DINING REVIEW: LEBANESE CAFE GOES BIG AND BOLD WITH FLAVOR

Tampa Tribune

Hummus and beef filet kebabs from Soho Oasis Cafe in Hyde Park.

TAMPA – Recent decades haven’t been kind to Beirut, a city once known
as the Paris of the Middle East, an oasis of cosmopolitan culture.

It’s on the rise again, but through its ups and downs one core value
was never lost: its food, a richly diverse mix of gourmet influences
from Greek to Eastern European to French, Spanish and Arabian. Lebanese
menus are so diverse with such powerful personalities they’d rival
a speakers lineup at a G-20 conference.

Tampa has an outpost of that mix, tucked in a small spot in Hyde Park
called Soho Oasis Café. Prepare yourself for bold, unexpected flavors.

Now that the weather is turning slightly cooler than thermonuclear,
we highly recommend the outdoor patio with its luxurious curtains,
fans and dim lighting with soft Middle Eastern music.

And bring on the meza, little appetizer dishes akin to tapas from
Spain. There’s baba ghanoush (spiced, pureed, roasted eggplant),
stuffed grape leaves and luscious halloumi cheese (a rare cheese that
can grill without melting).

We chose the sujuk, spicy Armenian-style sausage, sliced thin
and roasted, almost like salami, served with pita, tomatoes and
pickles. Yes, pickles, but these aren’t Vlasic — they’re seasoned
much more powerfully, and provide a simultaneously cool and sharp
contrast to the salty heat of the sausage. Note the theme — strong
flavors contrasting and complementing each other.

Also as a starter, we picked the surprisingly huge spinach pizza
appetizer, and almost felt transported to Italy, with rich and velvety
feta, olive oil and smoky spinach.

For one entree we selected a Lebanese standard, the lamb shish kebab,
which came with tender grilled meat, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers,
mushrooms and mango pickles, a plate easily large enough to share. The
accompanying bas was the shawarma chicken, which came with spiced,
shredded chicken, pickles and garlic mayo sauce.

For the indecisive, there’s a combination kebab plate ($19.95) to
share among a few people. For the braver, we’d point out the baby
quail marinated with olive oil, spices and served on basmati rice.

For wine, there are several blends, including Chateau Kefraya Les
Breteches from Lebanon, with a deep fruitiness (almost like a Port)
and a cedar/tea tone to balance the spicy entrees.

Several desserts can cool off the flavor party.

The mellowest is the banana crepe. There’s no over-the-top drizzle
of caramel or pile of berries. Rather this dish is all about warm and
creamy banana and light crepe dough — an ambassador from the nation
of Mellowpotamia.

On the more exotic side, we picked the ismalieh, which is something
like a Middle Eastern version of tiramisu. The kitchen finely shreds
phyllo dough, crisps it up into a kind of fuzz, then adds a layer of
ricotta and ashta cream, then tops it with pistachio and syrup. Take
a deep breath, because this dessert exudes richness.

Besides the listed menu items, we suggest asking about specials,
because owner Richard Azar often creates a special dish and lets
regular diners know it’s coming. More than half of his customers
appear to be regulars who come in weekly, if not daily.

Hookah smokers have options, too, with more than a dozen of the
traditional water pipes available for smoking on the patio and tobacco
mixes for $15.

After taking such a culinary tour of the Mediterranean, we decided
Soho Oasis isn’t so much a fusion restaurant as it is an embassy row —
each dish fiercely authentic to its own place of origin.

Pickles, meet pizza, meet kebabs, and say hello to crepes. Everyone
getting along?