SMITHFIELD -- Huge portions and fine dining sometimes seem to be mutually exclusive. Today's American cuisine, as served in the trendiest restaurants, is often a small stylistic story with a delicate portion of protein, a few lovely pieces of vegetables and a dieter's spoonful of starch, all grouped beautifully together on a very big white plate.

Not so at Faial Restaurant, where the prime rib for a single guest is two inches thick, and stretches end to end and side to side on a 13-inch Fiesta serving platter.

Another platter, rather than a dinner plate, holds the largest piece of swordfish our table of diners had ever seen. And a dish of Carne de Porco Alentejana, marinated pork with littlenecks and potatoes, comes in a large, deep serving bowl -- the kind other restaurants serve whole tables for family style dining.

What is so surprising about these mega meals is the high quality of each one.

The prime rib ($22.99), available Friday and Saturday nights, is tender and full of good, beefy flavor. And not just on the meat around the edge, which is always the best, but in the middle, too. It's kept moist with a rich pool of "au jus" sauce.

The baked stuffed swordfish, peixe de serra ($20.99), is fresh, tender and sweet as butter. The dreamy Ritz Cracker stuffing includes tasty chopped clams, scallops and baby shrimp. It's served with seafood rice, a house specialty brimming with more delicacies of the sea, including shrimp and scallops.

The Carne de Porco Alentejana ($14.99) is a stew-style dish with marinated pork so tender it pulls apart to soak up the broth and melts in your mouth. Small chunks of potatoes and littlenecks, still in their shells, share the bowl. The only thing that would add more flavor to the dish would be a few hearty mussels.

Size and quality

Experience, on the part of the owners and the chef, is to credit for the blend of size and quality.

Faial opened in 2004 as the latest venture of Joe and Emily Faria and their chef, Antonio Pereira. Joe Faria and Pereira, brothers-in-law, were both born on the island of Faial in the Azores, and came to the United States as children. They ran Joseph's, the popular East Providence restaurant, in the '80s, and the Original Joseph's in Cumberland. With the closure of both spots, and the grind of the seven-day-a-week business, the trio believed they had retired from restaurants. They were drawn back with the idea for Faial.

While the Joseph restaurants focused on American cuisine, Faial is dedicated to the Portuguese dishes with which Faria and Pereira both grew up.

This is apparent with the bread basket, which is served with Faial sauce, a specialty of Pereira. He blends butter, garlic and paprika with a blend of Portuguese herbs to make this spicy red sauce, which accompanies many dishes as well.

We chose an appetizer lineup of Portuguese temptations. The chourico grelhado, grilled Portuguese sausages ($6.95), were served on a platter and sliced into bite-size pieces, each bearing a toothpick. Faial is casual and fun that way, with a large television in the corner of the dining room and two more screens over the long bar. It wouldn't be hard to imagine enjoying this guilty pleasure of spicy sausage with a few brews to watch a Monday-night football game. There are many long large tables, and round ones for big parties.

A meal in itself

Warming on a cool night, there's a seafood chowder and a Portuguese soup ($2.50 for the cup and $4.99 for the bowl).

We tried the soup, and adored the tomato-based broth, kidney beans and chunks of chourico, which add a ton of robust flavor.

In an interview after the visit, Faria said the soup is of a peasant style that each island in the Azores would make their own way. At Faial, it includes kale and cabbage that complement the meat so nicely.

The cup size was plenty satisfying, as we were enjoying other food. But it could be a meal in itself in the bowl size.

Temptations abound on this menu. Beyond the ethnic specialities, which include the prime rib with Faial sauce, there are some barbecue combinations that include baby-back ribs paired with steak, chicken, shrimp or fried clams. We tried the scallop-and-rib combination ($18.99), and while the ribs were on the ordinary side, with sweet sauce slathered on meaty ribs, the scallops were delectable. Large Bay scallops are coated in batter and enhanced with a butter sauce.

All these dishes come with potato or rice and vegetable, too. The evening's vegetable, broccoli in cream sauce, cooled off too fast to keep its taste. But the seafood rice is a keeper, and the roast potatoes were crispy, the perfect foil for the rib.

Wine recommendation

We asked our server, Sandy, for a red-wine recommendation to pair with the appetizers, and her choice of Monte Vello ($5.75 a glass, $17 a bottle) was just right. This Portuguese wine from Alentejo was light-bodied and had bright flavors of cherry fruit.

Sandy also directed us to the specialty martini menu. For dessert, we enjoyed a banana chocolate martini ($7.50) with Ketel One Vodka, white crme de cacao, crme de banana and Bailey's Irish Cream. What a great blend of flavors! We also tried the espresso martini ($7.50) with a shot of espresso, Stoli Vanil Vodka, Kahlua and Bailey's. It was better than coffee.

Desserts include a flan and grapenut pudding (both $4.99), which are house-made. Both were served chilled, and the cold diminished any flavor they might have had. I'd ask for them warmed up a bit next time.

But really, no one needs dessert after enjoying a platter of prime rib or swordfish.