NEW BEDFORD — Two brothers from Cape Verde are bringing the food and music of their home to New Bedford this month.
Mateus Barbosa, 39, and Salo Afonseca, 37, are opening Morna Lounge and Grill on Acushnet Avenue in the space that was once Tilia’s Cafe. It will be a restaurant and bar with a mix of Portuguese, Cape Verdean and American cuisine.
“The idea started about two years ago,” Barbosa, a college professor and social services worker based in Bridgewater, said. “I wanted to start a business, a restaurant, but I wanted it to be in a community where there’s a need.”
As a UMass Dartmouth alumnus with family in the city, he said he felt there wasn’t a big, traditional Cape Verdean place for the city’s Cape Verdean community to go and enjoy food and music.
Morna, he explained, is a type of Cape Verdean music that is