- May 9, 2024
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The Taste of Portugal, at 15 Palm Harbor Village Way, will host an adult comedy set from the Flagler Wolf Pack Monday, Aug. 13, in its dining room. But the show is only one example of the ways in which owners Marie and Fernando Ordaz have tried to make their restaurant stand out among the crowd in Palm Coast, since its opening in 2004.
For the restaurant’s second ticket-only entertainment show in about a week, the Flagler Wolf Pack, featuring Jamie Morgan, will follow world renown flute player Kat Epple, who performed there Wednesday, Aug. 8.
“It makes people think of us in a different way,” Maria Ordaz said of the shows. “It’s the mix between different cultures that I think really works. We have a (something of an) international pot here.”
Even since their store’s opening, though, the Ordaz’s have tried to expand what Taste of Portugal is known for in the community.
In addition to featuring homemade menu items from Portugal, Spain, Italy and Brazil, the restaurant took on a nightclub element soon after opening in 2004, renaming itself Club TOP every first and third Saturday of the month, when the lights go dim and D.J. Tito plays music to dance to until 2 a.m. Those disco nights still go on today.
And Friday nights are all about Hispanic Heritage, which Taste of Portugal celebrates with Latin guitar player Luis Deral, playing jazz while people eat.
The restaurant also hosts holiday parties; they have a screen for businesses to utilize for weekly meetings; political groups hold meetings there; the Kiwanis Club has met there for the past five years; and following the success of Kat Epple’s show, the Flagler County Art League signed a deal with the Taste of Portugal the day after the show, for the venue to become its location for the cultural group’s annual holiday party, which will draw upwards to 150 people.
“(FCAL) wants to support our local businesses,” said Susan Stohl, group marketer. “And Maria wants to support the cultural events. ... One thing led to another.”
“It’s kind of moving in a different direction,” Maria Ordaz said of her restaurant. “Not just a plain restaurant that serves food ... but also a place where people can get together, do their own thing, their own way.”
Taste of Portugal will reach nine years of business in October. And as Maria Ordaz says, “That’s a lot of miles.” But keeping her store in a constant state of evolution has kept her interested.
“It makes me go,” she said. “It really, really makes me move.”
The comedy show will start at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $30 and include a buffet dinner. Call 338-8440.
