By: Marc Kent
Hail to the chef at this cozy café with an international menu of superior, tasty foods.
Marc Kent
Open for dinner only from 4 PM to 9PM, seven days each week, it seats over 70 diners at the patio, bar and dining room…located at 2717 North Federal Highway in Delray Beach- phone (561)243-6377.
Among the dozen appetizers offered, we chose fried calamari-a two cup portion of very tender, hand breaded calamari with a tangy marinara sauce. It was extremely tender and flavorful.
Six coconut shrimp gently fried golden brown was a superior starter as were the Buffalo style chicken wings served ten to the plate.
The New England clam chowder was rich and thick and creamy with large chunks of clam meat while the Bahamian conch chowder was lightly spiced and had deep Caribbean flavor. Black bean and French onion soups are also offered.
Eight items are listed for seafood lovers. We opted for light-as-a-feather South Beach snapper sautéed with capers, articokes, raisins and sun tried tomatoes over grilled vegetables-not to be missed. Wonderful too, was the broiled seafood combo with it’s scallops, shrimp and snapper served with both vegetables and lightly spiced Cuban saffron rice.
A dozen meat and poultry dishes are offered. A very light chicken picatta with capers and white wine over tender linguine was served with garlic bread. The chicken parmesan- a breast of sautéed white meat was topped with red sauce and melted mozzarella and garlic bread. Both these chicken dishes were delicious to taste.
Where the Chef shines, it is with his veal dishes. The veal francese was tender meat sautéed with white wine and lemon over linguine. A succulent treat not to be missed. The crowning achievement was veal parmesan, an Italian breadcrumb coated serving of tender, tender meat, topped with red sauce and melted mozzarella. We could not remember having veal parm any better than this.
This evening the six specials included paella with fresh mussels, shrimp, clams, and sea scallops served on a saffron rice bed flavored with both oregano and cumin.
This complex dish was one we greatly enjoyed.
A variety of four salads, each with it’s unusual personality, are listed. There are a half dozen burger choices and a half dozen pasta choices as well as three specialty sandwiches on the menu.
The Enigma’s flagship sangrias-both red and white- are light and fruity. Don’t miss them.
The sweet ending to this repast was the dessert of the day-a creamy flan with caramel sauce and whipped cream-quite rich yet light and served in a giant martini glass.
Phyllis G’s Enigma is an adventure not to be missed. Go and enjoy!