Tips for Tops’n

By John S. Kelemen

Table for Three resumes its west to east restaurant advance across Provincetown with a turn toward a faithful old standby known as Tips for Tops’n, which supposedly signifies the tip of the cape for tops in service, and does not have some esoteric nautical significance as I always believed. Last Thursday evening, as the annual Portuguese Festival got under way, five of us gathered for dinner at a place we best knew heretofore as a breakfast favorite. This time the group actually included a Michael (the blogger one) along with his nephew Mark, and Gino and Chris, two guests from St. Louis.

Tips for Tops’n is a diner type eatery that has been run by three generations of the same family and, unfortunately, recently experienced the loss of its founder, Edward C. Carreiro, who bought the restaurant in 1966. The standard menu, as well as nightly specials, provides a variety of Portuguese dishes. The décor has a spare no nonsense nautical motif. Those looking for a fancy presentation of nouvelle cuisine are in the wrong place and better continue their search on Commercial Street. 

Most dinners come with soup or salad. You can’t go wrong with either the clam chowder or the kale soup with linguica which are both excellent. Warm bread already prepared in butter was quickly consumed only to be replenished immediately by another basketful. Our entrees included the special marinated pork filet with two starches (potatoes and rice), fried pork with potatoes and littleneck clams, baked filet of sole, stuffed sole, and stuffed scrod. We were all more than pleased with our choices. Stuffed was the optimum word. That did not deter anyone from ordering dessert. Desserts included bread pudding, grapenut custard pudding, rice pudding, and hot apple crisp all of which were topped with soft serve vanilla ice cream. 

For those with a hankering to try some local Portuguese flavor or just eat humongous amounts, Tips for Tops’n offers good portions of comfort food at a reasonable price with fast friendly service. Ambience remains just fine for what it is. We give Tips for Tops’n four out of a possible five Provincetown monuments, (IV) or (IIII), whichever you like better.

Tips for Tops’n
31 Bradford St.
508 487-1811