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Byblos brings sophistication and good tastes to an age-old Lebanese menu.
By CHRIS SHERMAN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 18, 2002
TAMPA -- In the past six months or so there has been a surprising re-emergence of Middle Eastern cuisine in ethnic restaurants and in small groceries around Tampa Bay, but none is as unexpected or as welcome as Byblos, which offers both.
Byblos sits in the former quarters of Carlino's and Kamy's at the corner of Bay to Bay Boulevard and MacDill Avenue, one of the epicenters of South Tampa style mavens and wannabes.
More important, it's not the least out of place among the ritzy retail. Decor is slick, colorful and minimal: There are rugs and marquetry inlaid with fine woods and mother of pearl, but they are few and set carefully in an open layout with cutout walls of ochre and burgundy. Sidewalk tables are topped with European umbrellas. Service is hip black T, and dinner prices run $10 to $17.
This is not your long-haired undergraduate's Middle Eastern, the kind of place where Birkenstockers read Hesse and are left with change from a five.
That is exactly the point of the owners. The three Estephan brothers from Lebanon wanted "someplace nice" where they could enjoy the cooking of their homeland with sophistication. So they built one.
Byblos' food is styled Mediterranean, but the food sticks to the staples of their end of that sea: stuffed grape leaves, falafel, hummus and such, each made on the premises with polish and tradition.
You'll find contemporary chefs elsewhere dipping into Middle Eastern tastes like couscous, pistachios, flatbreads and tabouleh and fusing them onto Greek, Italian, French, Spanish and more. Here the setting is contemporary, but the food is age-old.
For proof, step into the adjoining market packed with bulk olives and feta, za'atar bread, fresh spinach pies and elaborate confections of nuts and honey in phyllo shipped in from Shatilla in Dearborn, Mich.
Yet the restaurant menu goes beyond the health-food regulars in several ways.
Try the dipping sauce that comes with fresh pita bread: olive oil, sesame seed, thyme and sumac. If you don't know the last, it's an exciting reminder that bitter and sour are legitimate flavors. For sweeter spices you'll get plenty in kafta, where cinnamon and probably nutmeg perfume ground beef and lamb cooked on a flat skewer.
For a convincer, you must have labneh, a thick cream of yogurt, olive oil and mint that may be one of the best things that ever happened to sour milk.
Harder-to-get traditional dishes are here, too. There's foul, a tart mash of fava beans and garlic, the bread salad they call fattouch and a Lebanese mousakaa, in which eggplant is served in a sweet cold tomato relish. It's nothing like a Greek moussaka or an Italian caponata (for that, try makdous) and probably is closest to a salsa or a chutney. Whatever, it's a treat.
If Middle Eastern food first impressed America as vegetarian, at Byblos carnivores are welcome and rewarded with a wide range of meat dishes. There's hummus with meat, spicy makanek sausage (ground very finely), shawarma-marinated beef and of course kibbe -- meat, wheat and pine nuts mixed into what may be the world's best meatloaf.
Almost all of these can make for an endless mezze of small bites, dips for pita or sandwiches or be served as entrees. Surprisingly, I was equally pleased when I ordered the top-dollar entrees, such as shish kebab and lamb, that sounded dull and conventional. The lamb, its crust kissed by olive oil, was some of the best I've had, and the kebab of filet mignon rubbed with Middle Eastern herbs was fine red meat with extra attitude.
In keeping with Lebanon's French connections, there's a short wine list and a glass case full of gooey desserts from the in-house pastry chef, but the bulk of the menu is classical Lebanese.
Disappointments were few. Surprisingly most were in vegetables, for although all Lebanese kitchens work wonders with beans and eggplants, this one didn't go far enough with other vegetables. Basmati rice was good, but salads on entree plates were sabotaged by, you guessed it, tasteless tomatoes. Tabouleh was quite green, made with far more parsley than cracked wheat, while I like mine proportioned the other way. It also suffered from the same tomatoes.
The biggest risk here is the prices on some items: a bowl of cucumber and yogurt is $3.50 and lunch is closer to $10 than $5 at Byblos. Given the real estate and the classy setting, that's not unfair when portions are generous.
It does make us think fondly of cheaper times, but it's still encouraging to see this ancient food elevated to a sophisticated showcase.
2832 S MacDill Ave.
Tampa
(813) 805-7977
Hours: Noon to 9 p.m. Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday Reservations: Suggested
Details: Most credit cards; beer, wine; no smoking indoors
Special features: Outdoor seating; takeout; international market.