Portuguese and American Fare Come to Dinner at 42

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - Portuguese and American diners got to know each other a little better Wednesday night when 42 the Restaurant in White Plains hosted its first installment of “Divertimento da Cozinha” (Kitchen Fun): a Series of Three Exclusive Portuguese Tasting Menus.

Cooking up a whopping eight dishes of cross-continental fare, American chef, Anthony Goncalves, and visiting Portuguese chef, Luis Americo, re-introduced guests to their already favorite foods—like squid stuffed fareinheira coupled with butternut squash—by joining them together in a new way.  

 “I wanted to bring him over because it’s important for him to see what I’m doing in the kitchen and also to educate Americans on how great and unique Portuguese food is,” Goncalves said of sharing the kitchen with Americo.

Each portion of the meal was then paired with complimentary Portuguese wines.

For Goncalves’ “Portuguese Garden” dish, he combined pickled beets with pumpernickel, black olive, smoked goat cheese and huckleberry crisp, for example.

The beets were grown on a nearby farm in New York, representing an American feel, while drizzling the black olive with an oil created with cilantro, parsley and kumen lent service to traditional Portuguese spices.

“I want people to have fun while they eat my food they haven’t had the same way before,” he added.

The culinary experience of Goncalves and Americo proved to be a hit with Portuguese palettes.

Cristiano Fontes, a Portuguese native, was pleased to see his country's delicacies, like Iberian ham and octopus on the menu, mixed in with highlights of American cuisine.

“Tasting the octopus and ham, you can feel traditional Portugal dishes but with a new approach,” he said. “Fusion is everything.”

Goncalves said much of his culinary style can be attributed to a diverse upbringing.

"The way I think about food is because of my Portuguese heritage but also growing up in America,” he said. “I sort of do a modern take on old-world dishes.”

For more information on the next two events part of the “Divertimento da Cozinha” (Kitchen Fun): a Series of Three Exclusive Portuguese Tasting Menus, click here.

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