Caravela, a long-time Tarrytown dining destination celebrated its 27th anniversary in April of this year but it has since closed. It was the first restaurant to serve Portuguese food in Westchester County.
The restaurant was founded by Fernando Cabral who left his home on the northern coast of Portugal at the age of 15 to work at busy cafés in Lisbon and arrived in America in 1980.
He joined the kitchen staff of Cabana Carioca, a popular New York City Portuguese restaurant, and worked at the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station for four years. He was also a chef at La Panetiere, a French restaurant in Rye.
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Caravela opens in 1986
So in December, 1985, he signed a lease for the Tarrytown space and began renovation. Four months later, Caravela opened.
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The name Caravela describes a ship type no longer made; it was chosen for the restaurant to reflect the menu's emphasis on seafood. Cabral also bought artwork for the wood-plank walls that depicted caravelas.
The ship had been developed many centuries ago by the Portuguese for exploration not fishing. 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.
Cabral decorated the restaurant walls with a metallic ship sculpture, cork wallpaper imported from Portugal and colorful murals formed in Portuguese tile (azulejo).
Catch from the sea was abundant on the menu from the start; especially popular over the years among the seafood dishes were Mariscada (an award-winning seafood stew served with either tomato or cilantro-based sauce), grilled colossal shrimp with lemon cognac butter sauce, sautéed colossal shrimp Paulista with fresh garlic, parsley and olive oil, and Paella Valencia. The grilled squid was filled with Portuguese chourico (a Portuguese sausage).Many dishes were based on classical Portuguese and Brazilian recipes. But Caravela could innovate too as evidenced by its introduction of a house-made fresh pasta dish—chestnut fettuccine with suckling pig, Fuji apples, walnuts, butternut squash and brown butter sauce.
Specialties included Filet Mignon Campino accompanied by cabernet sauce, wild mushrooms and country ham, and Pork Alentejo served with Littleneck clams, white wine sauce, cilantro and pickled vegetables. Desserts were not only delectable, they were artistic masterpieces.