Going out for dinner is often a mini-excursion into a different culture. Not only does the Fall River restaurant known as T.A. (Tabacaria Açoreana) occupy a space between a Portuguese grocery and a Portuguese gift shop, with a Portuguese bakery, baby shop, and fish market just down the street. But you hear the shushing glide and falling lilt of the language the minute you step through the door: from the staff, a TV tuned to a Portuguese-language station, and a group of seven or eight men near the bar who stopped by on their way home from work.

Even the menu has a full-page listing dinner choices in Portuguese. But for us non-native speakers, most of the menu is in English, with helpful notes following the title of a dish. A good example is in the listings for shrimp and littleneck appetizers. The shrimp ($6.95 and $8.75) can be ordered alhinho, Mozambique, or "T.A. style," which are respectively garlic, hot sauce and garlic, or tomato sauce and garlic. Littlenecks ($5.95 or $7.95) are offered Azorean (onions and wine), Spanish-style (tomato and onions), or bulhao pato (beer and garlic). Our waiter helpfully pointed out that alhinho has the most garlic, and we dove for that, along with Azorean littlenecks, both in "small" portions.

Eight large shrimp and six littlenecks later, we could have called it a night (as did many patrons around us). The killer was the bread-dunking, as neighboring diners pointed out. The sauce around each batch of seafood was so lip-smacking good that we had to soak it up with pieces of soft white bread. Large chunks of garlic and plenty of lemon, with a dash of hot sauce, spiked the shrimp; a contrasting blend of wine, olive oil, and onions surrounded the clams.

A bowl of the kale soup ($2.75) was also delicious. Unlike some versions of this Portuguese favorite, the broth was a clear vegetable broth, seasoned from the dark green kale, lighter pieces of cabbage, plus onions, carrots, potatoes, and a bit of chourico and beef shank.

When it came to entrees, Bill passed up the Portuguese steak (with a fried egg on top), the chef's steak (with an egg and a slice of ham on top) and settled in for his usual Alentejana ($8.95), named for a southern county of Portugal, where the dish originated. It consists of marinated pork, usually in chunks, simmered with littlenecks and potatoes. In T.A.'s version, both meat and potatoes were coated with a reddish sauce, spicy hot and yummy.

At T.A.'s, you can also order chicken Alentejana, Mozambique, Angola, or alhinho. Many dishes specified as Azorean-style, such as fried liver or pork chops, seem to be marinated. Among the seafood offerings, there's shrimp St. Michael (San Miguel is owner Alfredo Alves's home island), and a shish kebab with bacon. There's also an octopus shish kebab, for the more adventurous.

I chose the baked fish Azorean ($8.75), which was served with a small side salad and boiled potatoes. The flounder was layered with butter and breadcrumbs, though I didn't taste any special herbs. The potatoes were accompanied by a lively onion salsa: chopped onions in olive oil, vinegar, paprika, white pepper, and parsley.

Desserts were intriguing, with two flans and two cheesecakes among them. We gravitated toward the almond pudding and the Mary Cookie pudding, both of which were absent that evening. The latter is a Portuguese cookie soaked in espresso and topped with Chantilly cream. We had to make do with coconut flan ($2.75) and bean pudding ($2.75). Both were quite good, though the only evidence of coconut seemed to be some flakes in the flan's caramel sauce. Small white beans, cooked and pureed, formed the base for the dense, bread-pudding-textured wedge I enjoyed, with plenty of freshly whipped cream.

T.A.'s wine list is completely Portuguese, from sparkling and green through rosé and red. Among 14 cocktails, two feature passion fruit juice, the Açoreano and the T.A. There are six low-alcohol drinks (wine coolers), and six non-alcoholic drinks (pineapple and passion fruit juices prominent among them). Bill tried both of the vinho verdes offered by the glass (Casal Garcia and Avelida) and found the former more interesting.

Decor at T.A.'s moves from the bar/lounge to two small dining areas whose walls are diagonal pine boards to a large, high-ceilinged room ("The Passion Fruit Room"), with stucco-like walls, where four of the tables for two have wing-back sofas for dining chairs. Large panoramic photos of the islands dominate this room, along with one large painting of an island scene. The restaurant includes representations of all nine Azorean islands.

As for the name: it's been carried over from Alves's father's tobacco and coffee shop, established just around the corner in the early '60s, where, tradition has it, the first espresso in Fall River was served. If you're a newcomer to the city, you might need it for your nerves, after negotiating the winding one-way streets to get to T.A.'s. Don't hesitate to stop and ask directions -- it's well worth the trip.

Issue Date: September 13 - 19, 2002