At E - A Tapas Lounge in St. Petersburg, tapas by any other name would be just as tasty and surprising.
By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published August 28, 2003
[Times photos: Lara Cerri]
General manager A.J. Broome, left, and executive chef Eddie Raye King display one of their eclectic menu items: a tandoori-spiced salmon entree, with coconut pineapple rice and mint-infused red onions.
E – A Tapas Lounge features such innovations as saute of calamari, which has sundried tomatoes, kalamata olives, and green onions in Dijon vermouth beurre blanc, with herbed ricotta cheese crostini.
The curmudgeon in me is tempted to ban the word "tapas" now that St. Petersburg has two places offering tapas and Tampa's Howard Avenue restaurant row has three.
Is it too early for a ban - or perhaps too late? The Spanish have done it for years, and we trendmongers have hyped it for 20.
Sushi's one thing - or a pretty specific class of things: cold rice and fish handsomely fashioned in the Japanese style.
But tapas cover a groaning board of possibilities.
So I should be satisfied if we just redefine tapas. Forget the precious "little dishes of Spain." Let's translate "tapas" as something we can all understand: "good, even darn clever food for under $10." (Forget portion size; some are tiny munchies, others substantial.)
That description is pretty broad and covers what is a promising category of new food booming around the country and slowly growing here, too: bread cafes, soup and salad, noodle shops, bar food and chef-made takeout.
By that standard, downtown St. Petersburg's new restaurant succeeds. Each dish I tried was as complex and inventive as our most expensive restaurants. This may sound like a recipe for pretention, but was really a just-plain-fun mix of flavors and textures.
Smoked salmon cheesecake sounds odd until you think about what goes on a bagel. The E - A Tapas Lounge version was thick and dense and punched up with a green onion sauce. A tartlet of brie, crab and egg custard was presented in a crackling cup of crisp phyllo sheets. Or get this: a little plate of beef tips marinated in chipotle peppers; more fire than I want, but a great backdrop for a salsa of cherry tomatoes and crunchy bacon.
How about oysters Rockefeller as soup? I am not making this up; chef Eddie Raye King is. It reminds me of a flurry of soup invention that created baked potato and BLT soups a few years ago (let's revive that trend this winter), but this was a killer entry. Spinach, oysters and enough cream and butter to give a Rockefeller gout.
Creativity, kitchen talent and good ingredients like that usually mean $20 entrees, but at E - A Tapas Lounge, most dishes cost the same as a Caesar salad or a grilled chicken wrap elsewhere. Some credit goes to advance preparation and some fault to overdone garnish, but it's still impressive for the price. Granted, two people may want to try three or four, but you could (and should) get by with the salmon cheesecake or Rockefeller soup alone.
What to call dining like this is a puzzle. King cooked a similar medley at the Appeteasers extension of Redwoods, and the owners of this place haven't done much better. E - A Tapas Lounge is only slightly more felicitous the previous E Eclectic Eatery, its former name. They should keep trying.
Yet this mix of small gourmet plates and reasonable prices fits a setting that is undeniably eclectic, the downstairs ground floor of the 1925 Art Moderne Colonial Inn. It's a building that you may have missed, but has not been ignored by entrepreneurs Debi Davis and Terry Porter, who are slowly refurbishing it with a full range of rooms, hair salons and $100 spa treatments. Refurbishing a musty hotel is a big job and not yet completed, but fresh paint and fresh ideas are more encouraging to me than most Big Budget, Big Beige projects.
The hotel owners are partners with A.J. Broome in the restaurant, which opened in April, but is still overlooked at many meals by the hordes at Bay Walk 100 feet away.
Eventually the E dining room and bar area will lose its institutional look and get freshened up with new chairs and slick tableware, but for now the style on the plates will have to do.
It seems like plenty to me, with only a few miscues. A crab cake didn't work as a salad or a sandwich, although it didn't stint on the crab or the promised tequila, pineapple and cilantro in the remoulade (maybe it should have gotten friendlier with Sr. Cuervo). Spinach and artichoke dip seemed a leftover idea, or at least I'm over it: This batch seemed tired and a waste of calories. Triple layer creme brulee (Frangelico, mango and passion fruit) may have simply been too much; next time I'll give in to the siren call of the pecan sundae with butterscotch brownie and chantilly cream.
More often, the menu met its wild ambitions. Stuffing artichoke hearts with oyster corn bread is a wickedly sweet idea for a stern vegetable. Pork tenderloin with pepper barbecue and a smart gratin of potatoes made a fine entree (there are a handful between $13 and $20 at dinner).
The wine list matched the food in eclecticism and price; only a dozen wines but they included a rare light arneis from California, Australian rose, New Zealand sauvignon blanc and a clean and happy pinot noir from MacMurray Ranch in Sonoma. (Yes, it was Fred's and is now owned by Gallo.)
Service fit the tapas, too, low-key and casual but food smart and proud. At one visit I was spotted and food came slowly out of the kitchen, but on another visit the service was quick on its feet - as demanded by food and wine that don't follow usual courses but keep on coming.
I hope they do. I'd like to see and try more fresh salads and maybe a plate of Serrano ham in honor of the original tapas. Call it what you will: Even in a walk-down restaurant, this kind of independent effort is an encouraging move up for downtown.
E - A Tapas Lounge
Colonial Inn & Spa
126 Second Ave. NE
St. Petersburg, FL 33701 (727) 823-0101
Hours: Lunch, dinner, tapas, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 1 to 11 p.m. Saturday. Breakfast starting at 7:30, Saturday, Sunday.
Details: Credit cards; full bar; no smoking; wheelchair access in rear; reservations accepted.
Features: Live entertainment Friday, Saturday.
Prices: Breakfast, $3.50 to $7.95; lunch and tapas, $5.50 to $9.95; dinner entrees, $12.95 to $19.95.
