Sweet and Sour in Boston

Every once in a while you find a place that you just don't want to tell others about. You want it to be your little secret so that the next time (and the countless times after that) you go to this restaurant there will always be a table waiting for you. Last night we had dinner at Restaurante Cesaria and it was one of the best meals out I've had in a very long time.

Abby had a hankering for something different and cheap (so we were looking for a place outside of Boston) and after a long time on her laptop browsing yelp and urbanspoon, she finally settled onto Restaurante Cesaria. We quickly glanced at the menu and both started drooling. Sure we didn't know much about the cuisine (North African with hints of Portuguese) but the descriptions had us salivating.

A short 10 minute drive from South End to Dorchester had us in front of the restaurant with plenty of street parking available. Walking by the large windows we could see there were only a couple of tables already taken and the rest of the restaurant empty. This didn't make us feel hesitant at all.

We were seated in the booth and the first thing you notice about the menu (both drinks and food) are the prices and how low they are. Since I was driving, we just got the $7 half bottle of Borba, a Portuguese red. We also got the linguica appetizer to start.





The wine was a nice sweet, wet red and had great flavor for such a cheap bottle. The linguisa was split in half and grilled with some tomatoes and laid on top of some greens and peppers. I love linguisa and this was dish was simple, yet perfect. The heat of the linquisa and the juiciness of the grilled tomatoes just worked. A great start.

For our mains, Abby went with a sear beef dish that had shrimp and mussels as well. It had a tomato influenced broth and was absolutely fantastic. (Abby called it the best dish of 2010 so far.) I went with the Cape Verdean style roast chicken with fries and it also was perfect. The chicken looked like it was going to be dry, but was juicy and tender and seasoned nicely. The fries were good fries, nothing more. The rice was moist and had good flavor too. You can just imagine yourself eating this chicken on a beach in Cape Verde with sand in your toes. (I'm assuming Cape Verde has beaches and sand, but I really don't know. The video they were showing on the projector screen showed nice green islands.) This dish is a great entry dish, meaning it was so good I want to try other items on the menu know.





We were too stuffed for dessert, though will try the flan next time we come back. I love the fact that we were the only diners who spoke English. Everyone else was speaking another language and enjoying their meals. You sometimes have to put your faith into a place to show off their culture and food and Restaurante Cesario does it as good as any other place. I give Restaurante Cesario a 4 1/2 out of 5.