Two weeks ago, what may be Vero’s first-ever Lebanese restaurant opened on westbound Route 60 just this side of the railroad tracks.
That’s right, Lebanese. While Sammy’s Mediterranean Café has a few Greek dishes on the menu, most of the offerings draw on the cuisine of his native country, Lebanon, and the Levant. Where else in Vero have you ever seen kibbeh?
Lebanese food is among the most delicious and healthy anywhere. While the dishes served on our first visit were a bit uneven – many spectacular, some not-so-much – we think Sammy’s has the potential to be a most welcome addition to the Vero dining firmament.
Headline news: One thing you can say for sure about Sammy’s is that it is authentic. His Lebanese dishes are the real deal. And the restaurant may have the widest selection of dishes in town for vegetarians, vegans, or those following a gluten-free diet.
Look & Feel: This is a small restaurant – only four booths, and a half dozen tables – but it has a bright, contemporary décor, with display cases containing enticing pastries, and paintings of Mediterranean seascapes on the walls.
Food: On our initial visit, our party of four had an opportunity to sample three appetizers, the soup of the day, the house salad, and three entrees.
The appetizers we tried were the caramelized cauliflower ($9.95), the dolmades ($9.95) and the baba ganousch ($8.95).
The cauliflower appetizer was tremendous. When you roast cauliflower to the point that you think you might be overdoing it, the high heat caramelizes it, leaving a slightly sweet interior and a crispy crunch around the edges. Served with tahini (a sesame seed paste), this dish was divine.
The dolmades (grape leaves) were stuffed with beef and rice, and were served with tzatziki (a Greek dipping sauce). The stuffed grape leaves were very tender – the best I remember having anywhere.
The baba ganousch – an Eastern Mediterranean dish of cooked eggplant mixed with onions, tomatoes, olive oil and seasonings – was also excellent. The soup of the day ($5.95) was a light lentil soup. Very tasty.
For entrées on this visit, we tried the moussaka ($13.95), the wild salmon ($14.95) and the kibbeh platter ($12.95).
The grilled salmon, a nice piece of fish served with lentils and rice, was tasty but a bit overdone. The moussaka – roasted eggplant with tomatoes, onions and chick peas – was a very light rendering of this dish.
But the kibbeh, a traditional Eastern Mediterranean dish made with ground meat and bulgur, was a bit of a disappointment to my husband, who in an earlier life enjoyed it on many occasions in Beirut.
Kibbeh can be made from either lamb or beef (he chose lamb on this occasion) and most often it is shaped into balls that look like footballs. Sammy’s does offer it this way, but the server recommended a flat preparation more like a meatloaf. While it was served with a very tasty hummus, it was more than a little dry. He was sorry he had not tried it in its traditional form.
For dessert, we finished with three types of baklava ($3.75). The consensus view was the best was the pistachio, with the almond coming in second.
Drink: While Sammy expects by late February to have a beer and wine license, at the moment if you want an adult beverage you need to bring your own. Sammy, however, is more than ready to provide the wine glasses (and if you want a taster, you can possibly talk him into that as well).
Prices: Entrée prices run from $8.95 to $14.95. With an appetizer, an entrée and a dessert, hard to imagine how a party of two would spend more than $70 or $80 (and perhaps considerably less) before tax and tip.
Initial impressions: Sammy’s will provide you with tastes of Lebanon and the Levant during a time when not many of us are inclined to fly over there for a visit. Very much worth a try.
I welcome your comments, and encourage you to send feedback to me at Tina@VeroBeach32963.com.
The reviewer dines anonymously at restaurants at the expense of Vero Beach 32963.