Eating international cuisine allows diners to experience another country’s culture without the hassle of traveling or getting their tongues stamped at customs. Shovel in multicultural fixings with today’s Groupon to Tavira Restaurant in Chevy Chase. Choose between the following options:
- For $15, you get $30 worth of Mediterranean fare during dinner.
- For $7, you get $15 worth of Mediterranean fare during lunch.</p>
Tavira owner and seasoned chef Duarte Rebolo, who has close to 20 years of experience in the restaurant industry, pays homage to his upbringing in Madeira with a toothsome menu that fuses Portuguese and Mediterranean influences. Pan-seared beef medallions in a red-wine sauce ($17.95 for lunch; $22.95 for dinner) award obedient mouths for not biting the mailman, and salted cod quells tummy grumbles with the help of clams, chourico, and collard greens ($24.95, dinner only). Frango à piri piri sets palates ablaze with chicken slathered in a spicy pepper sauce ($15.95 for lunch; $19.95 for dinner), and Portuguese-style bife da casa tops seared steak with a fried egg ($17.95 for lunch; $23.95 for dinner). Midday diners can match their appetites against a selection of sandwiches arriving to tables on french bread and flanked by french fries ($8.95–$9.95).
A spacious dining room surrounds diners with beige walls, sweeping archways, and dramatic floral arrangements, and two exclusive rooms play host to private events such as birthday parties and thumb-war victory banquets. While guests dine among painted murals and Portuguese pottery, famished ear canals feast on the classical tunes performed by a live musician.
Tavira
Head Chef Duarte Rebolo‘s career began on his native island of Maderia, where he cooked for tourists before embarking on a journey that saw him creating luxurious dinners on Celebrity Cruise Lines and working with world-renowned chefs at the Watergate. Today, Rebolo recreates the authentic tastes of Portugal with Tavira’s menu of fresh seafood, goat-cheese-stuffed peppers, and colorful pasta. Music from a live classical guitarist mingles with the scents of mussels, steaks, and warm apple tatins. Diners sip fine wine at the full-service bar, or dine on lunchtime sandwiches of marinated lamb or dinners of grilled chicken in spicy piri-piri sauce. The bill of fare celebrates Portugal’s rich maritime history with ample selections of salted cod, salmon, and shrimp, as well as a pop-up book insert detailing all the fish that got away from Prince Henry the Navigator.