Taste the world on New Bedford's Acushnet Avenue

The Standard Times, Aug. 28, 2026

NEW BEDFORD – By the time the plate lands on the table from a mound of rice and beans, fried plantains, stewed meat, handmade tortillas or a bright Central American juice poured over ice, Acushnet Avenue has already done its work.

The street does not simply feed people. It transports them.

In New Bedford’s North End, Acushnet Avenue has become one of the city’s most flavorful corridors, where restaurants, markets, lounges and bakeries offer a kind of international food tour from Central America to the Caribbean, Cape Verde, Portugal, Italy and beyond. 

Step inside the right doorway and the outside world shifts: Spanish or Portuguese may fill the room, regulars greet one another over lunch, children sit with families, music plays, and dishes arrive that reflect generations of migration, adaptation and pride.

For Pam Shwartz, founder of New Bedford Food Tours, that feeling is exactly what makes the North End so special.

“I’ve worked in South America and I’ve worked in the Caribbean, and when you walk in, you feel like you’re there,” Shwartz said.

Shwartz leads guests through New Bedford’s North End, introducing them to restaurants and food businesses that many people may pass every day without realizing how much culture is waiting inside. 

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