Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Meze 119 - St Petersburg, FL






After trying the food at Meze 119 for the first time, I have to say I was very excited by the vegetarian offerings they have there. Although I am not a vegetarian, a majority of the meals that my family and I prepare at home are vegetarian, so I was very curious to try the menu at Meze. Meze is located in downtown St Petersburg, next to Starbucks, if you are familiar with the downtown area. Inside, the restaurant is a simple, but eye-pleasing space. You can sit at one of the regular tables or grab a place at one of the booths with colorful throw pillows.

The staff and owner here are friendly and ready to offer suggestions or answer any questions you may have about the menu items. Our biggest problem was deciding what to order from the menu, as a number of the menu items sounded intriguing. Finally, we decided to select a few plates to try. The Meze website describes meze as small dishes, but let me assure you, there was not anything small about each dish that we ordered. For starters, we tried the bourekas. The bourekas are stuffed puff pastry, and the filling changes every day. On the day we ate there, they were stuffed with a cauliflower filling and were very yummy. The bourekas were followed by the meze-zah, their version of a middle eastern pizza. The pizza had a nice crispy wheat crust and was topped with a delicious medley of cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, and artichokes. Next, was the green omelette, which was an omelette with scallions and served in a pita with hummus. We did try the hummus tahina plate, which was a basic hummus served with pita, or if you like they also offer a chef's hummus of the day, but I love basic hummus. Finally, my absolute favorite dish, was the roasted acorn squash stuffed with Moroccan couscous. Oh my, this wonderfully roasted squash was overflowing with fragrantly spice couscous and plump raisins. All of the food was delicious, and I know we will be back to try more items from the menu.

119 Second Street North
St Petersburg, FL 33701
727-498-8627



Meze 119 on Urbanspoon

No comments: