By Barbara Salter
Sometimes the most interesting things happen by mistake. The other night I went out to dinner with a friend who was in the mood for some Brazilian food. He wasn’t from Flagler County, so choosing the restaurant was my job. I thought I had a seen a Brazilian restaurant tucked deep into one of the little shopping centers in Palm Coast, so that’s where we headed.
Whoops! When we got there, I remembered the name of this particular restaurant was “Taste of Portugal.” It clearly wasn’t a Brazilian eatery, but we were both hungry and decided to try it anyway. I’m so glad we did! It was one of the nicest evenings I’ve had in a long time.
To start things off, we order a half pitcher of the homemade sangria and Appetizer a Portuguesa—three shrimp cakes, three cod cakes with some olives and sliced homemade sausage. The sangria was excellent—refreshing and tangy, but not too sweet. It was, in fact, the best sangria I’ve ever sipped.
That was when I realized that instead of a mistake, the forces of the universe had conspired to take us on a culinary adventure that we wouldn’t soon forget. Taste of Portugal (TOP) is a Flagler County gem.
The appetizer was wonderful. The fish and cod cakes were lightly breaded and fried—not greasy at all. And the sausage and olives complemented the flavors nicely. And, of course, the sangria complemented the scrumptious appetizer and before we knew it, we were ordering more sangria!
I love seafood, so I asked our server to recommended one of the three seafood combination entrees on the menu. He responded immediately by suggesting the Paella, a Portuguese rendition of the Spanish favorite. It was amazing! A half Maine lobster was nestled among shrimp, clams, calamari, and mussels over a bed of delicately seasoned rice.
We scored another win with TOP’s Grilled Cod Fish. Our server cautioned my friend to watch out for the bones—and he did find a few but he said his vigilance was well worth the effort. “Delicious!” he pronounced it. It was beautifully presented as well! Served with grilled peppers, onions, olives and potatoes in extra virgin Portuguese olive oil, it was worthy of a photo!
In addition to the seafood offerings, which also include red snapper cooked a variety of ways, Taste of Portugals’s expansive menu includes chicken, veal, pork, steak and pasta choices as well. They also have a childen’s menu.
We enjoyed our meal so much that we asked to meet Maria, the owner and chef. She was delightful and insisted we stay a bit longer. “Tonight we have dancing,” she said. “You will stay and have a drink on me. It’s great fun!”
She was right. Palm Coast is a sleepy little city and is mostly quiet after dark, so I wasn’t really expecting much although we had noticed that little by little the quiet little restaurant was filling up. A DJ was setting up at the small stage and the servers had moved several tables to the side revealing a polished wooden dance floor. Clearly something was up!
We moved from our table in the dining room to the fully stocked, cozy bar. At 10 p.m., TOP was transformed from a laid back restaurant to a high energy Latin dance club! What fun! Taste of Portugal offers music every Thursday night and on the first Saturday of every month.
We may have stumbled into Taste of Portugal by mistake this time, but we’ll definitely be back. When it comes to my favorite local restaurants, TOP is now at the top of my list.
Taste of Portugal is located at 15 Palm Harbor Village Way, just off Old King’s Road in Palm Coast. For hours and other information, you can call them at 386-447-3872.
Photos by Joe Wytiaz