"Testa's Palm Beach Restaurant Matchbook" (NEW/ Old Stock)
$125
Palms In The Winter/ Palm Beach, FL (1921-2017)
Pines In The Summer/ Bar Harbor, ME
2" x 1 1/2"
221 Royal Poinciana Way, Palm Beach, FL 33480
Testa’s was a fixture in Palm Beach from 1921-2017
Here, crowds will miss the breakfast blueberry pancakes and the famous strawberry pie, as well as a menu that’s adapted to trends over the years but was known for being simple, down-to-earth food.
“It’s not fou-fouey,” she said, “it’s just really good, simple food.”
Her dad, Michael Testa Jr., now deceased, explained it in a 1991 interview with this reporter by saying, “We don’t let our cooks get too creative. We have a formula book (for them), and they follow our way of doing things.”
The recipes were created from family recipes, brought to America by his forebears from Sicily.
Pleasing customers was the rule, he said. “We know what our customers want.”
He remembered when horse-drawn carriages brought people to the restaurant, and mules were used to pull a streetcar down Main Street. “It cost 5 cents to ride,” he said.
Through the years, tastes changed, and a younger crowd now visits the island, asking for healthier foods, Mrs. Striefel said.
“Crab au gratin — we haven’t had that for years,” she said, laughing over the best-sellers from the late 1980s. “Spaghetti Testa — we haven’t had that for years, either. People just don’t eat that way anymore — all that heavy food, with sauce on that and other sauces there. They want lighter foods.”
Kale salads, avocado and other trendy vegetables play a role on today’s menu and are used creatively. “Gone are the days of the fruit salad with the cup of sherbet in the middle.”
The strawberry pie remains, however. “That recipe will probably go to our graves with us,” she said, laughing. Its popularity amazes her. “Isn’t it funny, after all these years. But it is so yummy.”