Meze Now Open

[cinghiale]

Having watched Tatooed Mom’s softball team put a hurting on Doobies at Palumbo Field last night, I decided to stroll over for some gnocchi at Forte. I noticed that the door to Meze (9/Catharine) was open, so I strolled in.

The owners have wrought a dramatic change from dreary Longano, where I had a very tired plate of carbonara during its death rattle. Gone is the bar, replaced by tables and a service station tucked into the corner. The walls are a monochromatic olive, soon to be lightened a bit with artwork. The floor is now sleek stone tiles. Even the entrance door has been refurbished.

Meze (the owners say Meh-ZAY) is the product of an Italian-American and a Greek-American, Joe Olivera and Nick Papanikolas. They seek to take their respective heritages and expand them, circling the Mediterranean from Turkey to Portugal, according to Joe’s, well, expansive reading of the geography. They’ve brought in a creative young chef, Val (Stryjewski, if the website is correct), whose stops have included Lacroix and Django (yet another Django alum in the QV/BV ‘hood). They are, and intend to remain, BYO.

Meze had its fam-and-friends party Wednesday night, meaning last night was the first with paying tickets. What the hell, I thought, I’ll try the Meze Menu, which promised a tour through Chef Val’s vision. In general terms, the service was warm and not intrusive, particularly given that the staff is jonesing to get going and there weren’t many diners last night. The serviceware was diverse and attractive. Pacing is obviously still in its infancy. And presentations were, with one exception, outstanding. So, for $55, I had the following outrageous amount of food:

● With my order, bread and truffled butter. The bread was awful, portending bad things, but Nick said that they’re still looking for a good purveyor. They’re a bit reluctant to fall back on Sarcone’s, just across the street, since flatbread-ish items would be more in keeping. They eventually hope to bake inhouse. The butter was a nice surprise.

● Amuse: marinated mussel with saffron ice cream and caviar. Plumb, moist, flavorful. Very nice start.

● Dips: tzatziki, melitzano, hummus, foie gras parfait. Omigod. The tzatziki was tangy yet slightly sweet. The melitzano was light and airy. The hummus included roasted chard. But my fav was the foie gras dip. It’s more of a mousse or sabayon, light as a feather but deliciously foie-y. Each dip serving was more than ample. The plate came with toast, flatbread crisps, and both pancetta and eggplant “chips”, basically thin, dessicated slices. A cool idea.

● Mezedes: dolmades and grilled calamari. This was awesome – three dolmades were filled with a kind of beef risotto, creamy and rich, and served with grapes and a wine reduction. In a “duh” moment, it was pointed out to me that this is basically Grapes Three Ways: leaf, fruit, and juice. The calamari were two grilled tentacles – one served in a vinaigrette with watercress, nice and peppery. The other was stuffed with lentils, to terrific effect.

● Soup: caldo verde. The menu calls for salad here, but they were kind enough to meet my substitution request. The soup bowl come with potato cakes and, I believe, shredded chicken, with a poached egg mounted on top. The broth is then poured in from a cocktail shaker. The broth was good, but the cakes were a bit too hard, and I don’t recall seeing any kale. The poached egg was a very nice touch. Once the yolk is pierced, the yellow oozes into the earthy broth and just looks cool.

● From the Grill: shrimp, beef, and chicken kebabs. All three were perfectly prepared and served with roasted tomatoes. The char was just right.

● Intermezzo: heirloom tomato and oregano sorbet with sea salt. Surprisingly fruity. A nice palette cleanser.

● Fish: loup de mer. I really like sea bass, and this was prepared in a pretty conventional manner, en croute and pan-fried. While the fish was very tasty, the plating really suffered here. The potato “taffy” was rather bland, the sauce was non-descript, and the fish was accompanied by the usual suspects: cauliflower, carrot, mushroom. This one needs work.

● Meat: bife de casa: I was really starting to struggle at this point. A generous portion of what appeared to be filet (the menu says rib-eye), served on a bed of garlicky spinach together with a ragout of white beans and linguica sausage. I wasn’t asked how I wanted the steak prepared, and it unfortunately came somewhat north of medium. The ragout was delicious.

● Dessert: baklava, rice pudding, semifreddo. The baklava came out first – three small squares topped with goat cheese ice cream, each with a different filling. I can only recall fig, which was very good. Nick’s grandmother has taught the pastry crew how to make and roll their own filo. Jesus, they make their own filo. Since the menu called for three dessert items, I assumed that was that, and stepped out for a smoke (restaurant is non-smoking), relieved I was able to make it through. But I was called back in for dessert course II, the rice pudding. I begged to be let off the hook, but the staff insisted I try it. It’s served in a coffee cup (again, a very generous portion) and is done, for lack of a better word, creme brulée-style, with a caramel topping. The pudding was rich without being cloying. Then came the semifreddo, oh help me my taste buds were shutting down at that point. The garnish of carrot shavings I found to be a nice, “healthy” touch.

