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Restaurant review

Middle East, center stage

Zaeem Palace pairs the savory cuisine of the Middle East with smart service and thoughtful extra touches (and belly dancers too).

By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published December 1, 2005

	[Times photos: Brian Cassella]
	Zaeem Palace offers a welcoming atmosphere and inviting food, like the fattoush salad, left; lamb rack with rice and the daily vegetable, baby carrots, bottom; the mixed grill, right, which includes shrimp, chicken, beef, and lanb with couscous and the daily vegetable; and the Zaeem Tour appetizer, for which the customer chooses any six items, top.
	Johanna Krynytzky, who dances under the name Xenobia, performs a belly dance in the dining room of Zaeem Palace in Tampa. Belly dancers perform Friday and Saturday nights, as well as for some late-night private events.

It's too soon to call it Boulevard, but in the last three years Bay to Bay Boulevard has come close to beginning and ending with Middle Eastern restaurants.

First came Byblos with a bright splash of hip style in inlaid tile suitable for the corner on the toniest stretch of MacDill Avenue. On the other side of South Tampa, where Bay to Bay empties into West Shore Boulevard, Zaeem Palace has quietly evolved its own upscale setting, with gauzy orange drapes and a sparkling wine cellar.

Quietly but not dully. Not on Saturday nights, when haunting club music thumps long past midnight. And often, the veils of a belly dancer are swirling and sweet shisha smoke drifting from old men and young hipsters sitting around a hookah's spidery pipes.

Zaeem Palace is just one of a half-dozen new Middle Eastern restaurants that have sprung into being in the past four years. Just at a time when cynics predicted a rejection of Middle Eastern culture, immigrant chefs and entrepreneurs have set a mezze with dishes from Turkey to Persia all around Tampa Bay.

And it's not just more storefront outlets for campus health-food munchies; Zaeem and many others proudly offer samples of their cuisines with smart service and grown-up prices, for compatriots and newcomers alike.

Zaeem makes clear that not all Mideastern food is the same. Lamb, couscous, spinach, yogurt and beans are found in kebabs, dips, phyllo dough and grape leaves all around the Mediterranean, but each country and chef treats them differently.

At Zaeem, for instance, I found most of the above done well and extra fillips lurking in the cheeses, vegetarian dishes, desserts and beyond. Plus, service was inviting, friendly and knowledgeable. Instead of feeling lost, you are welcome.

As in any Middle Eastern restaurant, the appetizer list is long, engaging and could be sufficient. Bread salad, homemade yogurt and marinated favas I expect, but Zaeem goes on. The fine, smooth hummus topped with pine nuts elevates one of my favorites. Eggplant is sauteed with tomatoes (moutabal) or tossed with cauliflower (makali) as well as the familiar baba ghanouj. And there is kabis, a pickle pleasure, tart in any language.

The true discovery for me was a cheese, the halloum of Lebanon, a bit like Greek kasseri or mozzarella but with more bite. Having it lightly batter-fried is as wicked as fried mozzarella but not as heavy - or gooey.

All of it is best with pita bread, always served hot here (a practice all too rare).

The best entrees came from the char grill or the skillet, with juicy lamb, beef, chicken and shrimp skewers in various combinations. Kafta, the small spicy compounds of beef and lamb, is a good choice. Zaeem was out of kibbe, the meaty wheatloaf I love, but I'll give it a try another time.

Of the vegetarian entree dishes, I tried mojadara. It's something of a stirfry, rice and dark lentils topped by a sprinkling of crisp fried onions and a Lebanese chopped salad of bell pepper, cucumber, onion and tomatoes. Love the fried onions, but the rice 'n' lentils need much more of the promised herbs and spices, especially cumin. I'll give up meat but not flavor.

Likewise on couscous. It was the perfectly round pearl sort, quite dull without olive oil, saffron or mint.

Baklava can be dessert enough, yet why stop there? Zaeem offers konafa and harissa, pastries that run from flaky to cakelike, with cream filling, almonds and of course honey.

The best dessert, however, comes from Tampa as well as the Levant: Turkish coffee ice cream from Jimmy's. Yep, Zaeem commissioned the ice cream mavens from the late and much lamented Old Meeting House to make it, and it's as rich and powerful as any ice cream I've had.

I swear I could taste the sugar and coffee grounds.

Of course, they need intense Turkish coffee to make such an ice cream, and you have to go to Zaeem for that. If you skip the ice cream, at least get a cup of Turkish coffee.

The taste is just as strong and smooth. The grounds are real. And here to stay.

- Chris Sherman dines anonymously and unannounced. The St. Petersburg Times pays for all expenses. A restaurant's advertising has nothing to do with selection for a review or the assessment of its quality. Sherman can be reached at 727 893-8585 or sherman@sptimes.com

3333 S West Shore Blvd.

Tampa

(813) 832-1188

www.zaeempalace.com

Hours: Lunch, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday; dinner, 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday; 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. Saturday; and 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday

Details: Credit cards accepted, beer and wine available.

Features: Belly dance shows on Friday and Saturday nights

Reservations: Suggested

Prices: Lunch, $4.95 to $11.99; dinner, $6.99 to $24.99

[Last modified February 1, 2006, 10:45:02]