from the cultural to the culinary...

Note: Three review for the price of one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


...which is just a fancy way of saying we went out to eat after the play!

The play was Hartford Stage's fabulous production of Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Great end to a great season.

The restaurant was Chalé Ipanema on 342 Franklin Avenue. Went with NO and MER [formerly known as M and then MR]. We started out with Caipirinhas with lots of lime and lots of Cachaca [my first and not my last]. Good bread, butter, olive oil, super olives and a appetizer order of Fried Plaintains started us off. MER had the Duck with a Chestnut Glaze, NO the Bouillabaisse [Brazilian sytle]and a House Salad. I had a cup of Clam and Cilantro Soup [lots of potatoes] and the Bacalhau [codfish] with Shoestring Potatoes and Scrambled Eggs.

We split one order of Key Lime Pie for dessert.

The menu has a varied offering of both Portuguese and Brazilian_cuisine . It was difficult to order as there were many entrées that looked very interesting.

The winners were all the entrées and my soup.

ANOTHER VISIT...

Came here again after getting through two weeks of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange workshop. Treated to dinner by DL-A a dancer from England.

We started with the Appetizer Platter which was enough for a meal; lots of goodies not recognizable but consisting of various types of pastries and fillings of chicken and codfish.

DL-A ordered the Chicken Stroganof and the Portguese version is delicious. I had the Feijoada
which consisted of a kettle of black beans and smoked sausage. There were also the additions of a spicy salsa, a brown gravy-type substance and chopped nuts. All in all it was a great meal; the national dish of Brazil.

We skipped dessert but the Capuccino was delicious.

The winner was the entire meal, the setting and the waitress.

ANTOHER VISIT...

This is the third time now. And since BD was driving there were no 'fire hydrant' mishaps [see Ain't Misbehavin' blog]

The BLDs and I started out with appetizers of Yuca Frita, Banana Frita and a Crabcake special served with a Corn and Avocado Relish.

Then onto the main dishes: BD had the Feijoada [which I had had before - see above], JD ordered the Brazilian Bouillabaise [which NO had ordered in an earlier blog] and I decided on the Churrasco do Fruto de Mar which was a huge helping of Shrimp, Calamari, Langoustine and Monkfish in a delicious lemony sauce.

We all split one order of Key Lime Pie which was very, very rich.

For the blogger who asked for an expense symbol, I would say it was $$$ but that is so misleading. Anyway it was worth a lot more than we paid for it.

The winner was probably the ambience and the freshness of the seafood.