How many ethnic offerings does it take before a place is an ethnic restaurant? With a sign outside, Faial prominently declares that it serves “American Cuisine,” even though the place is named after the southernmost island of the Azores.
As with a roadside diner where the cook can’t help but put his mother’s recipes on the menu, Faial gives you the chance to choose from more than one world of food.
The restaurant was opened 2-1/2 years ago by Emily and Joe Faria, and chef Antonio Pereira, Joe’s brother-in-law, who both were born on the namesake island. They used to run Joseph’s in East Providence. Despite the disclaimer on their sign warning off any passing Portuguese who might screech to a halt and rush in expecting a full menu of home cooking, the front of the menu is dominated by a map of the Azores. Beneath that, a very long paragraph begins and ends with brief pleasantries from the owners about their origin and wishes for a pleasant meal, but the rest is an elaborate history of their homeland.
Their desire to dip into the melting pot of their adopted country has resulted in quite an eclectic assortment of dishes. You can get Cajun swordfish and sole Française; veal Parmesan and clams zuppa over linguini. As for the American cuisine that a fullback, rather than a soccer player, might want to dive into, there are BBQ baby back ribs, a lobster fisherman’s platter, and every variety of seafood, fried or baked.
The “Faial’s Cattleman’s Bounty” has chunky potatoes, fried Portuguese-style, next to heaps of ribs, BBQ pork, and chicken breast, for $23.99. That’s as high as the prices go. That factor combines nicely with the Rhode Island custom of providing large portions. Ain’t American culinary traditions great?
There is a full bar off to the side, and to remind you of this, the menu has a list of cutely named martinis. Less common is their offering of 30 wines by the glass. They are from all over the map, but I trusted that the only vinho verde, Muralhas ($6.25/$20), would be decent as well as inexpensive, and it was.
While only eight of nearly 50 main dishes are Portuguese — sometimes only because of the “Faial sauce” — three of the appetizers are so designated: grilled sausage, sautéed shrimp, and littlenecks with chorizo sausage. We started out with both their soups ($2.50/$4.99). The seafood chowder had good amounts of small scallops, baby shrimp, and clams, along with chunks of potato in the thickened white stock. What was called Portuguese soup had cabbage, as well as the requisite kale and chorizo, the last quite abundant, which made the broth densely flavorful.
Neither of us was feeling particularly patriotic, so we both went native for our entrées. Johnnie had the mariscos do mar au Faial ($22.99), which contained eight medium shrimp, plus scads of mussels, littlenecks, and scallops under a “Faial sauce” like that which came with our bread: red with paprika and hot from copious minced garlic. Being allergic to crab, instead of their seafood rice — which they’ve built a reputation on — my counterpart substituted, with help from our chipper server Kim, their Portuguese potatoes, which are like thick-cut potato chips.
Those also came with my Portuguese New York sirloin steak ($20.99), thick and tasty, rare as ordered, and topped with what was also called Faial sauce, but which was white — just herbs and garlic. As for my seafood rice, I was impressed with how it was chockfull of scallops, baby shrimp, and surprisingly tender clams.
To cap off your meal, there are seven desserts, all $4.99. Since this is an Ameri¬can restaurant, remember, they include Key lime pie and carrot cake, and for the obligatory chocolate temptation, either ice cream or mousse cake. Being partial to desserts made in-house, we tried the only two that were so designated. The grapenut pudding is heavy on the custard and has enough character from nutmeg to keep your spoon eagerly returning. The flan is described as Portuguese-style, which apparently mainly means delicious. The large piece, surrounded by whipped cream, is lighter than most and not overly sweet.
Nowadays, the term “American cuisine” is fairly meaningless, since it can encompass so many tastes that have been added to our collective communal stew. Thanks, Faial, for your additions.
Faial | 970 Douglas Pike, Smithfield | Sun- Thurs, 11:30 am-9 pm; Fri-Sat, 11:30 am-10 pm | No credit cards | Full bar | Sidewalk-level access | 401.231.1100
On the Web
Faial: www.diningquest.com/Faial
Email the author
Bill Rodriguez: bill@billrod.com
