O Dinis

"My favorite non-seafood meal of the trip was a Portuguese Feast here at Dinis Place. The area where Rhode Island meets Massachusetts is home to the largest enclave of Portuguese people in the United States and O Dinis is one of the community’s favorite dining destinations. It's housed in a brick building in a residential part of town and it’s named for its founder, Dinis Paiva, a well known Fado singer in Portugal. Fado being a musical genre traced back to 1820’s Lisbon. You can catch live Fado on Monday nights but I went for the food and the atmosphere. There’s something about Portuguese taverns that are extra comforting to me. From the grub to the setup they’ve always been great places to eat and drink whether I was visiting one in places like Cape Town, Canada, or in Portugal itself. Plus it’s not a cuisine you’ll find much of in Chicago or the rest of the Midwest for that matter and that’s likely bc the Portuguese tended to settle near the ocean due to their deep roots in fishing. I liken Portuguese cuisine to Greek food or to it’s neighbor Spain. When done well and traditions aren’t messed with it’s really good and pretty much no frills as far as prep and presentation goes. The food at O Dinis was exactly what I was hoping for in the form of a Bitoque which is slang for a classic steak and egg dish that at O Dinis is cooked in a phenomenal garlic beer broth. Plus an order of clams in garlic and white wine which were the best non-fried clams we came across on this trip. The type of spot that always has a crowd and it’s always a festive one. I hope I can visit again one day."