it authentic. A lot of our dishes my mom brought with her from Portugal,” she adds. You have got to order the chorizo—a spicy pork sausage with a lot of white wine and garlic, served in a bowl with a pig’s face. They prepare it tableside. First, they pour on the Portuguese moonshine, and then to give it even more flavor, they light it up right in front of you. This dish looks, smells, and tastes like a piece of Portuguese heaven.
Besides the chorizo, for appetizers, the little neck clams are a must. These flavorful clams are made with plenty of white wine, garlic, and olive oil. Specials are done in a way that prevents what the writer calls “E.E.”—entreé envy—when servers forget to tell you the special or the paper listing it falls on the floor. One special here even combines rabbit, goat, and ribs on the same day. The roasted goat is very popular in Portugal, cooked with roasted potatoes, garlic, olive oil, and white wine. If you’ve never had goat before, this dish will make you a believer.
Steak and eggs, usually a breakfast dish, is served here for lunch and dinner. It’s a sirloin steak with an egg on top, accompanied by peppers, tons of garlic, and a side of double starch—French fries and rice. “All the steaks come with eggs. It's like a normal thing to have. It's not just a breakfast item,” Jen explains. “You can't go wrong… you cut into the steak and get the bite of the steak with a yolk in that sauce. It is delicious.” “Most of our dishes do come with rice and fries. We're double starchers… it’s definitely Portuguese. They definitely don’t underfeed you.”
Portugal may not be known for chicken, but the chicken Mozambique is a must-try. The Mozambique sauce, made with saffron, garlic, and white wine, is popular in Portugal and this part of the world. Round French fries are the traditional style in Portugal; thin-cut fries are said to cook better. Jen recommends dipping them in the Mozambique sauce.
A great order is the linguica sandwich, served at the long wooden bar with a bottle of Portuguese white or red wine. Look up at the TVs, and you won’t see baseball or football—here it’s all about soccer. The seafood dishes offer the best of both worlds: Portuguese recipes with seafood fresh from New Bedford waters. The paella, made with half a lobster, shrimp, scallops, little neck clams, and a mound of saffron-infused rice, is a standout. “Paella is definitely the taste of the coast of Portugal,” Jen says.
All seafood is sourced locally from New Bedford. The paella is a big, flavorful casserole with white wine, garlic, lemon, and a lot going on in every bite. Portuguese preparation meets local seafood for an incredible combination. The restaurant’s biggest seller is the octopus, imported from Portugal and grilled with potatoes, onions, and peppers simply with olive oil.
For anyone who enjoys exploring international cuisines, Captain's Place is a must. “We are family-owned, and you'll feel like family coming here,” Jen says. “Você precisa vir experimentar nossa comida. You have to come try our food.”
