I took a midweek vacation day for the purpose of visiting New Bedford with Richmond. It was a very, very productive trip!

I had a long list of places that I wanted to get to, taking full advantage of New Bedford's fishing fleet, microbrew renaissance, and Portuguese community. It was a lot to see, but New Bedford is not so hard to get around once you get the hang of it.

The top of the list was our Best of Show for the day, the New Bedford Fisherman's Market. It's 2.5 miles south of I-195 through a little maze of streets, but it's worth the trip. They are only open Wednesdays through Sundays, starting at 10am on weekdays and 9AM on weekends. they had a great variety of superfresh fish, the freshest I think I have ever seen in a market, including many that you don't see in smaller markets. I got some monkfish, sole, and periwinkles. Richmond got some fish too, and they gave us plenty of ice to keep it cold in the cooler I always keep in the back of the car.  

Our next stop was the Continental Market on Sawyer Street between Acushnet and Belleville. I love this market! This is where I got the Flaming Pig of Doom, and it is the only place I know where you can get a proper country ham, plus they have octopus and all manner of other great stuff. While making our purchases, a tray of fresh hot codfish cakes and empanadas appeared. For $0.75 each, I had rather more fishcakes than was warranted at that hour, but they were soooo good! It doesn't look like much from the outside, but there is parking across the street so it is easy to get to and worth the visit.

Next we cruised up Acushnet Ave and then cut over to Sid Wainer's Gourmet Outlet.  Any foodie seriously interested in putting on a fancy spread should know about the Gourmet Outlet. This is where you can get seven different types of edible flowers, preformed chocolate cups and pastry shells, all kinds of perfect produce, mushrooms, and more.

After Sid Wainer we cut over to Trio Liquors, at the end of Belleville Street on the corner of Acushnet. Trio Liquors has an excellent selection of Madeiras and Ports as well as summery Portuguese wines. I got a Full Rich Madeira for cooking and a 10-year old Madeira for sipping; Richmond got some Vinho Verde for the beach.

We had a late lunch at Bom Appetit on Belleville, a pork-and-littleneck alentejana for him and blood pudding with grilled pineapple for me.

Finally we arrived at the Pour Farm Tavern, downtown on Purchase Street. The Pour Farm is well-known in New England microbrew circles. They had many local drafts as well as some interesting brews from further afield: I had a Jack's Abby Rauchbier and Richmond went for a Green Flash IPA from San Diego.

That was enough for New Bedford, so we set out through Acushnet and Rochester seeking strawberries, but I guess the season is pretty well over now, as there were none to be had at the stands and honor-boxes so common along that ride.