Brazilian Stews at Muqueca (Cambridge, MA)

Boston may not have as much diversity as Los Angeles, but when it comes to Brazilian food, Boston has more. Just three blocks away from my new place is Muqueca, a Brazilian restaurants specializing in the namesake seafood stew. Muqueca is a Brazilian style seafood stew from Espirito Santo or Bahia, cooked in clay pots.

The ones at Muqueca are typically the Espirito Santo style, made with cilantro, tomato, onion and served with rice and pirao. But they will also do the Bahian style which uses coconut milk.

We tried both styles in the Moqueca Completa (fish, shrimp, mussel. $25.95)

The only other time I've had moqueca was at a similarly named restaurant in Oxnard, California: Moqueca. I still like the Oxnard one better, though that one contained lobster and was more expensive. These are still quite good, and I'm still happy to find a good rendition of this rare dish. They're pretty generous with the seafood and they're cooked properly with the fish soaking up the stew broth.

What I ended up loving at this place was actually the Dobradinha (tripe stew with white beans, bacon, sausage, $13.95)

Okay, I love tripe, what can I say. This stew was hearty and packs a lot more flavor, so perhaps the more subtle muqueca was being undermined. I should try the muqueca on its own next time. I loved the tender tripe and the sausage that's full of spice!

If you want to stick with seafood, there is also another that deserves ordering: the Mariscada (shrimp, crabmeat, mussels, squid with cilantro, tomato, onion, and coconut milk. Served with rice, farofa, and plantain moqueca. $24.95)

This seemed like the Bahian style moqueca, but with crab meat and plantain moqueca on the side? And crab meat always makes everything better! Because of the coconut milk, this stew is richer and heartier than the Espirito Santo-style moqueca.

The restaurant also serves the national dish: Feijoada Completa (black bean stew with fresh and dried meat, pork, sausage, and bacon. Served with collard greens, fried plantain, rice, farofa, orange. $21.95)

It's a great feijoada and ended up being the table favorite. Hey, there's a reason that it became the national dish.

There's also another reason to like this place: their caipirinhas. They have the traditional one with sugar and lime, but also others mixed with passionfruit (pictured below), kiwis, etc. The best part? They're only $6.50. Yep, $6.50 cocktails.

I was quite happy to find Muqueca, especially given its walking distance to my house! There are a lot of Brazilians in the area, allowing restaurants to serve more than the typical dishes. I'll definitely be back to have more tripe stew and try other dishes - while drinking cheap caipirinhas.

Muqueca
1008 Cambridge St
Cambridge, MA 02141
(617) 354-3296
http://www.muquecarestaurant.com/