Moqueca, the spirit of coastal Brazil
The bartender at Moqueca is mixing up flamingo-pink Copacabanas. Brazilian caipirinha cocktails are flowing and there’s plenty of Xingu, the dark-as-ink Brazilian beer, being poured. Through the windows of the second-story dining room you can look out over Oxnard’s Channel Islands Harbor.
It’s not quite the frenzied Carnival spirit of Rio, but it’s easy to imagine that you’re partying at a Brazilian seaside resort. Most diners, though, aren’t here for the view. They’ve come for the moquecas Capixabas, the spicy, bubbling fish and seafood stews, a regional specialty of Espirito Santo, the tiny Brazilian state along the country’s southeastern coast.
Each moqueca comes to the table in a rustic, coal-black cooking pot of the same name. Gleaming white lobster tails, shrimp or chunks of fish poke out from under the fire engine-red potage.
Owner Maria-Gloria Sarcinelli imports the moqueca pots from her home city, Vitoria, in Espirito Santo, where women called paneleiras make them from black clay and mangrove tree sap according to an ancient Indian formula. The pots seemingly have a mystical power to transform the foods’ own juices into a flavor-packed sauce -- lime-marinated seafood mixed with fresh tomato, olive oil and seasonings.
Of eight moquecas available as entrees, the most luxurious would be the popular whole lobster tail and shrimp combination for $36. More wallet-friendly are the moquecas with jumbo shrimp, fish fillets or cubes of shark meat. Indecisive diners appreciate the moqueca mista de mariscos that includes shrimp, octopus, squid, mussels and clams. There’s even a moqueca for vegetarians made with plantains.
Designed for two, moquecas come accompanied with rice. If you ask, the server will bring the traditional side, pirao, a bowl of lightly thickened and seasoned fish soup.
But moquecas don’t steal the entire show. An appetizer of scallops in their shells is baked under a fine mist of Parmesan. Frito misto, expertly fried fish, calamari and shrimp, make a fine textural contrast for the stews.
Complimentary bowls of beringela, a mellow eggplant spread, come with toasted French bread. And malagueta, Brazil’s favorite pepper, is brought steeped in oil in tiny condiment bowls, giving chile-heads a chance to jack up the heat quotient of any dish.
Espirito Santo-style moquecas reflect the Portuguese side of Brazilian cooking rather than the more African-influenced moquecas of Bahia state, where cooks enrich the stews with coconut milk and palm fruit oil called dende. Closely related is Moqueca’s bobo de camarao of lime-marinated shrimp simmered with coconut milk and a light puree of fresh yucca root.
Glowing orange paella-like arroz de polvo comes studded with marinated octopus chunks. Beef and chicken stroganoff are on the menu “because everyone in Brazil loves them,” says Sarcinelli, whose daughter-in-law, Tatiana, is Moqueca’s self-taught chef.
Desserts are as rich as the cocktails are festive. Tart-sweet glazed passion fruit mousse complements the seafood, but some hedonists go for the pave de bombom -- layers of flan, whipped cream and crushed candy bar.
Mocqueca’s opening was a leap from the Brazilian carved-meat churrascaria restaurants so popular with many Americans. But, Sarcinelli says, “my customers kept asking me, ‘What do Brazilians eat besides meat?’ That convinced me they were ready to explore another side of our food.”
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Moqueca Restaurant
LOCATION
3550 S. Harbor Blvd.,
No. 201 (Emporium Marine Landing), Oxnard, (805) 204-0970, www.moqueca
restaurant.com. Weekend reservations essential.
PRICE
Moquecas (for two), $16 to $72; entrees, $16 to $22; sharable appetizers and salads, $7 to $16. Lunch, about $13.
DETAILS
Monday to Friday 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday noon to 10 p.m.; and Sunday noon to 9 p.m. Most credit cards. Full bar, wine. Lot parking.