O Lavrador

Jamaica, Queens used to be a Portuguese neighborhood and there are still a few older restaurants around. O Lavrador is a fancier restaurant which almost feels as though it’s from a bygone era but the waitstaff are very funny and welcoming. If you order at least one thing it must be the homemade sausage called chourico caseira, fried in aguardiente in front of you in a huge pyrotechnic display. The feijoada de mariscos, an enormous pork and seafood stew, is also amazing. For dessert, get the pêras bebadas, pears poached in port wine.