Restaurant Review: Europa South (Point Pleasant, NJ)

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Restaurant Review: Europa South (Point Pleasant, NJ)

To my knowledge, Europa South is the only Spanish/Portuguese restaurant in NJ with a gluten free menu. I recently tried the food when I met a friend of mine there for dinner. (warning: make a reservation. . . we went in February . . . to a summer beach town . . . and it was packed!)

Gluten Free / Dairy Free Shrimp in Garlic
at Europa South in Point Pleasant, NJ

Our waitress was very knowledgeable and the Gluten Free items are flagged with a little GF circle on the menu. I narrowed my choices down to the Chicken in Garlic and an interesting looking Bacalhau A Lagareiro (salted cod fish) both of which turned out to be dairy free. (From perusing the menu it appears that only two or three gf entrees would be difficult to have dairy free as well.)

They claim their Shrimp in Garlic appetizer is a house specialty . . . that’s an understatement. I’ve eaten Shrimp and Garlic at Spanish restaurants all over NJ and all over Spain and this was by far the best I’ve ever had! The garlic was perfectly caramelized and abundant.

Gluten Free Salted Cod Fish (Bacalhau A Lagareiro)
at Europa South in Point Pleasant, NJ

The Bacalhau A Lagareiro was interesting. I’ve never had it before and mostly ordered it since it is so rare to have more than one menu choice in a restaurant. It was very good (although they weren’t kidding about “salted” cod) and came with a mound of roasted peppers, onions and garlic. There was enough left over for a second meal (lunch the following day).

For the most part the menu is gluten friendly (i.e. the dishes should be gluten free anyway) but it is nice that their broth is gluten free and therefore their rice dishes and soups are GF as well. As of this writing, they have 19 entrees, two appetizers and a daily vegetable soup all GF.

This is somewhere I plan on returning as soon as I find someone willing to take the drive!