Koo Zee Doo | ||||
614 N. 2nd Street
The back room has real windows on one side, adorned with laced curtains, allowing light to respond without kindness on the army-green-colored opposite walls. Square tables with marbleized brown cork veneers abound, as do large typical blue Portuguese scenic tiles.
Dark wooden-backed slatted chairs comfort your spine, which bounds forward when gorgeous rounded powdery Portuguese rolls are served gratis with plates of butter and edamame bean pods. The bread is coarse, dense and chewy. Rip it into mouthfuls; add a small pat of butter to a torn piece and augment with the slippery beans (which you must peel first). Throw the meld between your lips, take a sip of the Vinho Verde wine brought from home, and allow your jaws a life of their own. Guttural utterances of “Vasco da Gama” begin sputtering clearly from your vocal chords in perfect unison with the movement of your soon-to-be-aching facial muscles. Your larynx, albeit flaccid, will helplessly ask the waitperson for more.
Now the entrées begin. Warnings are given that ordering is “family style,” and most main courses can be shared with others. For instance, the Milho Frito, a fried corn porridge served upon fennel and fava beans can easily serve six. Three huge triangles of one-inch-high lightly scorched polenta parcels jiggle geometrically upon a confabulation of vegetables and legumes. The slightest touch of your fork infuriates the steam out of the crusted corn-meal. Sweet kernels expose themselves to be golden yellow and gush in all directions like lavish lava. The aromas are subtle and sweet. Nasal passages welcome the perfume of the liquid shucked cob. I would be remiss not to advise that the too salty aftertaste is overwhelming. The same saltiness spoils a beautifully prepared deep-fried Rabbit ($28), whose four ample thickly breaded parts burst with bristling fresh rabbit, with flesh glowing in the rumor that they will taste just like chicken, only five times better. And they do, if you discard the outer sea-salted crust. The denuded long thumper thighs are to be dipped in a pink remoulade sauce that is so highly and heatedly spiced that it takes your eyes prisoner. The flash expires and the subtle flavors return, saving the experience by a hare.
Finish with Prato de Chocolate, described tersely on the Sobremesas (Dessert) Menu as “Chocolate salami, whipped cream, fig.” Don’t be fooled. Turns out to be crushed cookies encased with chocolate covered figs. Go fig-ure! It’s out of this world. You will be thanked by co-owner-wife Carla Gonçalves on the way out, and you will want to return her smile with your gratitude. | ||||
“MUITÍSSIMO OBRIGADO” | ||||
Copyright 2010 Richard Max Bockol, Esq. | Back |