Street Wise
Maple Street Grill is filled with the flavors of the Mediterranean.
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Jameel Qutob and his staff are enjoying Maple Street Grill's new location.
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WHAT: Maple Street Cafe
CUISINE: Mediterranean
WHEN: Lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday
WHERE: 7623 Maple St., 314-9003
CARDS: Major
Food memories are gloriously evocative. In our mind's eye, we
conjure up remembrances of smoky barbecues enjoyed at sunset near the family
pool, or fragrant cafes in quaint villages we discovered on vacations abroad,
or perhaps warm cookies coming out of the oven in grandmother's kitchens.
Besides those from childhood, some of my best food memories are
tied to the Mediterranean, where art and life are inseparable. The food is
seductive enough to jolt the most disinterested of palates. In the marketplaces
along the coastal regions, there are purple-black eggplants displayed near
bright red tomatoes, skinny green haricots verts, and bins of big black olives,
plus pyramids of goat-milk cheeses that can be spooned from a bowl like flowing
cream. The earthy, robust food is always prepared with great warmth and gusto.
In the Uptown area of New Orleans, where people are just as
passionate about their food and wine, one of the finest places to experience
the glories of Mediterranean cuisine is at a quaint little cafe owned by Jameel
Qutob. He is the talented chef-owner of the newly opened Maple Street Cafe.
Qutob is artful at incorporating all the luscious ingredients that anchor
Mediterranean dishes, from eggplant, garlic, onion and tomatoes to the sweet
perfume of olive oil to the fiery pepper sauce drizzled onto creamy pillows of
hummus that melt in the mouth. When placing your order for appetizers, you must
start with the mezes platter, which includes the luscious hummus accented with
plenty of garlic, plus pita triangles and a delightfully refreshing tabouleh
laced with fresh mint, scallions and a twist of lime. Fragrant little homemade
breadsticks, served piping hot from the oven, are brought to the table upon
when guests first arrive, and they are accompanied by balls of whipped
herbal-garlic butter. The delicious olive oil on the table enhances each hot
bite.
Qutob, who still owns the original Maple Street Grill down the
street (7724 Maple St.) says he decided to open a second restaurant to obtain a
liquor license. The original restaurant still has the "bring your own wine"
rule, and its menu has changed completely to a steakhouse lineup.
But that isn't where you'll want to go to experience the chef's
marvelous Mediterranean fare. Head to the new cafe, which is located in the
small, narrow building flanked by a small courtyard that most recently housed
Ginger Root (a somewhat popular -- although overpriced -- Vietnamese cafe that
closed a few months ago). Qutob transported the menu from his original
restaurant to the new cafe, adding some rather intriguing specials along the
way.
There is no getting around the fact that Qutob is a superb cook.
Before opening the first Maple Street Grill two years ago, he worked with his
brother T.J. Qutob, chef-owner of Petra, a wonderful Mediterranean dining haven
in Metairie.
Qutob's salads and soups speak to the seasons, while his pasta
combinations, the best of which are perfumed with olive oil and glossed with
garlic, are prepared with the freshest ingredients. The Greek salad is a work
of art. Fresh mixed greens, olives, feta, yellow bell peppers, tomatoes and
capers are tossed with a light dressing accented with lime, then placed in a
bread bowl and topped with its tidy little cap. At $5.95, it's a full meal.
Enjoy this with a bowl of soup du jour, such as the light cream of broccoli
punctuated with tiny bits of sun-dried tomatoes.
Among the finest specials I have sampled to date have included the
chef's housemade crawfish ravioli served in a creamy tomato sauce that lingers
on the palate, and a dish of fresh, briny oysters sauteed in olive oil with
plenty of garlic and onion, served over angel hair pasta with a white wine
garlic-butter sauce (both $11.95).
On the regular menu, my favorite dish is still the eggplant cake
appetizer ($5.95), which I have enjoyed as an entree with a side salad. The
hefty eggplant patty is fried to a crunchy golden brown and topped with a
luscious lump crabmeat cream sauce. The finest pasta combination I have had on
recent visits is made with fresh shrimp and angel hair pasta sauteed with a
trio of wild mushrooms and earthy sun-dried tomatoes, all tossed in a light
olive oil and garlic sauce. My little vegetarian dining companion adores the
penne Caruso, and for good reason. It is a wonderful dish made with a sauce of
plum tomatoes and fresh basil, interspersed with chunks of sauteed eggplant
that have an earthy, smoky flavor. Just about anything Qutob does with eggplant
is well worth sampling.
When dining at the new cafe, I like to sit in the tiny bay window
overlooking the street and dream of ancient ruins and bustling marketplaces by
the sea, and of time passing slowly, as it once did long ago in another world
abroad.
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