I found myself thinking that the restaurant lies roughly halfway between Effie’s and Dmitri’s. The cooking, though, couldn't be more different than at either of those two establishments. Nick said the restaurant will have its grand opening on May 11, when they will be offering cocktails and samples from a wide range of dishes from their menu. I told him to come to his senses before then: the Meze Menu is simply too much food, especially at that price. Two people could easily share it and be fully satisfied. I was happy I only had two blocks to waddle home.

Edited to add the link to their website

Edited April 29, 2005 by cinghiale (log)

[philadining]

Thanks for that vivid account, I was starting to feel stuffed just reading it!

Many of the small touches sound really nice: saffron ice cream with the mussel, two different preps of squid, tomato sorbet, three kinds of baklava... it seems like a lot of food with variety, not just more for more's sake.

I know you said it didn't really work, but what was "potato taffy" supposed to be?

Your post has got me wanting to check this place out, thanks again.

[NulloModo]

Wow, that does sound pretty intense. Hopefully for everyone else's sake they will ignore your idea to decrease the amount of food or increase the price.

[Andrew Fenton]

Yow. I've walked by a couple of times and have wondered about the place; thanks for the report. Maybe I'll check it out this weekend. It sounds like they have some genuinely interesting stuff: I like the dolmades description... when do I ever get good dolmades? Never, that's when.

I agree that that amount of food is a little outrageous. Too much food, even good food, is just gross.

[cinghiale]

I know you said it didn't really work, but what was "potato taffy" supposed to be?

←

IIRC, it's a quenelle-shaped serving of saffron-scented, creamy mash. Still, too subtle (or seemingly so to my attenuated palate).

[Andrew Fenton]

We tried Meze the other night. It's sort of a weird menu, split between traditional dishes (baba ganoush), more sophisticated stuff (tomato sorbet), and reinterpretations of traditional dishes (deconstructed dolmades). I'm not sure how well it all fits together.

That said, some of the dishes were quite good. I thought the dolmades (divided up between beef-stuffed and rice-stuffed) worked well. And I was a lot happier with the loup de mer and potato taffy combination than cinghale was. The fish was pretty simple, but with a nice crust, and if you come into the latter expecting saffron mashed potatoes, you'll be more satisfied, I think. The semi freddo was a nice dessert, and I was very pleased with the saffron ice cream/mussel combo and the tomato sorbet (both of which the management very graciously sent to our table, even though we weren't ordering the tasting menu.)

Other dishes were kind of lackluster. The baba ganoush, made with roasted cumin, tasted like roasted cumin and not much else. I wasn't crazy about the foie gras parfait: it's foie whipped together with butter, so it's as buttery and fatty as a foie pate, but without a really intense flavor. Kind of bland. Ditto the grilled sardines: they were okay, but mostly just salty.

There's a ton of potential at Meze. I like the ambition that the kitchen shows, and I think that with a little tweaking, it could be really good; it'll be interesting to see what happens over there.

[davidbdesilva]

Cinghiale, we will be eating at Meze next week and I have a question. Must everyone at the table (in our case, the two of us) order the meze? Or can one person order the meze and the other a la carte? I imagine both would have to do the meze. Also, is it really enough for two people to share and if so would that even be allowed? We will probably order to meze to sample more types of dishes and I know my wife will never finish it all. Perhaps we shouldn't finish every course and pace ourselves. Thanks for any help you can offer!

Edited May 7, 2005 by davidbdesilva (log)

[cinghiale]

Well at a minimum, if not everyone is doing the menu, those who don´t will spend a lot of time watching menu-opters eating.

My menu was really enough for two. Really. And I´m a pretty big eater. I didn´t ask about splitting the menu (but hinted that it would be sufficient so), but during this early phase, pre-opening, and as a new establishment, I think they´d be silly to refuse. Offer to pay for the extra amuse and the palette cleanser. No harm in asking; the most they can say is no. Let us hear how it was.

[wkl]

After dinner with some out of town friends at Ralphs, ( I can't bring myself to post how mediocre, okay bad, the food was. I mean everyone there is so nice and all......) I noticed a closed for renovations sign on Mezze.It had a reopening date but I don't remeber what it was.Not far away though. Anyone know what they're up to?

I ate here twice and really liked it.

[Buckethead]

They are open again now, and it is great. I had never been there before. We were chatting with our server before we left (it was late, the place was empty), and she said that they have a new chef now, but I didn't find out how long he's been there, so I can't say whether he was there before the renovations or not. Anyway, he does a stellar job. I heard that LaBan gave it two stars a couple days ago, he was not mistaken. The prices are very reasonable, as well. We had three apps, one entree (the Cypriot Ravioli, oh man was that good), two desserts and coffee and I think our tab was $45 without tip. Next time we'll probably do the Meze prix-fixe thingy.