Ezme offers complexity in simple Mediterranean ingredients

The Vibe Check Concept: Aegean Coast-inspired appetizers and plates perfect for pairs and group Average dish price: $24, ranging from $7 to $60 Kids’ Menu? No Alcohol? Yes Vegetarian-Friendly? Yes Gluten-Friendly? Yes Live music? No Hours: Sun-Mon closed, Tues-Thurs 4-9 p.m., Fri-Sat 4-10 p.m. Website: ezmewilmington.com

When acclaimed Wilmington chef Antimo DiMeo was brainstorming the name for Bardea Restaurant Group’s new Mediterranean eatery, he retreated to a cozy memory of sipping rosé and gazing out a window overlooking a river at a restaurant in Istanbul.

Out of all the dishes he ate there, the simplest — ezme, a base of crushed tomatoes and roasted peppers served with crackers and pitas — stuck out the most.

“I’ll never forget. We took a bite, and it was just such an impact. It was bright. It was fresh. It was clean. The hospitality was so warm and cozy,” DiMeo said. “It wasn’t anything crazy. It was just perfectly executed.”

Those qualities served as DiMeo’s culinary ethos when he returned to Wilmington after his two-week research and development trip to Turkey and Greece and crafted the menu for Ezme.

He was surprised to find that Turkey had much more of an impact on the menu than Greece.

“Turkey was eye-opening. … There were flavors and things that I had never seen before,” DiMeo said. “Istanbul almost felt like New York — a lot of amazing food options, dense population, a lot of culture, all the different spice markets. It was magical.”

Menu-crafting ended up being a lot of work for DiMeo, even more so than it was for many of his other restaurants.

“I put my head down and worked on different variations, even one dish, just trying it 10 different ways — which is crazy because, at its core, the soul of Ezme is very bright, green, simple. It’s fresh flavors over a live fire, a lot of olive oils, citrus, fresh herbs,” he said.

Ezme opened on Market Street in May. The restaurant sits across the street from Bardea Food & Drink and Bardea Steak and is only a few blocks away from DiMeo’s Casa Nonna, Roost Pub & Kitchen and DE.CO Food Hall.

But DiMeo, who has been a semifinalist twice for the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef award in the Mid-Atlantic region, isn’t worried about competing with himself. In his view, every one of his restaurants offers a different experience to draw new crowds to downtown Wilmington.

What Ezme offers is an intimate, 50-seat space — the smallest of DiMeo’s restaurants — and a more casual atmosphere than, say, Bardea Steak.

Patrons on a Thursday evening wore attire ranging from aloha shirts to sundresses, matching the coastal vibes of the photography lining the walls and the blue-and-white striped T-shirts of the staff.

More casual attire is to be expected for a dining experience that requires so much eating with your hands. The restaurant’s central concept is “mezze,” sharing several smaller plates with a group instead of ordering an entrée for each person.

We noticed a few families when we visited, though none with young children. Ezme is definitely a high-end restaurant, despite its somewhat laid-back atmosphere.

“We want to make sure we’re still … ‘fine dining,’ but not so stuffy. A little bit more like you’re at somebody’s house,” DiMeo said. “Like if I was going to my nonna’s house, and she’s taking care of me. That’s sitting at the table, sharing mezze, more of a free-flow style of food hitting the table rather than a rigid tasting menu where it’s course after course after course.”

The Chef’s Tasting — a revolving door of colorful, refreshing dishes, perfect for a pair — certainly offered that experience.

The tasting began with consommé as a palette cleanser, which had a salty taste that brought the seaside to mind.

The same could be said for the White Garden cocktail of gin, mastiha, cucumber, artichoke and dill, which was not included in the cost.

The Chef’s Tasting was $110 but included several items that quickly added up to the price of admission.

For example, melt-in-your-mouth beef tartare with tart pomegranate-ver’jus is $20 on its own but was included in the Chef’s Tasting. It came alongside six dishes from each section of the menu, including two entrées — lamb kefta and chicken kebab — albeit as smaller portions than if they were to be ordered on their own

Surprisingly, the cheapest item on the menu was also one of the standouts: the $7 simit, a Turkish bread that was pillowy on the outside, chewy on the inside and paired with honey-tahini butter.

For DiMeo, one of the highlights of his trip to Turkey was seeing all the variations of simit being sold by street vendors, then coming home to make his own. His “first love in the kitchen was fermentation and dough,” in no small part because his parents opened DiMeo’s Pizza on Market Street in 2012.

Ezme’s menu is full of complex dishes — from scallops served with a squid ink-infused black hummus to grilled prawn coated in chickpeas and served with pomegranate and horseradish sauce — but simple ingredients are at the heart of the menu.

For example, the labneh tabat is essentially “a yogurt ball with dried fruits and pistachio and caramelized onion,” as DiMeo put it.

“We got those simple ingredients, and we were able to turn it into something that, when you eat it, you’re like, ‘Why is this so freaking good? Why is this hitting the spot? Why is this leaving a memory?’” he said. “In Turkey, for me, it was inspiring just eating. I love when I eat something simple, and it makes an impact.”

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