Heartfelt and hearty

Red Tavern Executive Chef Patricia Harding sounded almost scientific while chatting about cooking the restaurant’s Portuguese Seafood Stew. She listed its many ingredients—herbs, spices, vegetables and a house-made fumet, a fish sauce—and described the cells of tomatoes plumping and the flavors combining for a rich, delicious base that complements the accompanying shrimp, mussels, clams and linguica sausage.

The cioppino-like dish is a feast for the eyes as well as the belly—grilled lemons as garnish pop, while the shellfish contrasts with bright vegetables and the saffron-tinged tomato sauce. Served with focaccia bread, it’s also a sizable meal. When the large bowl is presented to customers, their eyes grow wide.

“I hear a ‘whoa,’ and then they immediately ask for another napkin,” said restaurateur Rich Garcia, who runs the beloved eatery on The Esplanade with his wife, Chris.

The dish is exceedingly popular. That’s part of the reason it’s been on the menu often over the past six or so months in a restaurant where the Garcias focus on seasonal offerings.

It’s also an entree to savor. In fact, Red Tavern specializes in a fine-dining environment that encourages customers to adopt a slower pace.

“With this recipe, and with basically all of our entrees, we want you to sit back and relax and take your time,” said Rich, who got his start in the food business as a teenager working in the kitchen of a Central Valley Italian restaurant. “This day and age, we just get so wrapped up into speed and doing so many things at one time, and that is part of the way we eat. And we like to take a step back here.

“We want you to slow down and embrace it and enjoy it.”

Harding and the Garcias chose to feature this particular entree when sitting down with the CN&R because it hits all the marks in terms of taste and presentation. In this season of romance, Harding noted the shellfish are perfect for plucking out and offering to a dinner date. Rich suggests pairing the dish with a Portuguese red wine, a vino tinto. (For Valentine’s Day, the restaurant is offering a four-course prix fixe menu. See redtavern.com/events for details.)

For Chris, the stew is close to the heart. It’s a take on a dish prepared by her late grandmother.

“My grandma would make that, like, every other Christmas,” she said of the Sousa family recipe. “They came from the islands in Portugal, so it’s a recipe that’s been passed down through the generations. When we do it here, we kind of bring it to the new age.”

Red Tavern is known for its new American cuisine, but the Garcias have adopted a French influence, and their cultural dinners—featuring a multicourse menu of Spanish, French and, of course, Portuguese fare—have been embraced by customers, whom Chris gushed about.

“It’s an entertaining job because you really build those connections, those relationships and friendships,” she said. “It’s so fun. You’ll see Rich sitting at a table when it slows down, talking to customers. We love what we do.”