Caravela, Westchester County's First Portuguese Restaurant, Is Celebrating Its 25th Anniversary

It's been 25 years since Caravela opened its doors on North Broadway in Tarrytown.

Chef/owner Fernando Cabral, who attended culinary school and cooked for restaurants in Lisbon, Portugal before coming to America in 1980, said he would like to spend another 25 years serving authentic Portuguese dishes in town. 

The Caravela story began in 1985, when Cabral was looking throughout Westchester County for a restaurant space. Prior to this he was a chef at La Panetiere in Rye and also worked at the famous Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station for four years.

Cabral struck gold during a visit he made to a vacant restaurant in Sleepy Hollow. The real estate broker mentioned that a coffee shop in Tarrytown was up for sale. It was a short distance away so Cabral looked and liked what he saw. A new, enlarged and enclosed kitchen would be needed, and it didn't have a bar, but there was room to accommodate 60 customers inside and a dozen or so more outside.

He signed the lease in December, 1985, and began renovation. Four months later, he opened Caravela.

The name is a type of ship, which was chosen to reflect the restaurant's emphasis on seafood. Artwork on the wood-plank walls depicts caravelas. Cabral says the ship was actually developed by the Portuguese for exploration not fishing. He notes that Christopher Columbus's two smaller ships, the Pinta and Nina, were of similar design and forerunners to the caravelas that came into popular use in the sixteenth century.

The restaurant walls also include a metallic ship sculpture, cork wallpaper imported from Portugal and colorful murals formed in Portuguese tile (azulejo).

Caravela was the first restaurant to serve Portuguese food in Westchester County. 

In celebration of its 25th anniversary, the restaurant will serve a $25 three-course, prix-fixe meal beginning on Monday, March 28. It will be available for dinner on Sunday through Friday evenings starting at 5 p.m. and for lunch on Saturdays from noon to 3 p.m.

The dinner, to be offered at least through April and probably for the rest of 2011, includes Atlantic salmon, tilapia, paella, petite filet mignon and veal stew as main courses. No coupons are needed.

The $25 prix-fixe dinner will not be served on holidays, Saturday evenings or on nights when wine-coupled dinners are scheduled (such as Monday, May 16 when a five-course, $50 wine-paired meal is planned).

The three-course Caravela menu includes:

Appetizer choices:

• Seafood, mixed greens or a radicchio, spinach and belgian endive salad
• Onion soup gratinee
• Steamed New England mussels

Entree choices:

• Grilled Atlantic salmon with black beans, rice, vegetables and port wine/raison sauce
• Paella Valencia. Clams, mussels, shrimp, chicken, pork and chorizo with saffron rice
• Pan roasted half-chicken Macao. Spicy piri-piri marinade, garlic sauce, black beans, rice and vegetables
• Braised lamb and artisanal spinach fettucini. Piquillo peppers and Brussels sprouts
• Pan seared tilapia with lemon/white wine caper sauce
• Sauteed breast of chicken Freixial with white wine, leeks and ham
• Veal stew Caravela with roasted shallots and Madeira wine sauce
• Petit filet mignon. Grilled 6-ounce center cut topped with wild mushrooms and red wine sauce, served with black beans, rice and vegetables

Dessert choices:

• Flan with berries
• Carrot cake
• Seasonal fruit

Caravela, 53 North Broadway, Tarrytown, NY. 631-1863.