Without a doubt, this odd little roadside pub dished up one of the best meals we’ve had in recent months. Rich flavors, top-notch ingredients, a great balance of traditional and innovative dishes – Pub 6T5 had it all.
So let’s focus on the food.
Faced with a large and interesting menu, we decided that we’d choose some appetizers and entrees and plan on boxing if we were overwhelmed. We sat at the bar hoping that some other dishes would come out before we ordered to give us inspiration, but our fellow bar patrons were focused on pizza. Looked good, but that was not our jam on this particular Wednesday.
So Gina ordered the soup of the day ($4.99): fish stew, and two spoons. The Big Dog ordered the caprese salad ($12.99) and two forks. The salad was really good, with pesto dressing and shredded basil leaves, and hearty slices of tomato and mozzarella.
The fish stew, on the other hand, was outstanding. It was the kind of dish you talk about years later: a great big bowl with a flavorful tomato base, a bit spicy, big chunks of fish, and vegetables. It tasted like fish, but not fishy fish. Where we’d been side-eying our fellow patrons’ pizzas, now all eyes were upon our soup, and some asked what we’d ordered and got their own.
From the regular menu, Gina ordered the quinoa grain bowl ($11.99), mostly because she’d never seen anything like that on a menu in a setting like this. It was delicious quinoa and rice tossed with grilled corn and pico de gallo drizzled with an avocado poblano cream sauce. We got the sense that most people add grilled chicken but it was great without.
The Big Dog ordered the cacoila sandwich ($9.99), subbing a very good green salad for the fries that normally come with it. The sandwich was pretty simple: the traditional Portuguese pork served unadorned on a Portuguese pop roll. Like your vavo makes… except a hundred times better. A thousand. The roll was perfectly puffy, the pork meltingly tender, the sauce rich. As we pushed the grain bowl aside (it was excellent the next day) and devoured this sandwich, we decided to order another to go.
But then we got waylaid by the bread pudding ($6.99). We rarely order dessert, but this caramelly, ice-creamy, whipped-creamy beauty was a worthy splurge. As on several other dishes, the menu attributes this one to someone in the kitchen named Fatima.
So, yes, the food was spectacular. The service was distracted. The wine choices were limited and one mixed drink tasted like City water. The decor was part fraternal hall, part insurance agency office, part dive bar, part exotic high-end restaurant. The whole thing is one big room, and if the crowd on this Wednesday afternoon was any indication – all commercial scallop fishermen from different boats who were fascinating to eavesdrop on – Vavo better be prepared for some salty language.
Despite all that, we would see this as a future special occasion restaurant, a favored place to go when we are celebrating. We’re not much into fancy linens or valet service or other trappings of high-end dining, but the food here is so distinctive that the experience is sure to be memorable.
Pub 6T5
736 Ashley Boulevard
New Bedford
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