The owners of the Argus Bar and Grill bought Amy’s Cafe and eventually reopened it as Mezze, a Mediterranean restaurant, in April. I always thought that Amy’s was better as a bar than a restaurant, but now Mezze is an upgrade in both aspects.
Let’s talk about the bar first. One side of the two-page menu lists beers, so I asked our waiter/bartender about the cocktails, and he told me that he makes them based on liquor (rum, brandy, vodka, whisky or gin) and flavor (sweet, bitter, strong or sour). Thus, a whisky strong became a Sazerac, and a gin sweet turned into a Bee’s Knees. I enjoyed this process, as well as the cocktails, immensely.
The food choices are divided into sections called cold, hot and pizza. Based on the portion size, the plates can either be shared or eaten individually. An example is the pork kebab ($12), which comes with three large chunks of very tender and well-seasoned pork amid a bright combo of sweet corn relish, harissa potatoes and garlic yogurt.
The meat also was perfect in terms of flavor and texture on the lamb pizza ($16), which also was topped with garlic, pine nuts, onion and garlic cream. Even better was the crust, which tasted like perfectly toasted pita bread. Speaking of which, the homemade pita that comes with the falafel ($8) was much different; in fact, it was quite bland. The four pieces were strangely paired with three pieces of spinachy-tasting falafel.
If you’re looking for just a snack, the Za’atar fries ($8) will hit the spot. They are nicely seasoned and come with garlic yogurt sauce. Others that are good to nosh on are the hummus and tabbouli ($10) and the charcuterie ($12).
Mezze serves dinner Monday-Saturday, beginning at 4 p.m.
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See more photos in our Mezze Flickr album.
Tags: downtown, Mediterranean
