A Ship out of Portugal

On a chilly, rainy night in Eastern Queens, my sister and I set off in search of dinner. We decided that Peruvian food was in order and made our way to a restaurant that I had always wanted to try. To our dismay, we found the location closed with a "for rent" sign posted in bright yellow and red. Whatever should we do now? We were super hungry and weary of driving too far from home. A dull silence fell over the car as we each pondered our options when my sister came up with the much needed solution. "How about that Portuguese place on 101?" she asked. At first I was unsure of where she meant, but it quickly came rushing back to me; all but the name of the place. The drive over was filled with many sore attempts at guessing the name of the place we had passed for more than 10 years but never tried.

We arrived at O'Lavrador Restaurant on 138-40 101st Avenue in Jamaica Queens and left the car with the valet. After entering through the large wooden doors, we were greeted by Chica our server for the night. She promptly seated us and left us to peruse the menu. Right away we noticed that this was very much a Seafood Restaurant but neither of us was really in the mood for the gifts of the sea.

Our appetizers consisted of a unified favorite of Fried Calamari and to it we added three croquettes, one Salted Fish, one Shrimp and one Beef. The appetizers proved to be a bit of a disappointment, with the shrimp croquette being filled with imitation crab meat, the beef version having no detectable beef just mostly seasoned bread crumbs and the calamari not being of the fresh variety. The fish cake however was average, so we split the tiny log in two and enjoyed the bite.

To wash it all down we opted for Mojitos, Passion Fruit and Mango. The first attempt at these was somewhat less than a success but our very nice server Chica remade them herself and they were quite enjoyable the second time around.

It was time for dinner and up for review were Costeletas de Borrego com Molho de Alecrim and Vitela a Lavrador (Grilled Lamb Chops with Rosemary Sauce and Veal Scallopini with Fresh Mushrooms).
The presentation was lovely! After the rough start to the meal we were super excited to see delicious looking, warm plates set before us. The Grilled Lamb Chops were delightful and cooked a perfect medium well as was requested. The sauce was bold and beautiful, boasting a rich dark color. I only wished that the chef used fresh rosemary instead of dried to make the sauce.

Next up for review was the Veal Scalopini. They were great! Tender, thin pieces of veal in a bright sauce with fresh mushrooms were hard to resist. I could have eaten two servings of these. Confession time...we are both mushroom lovers and find them hard to resist in whatever form they find us. Thankfully these were perfectly cooked and delicious. The let down on this plate however, were the potatoes they were served with rather than the rice that was promised on the menu. The potatoes were boiled and slightly gluey on the inside. This was sad for the somewhat of a potato connoisseur that I consider myself but I refused to let this sway me from the other great parts of the meal.

Dessert consisted of Serradura (Sweet cream mousse layered with crushed Portuguese vanilla crackers), Tiramisu and Coffee.
Serradura was blissful...smooth, creamy, vanilla cookie bliss. The Tiramisu was forgettable however but the Serradura made up where that fell off.

The one thing that stood out the entire night was the impeccable service. I am a sucker for great service as I think in most cases it can be even more important that having the very best tasting food. This restaurant had it highs and lows in the food department but the service continued to soar from start to finish. So all things considered we give O'Lavrador a solid B and recommend the entrees for a family dinners or even date night.