The Heart of Portugal

There's a lot of soul in The Heart of Portugal.

Warm, inviting, very satisfying, this rustic taste of Iberia keeps you contented from the dense, crusty bread through the trembling flan.

The flavors of the restaurant are lively and the results as reliable as the kitschy decor. You enter via the modest equivalent of a courtyard where, when the weather allows, you doubtless can eat, drink and gauge emissions from the Mineola Boulevard traffic.

That Quick Draw banner has got to go. It doesn't blend perfectly into the stucco and the arches. Then again, maybe it does fit in with the casual bar area. You're not necessarily here for the artwork, either, not even the wall-size painting extolling seaside life.

What counts is what you eat. Early on, a platter of addictive, well-seasoned homemade potato chips ensures contentment. They have an affinity with a pitcher of sangria, a drink bound to make you nostalgic about your Yago years.

Pairing well with the fruity wine, the bread and the potatoes are an opener of sturdy, roasted chourico sausage flamed at tableside with aguardente spirits and enough drama to challenge the smoke alarm. It's a grand mouthful.

The combo of clams in white wine sauce with sliced sausage and the grilled shrimp finished with Cognac and lemon sauce also are spirited starters. The ever-present portobello mushroom cap gets a shot of flavor via garlic, red peppers, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Grilled shrimp in the shell are a trifle overdone. And the hot antipasto is a rather ordinary union. But the plump snails in a dimpled plate offer a marvelous excuse to consume more than anyone's required daily dose of garlic.

Your bread certainly will become a sponge. For a green alternative, know that the Caesar salad has bite.

The kitchen prepares gutsy, appealing soups. Caldo verde has heft, with green cabbage and sausage. The workmanlike onion soup materializes heavily crusted with cheese. Red-tinted seafood soup floats tasty little bergs of shellfish.

You can continue the seafood theme with a husky paella, with lobster, shrimp, clams and mussels, plus chicken and sausage, buried in the moist rice. The savory mixed platter of monkfish, striped bass, shellfish, vegetables and a wedge of melon finished with a white wine sauce is even better.

A forearm-size hunk of deftly baked cod benefits from peppers and onions. The closest this Heart gets to nouvelleties is a fine grilled swordfish steak accented with mango, papaya, capers and tomatoes. It's first-rate.

Bife de casa translates into a reason to visit cholesterol central: a tender steak capped with ham and a fried egg. Skip the chewy pork scaloppine, despite the coverlet of onions and peppers. The weekend special of baked goat, falling off the bone and sauced like a stew, is solid country fare. Likewise, the union of tripe, sausage and white beans.

Desserts are led by a major wedge of flan, creamy and right. The creme brulee, however, could be acceptable one time, but zealously charred wreckage another.

The lemony Italian cheesecake and the chocolate mousse cake are dependable, the tiramisu, less so.

Maybe they'll add candied orange peel or baked apples; a floating island or, given the day, a folar de Pascoa, to the sweets. You do feel as if it's a holiday here, and that you're one of the regulars. The attentive and genial staff ensures that.

The Heart of Portugal doesn't skip a beat.

-- Peter M. Gianotti