Our senses of taste and smell are strongly associated with memory, often evoking thoughts of summers spent overseas or years spent eating only beef jerky. Build brain pathways to more satisfying eats with today's Groupon at Tavira in Chevy Chase. Choose from two options:

• For $7, you get $15 worth of Mediterranean and Portuguese lunch.
• For $15, you get $30 worth of Mediterranean and Portuguese dinner.

Tavira's owner and head chef, Duarte Rebolo, a Madeira Island native, plates finely crafted cuisine for an upscale overseas dining experience. Similar to the final pieces of each year’s Halloween candy, Tavira’s menus of fresh meats and seafood are meant to be slowly savored in the dining room as guests mingle and marvel over the attentive service. Afternoon appetites can nibble on the lunch menu’s calamari—sautéed with extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, and parsley ($7.25)—or sandwich lamb marinated in rosemary, garlic, and olive oil into french bread bookends with the sandes de carneiro ($9.95). The talharim com fruta do mar floats mid-afternoon food-centric fantasies while drowning linguini in sea scallops, shrimp, clams, mussels, calamari, tomatoes and peppers ($16.95). Evening eaters can warm up with a dinner menu that includes pimentos assados recheados com queijo—salad topped with roasted red peppers stuffed with goat cheese and tossed with aged sherry wine vinaigrette ($8.75), properly matured by a balanced diet and regular use of SPF. Lombo de porco à caçador roasts pork tenderloin with brandy croft, tomatoes, and wild mushrooms and plates it with vegetables and mashed potatoes ($22.95). The Taste of Portugal prix-fixe menu ($30) offers entreepreneurs three courses of optimal abdomen-filling options in the form of appetizers, entrees, and desserts.

Sixty-six varieties of wine—including flavors from the United States, France, Chile, Spain, and Portugal—float entrees through sea-sized stomachs and pair nicely with the restaurant’s refined space. White tablecloths, french doors, and lantern lighting evoke a beachy, European feel whether eating the around spacious dining tables or watching shy meals work up the courage to flirt with fun-loving cocktails at the bar.