By Nancy Lewis
Thursday, September 28, 2006

Small plates -- known in Spain as tapas , in the Middle East as meze and in Italy as cicchetti -- are the latest darling of the American culinary scene.

Chef Jose Andres brought the concept to the Washington area in 1993 when he opened Jaleo, specializing in Spanish tapas, and followed it up in 2001 with Zaytinya, which features Greek, Turkish and other Middle Eastern meze. This summer, Kyma (pronounced kee-ma) opened on West Street in downtown Annapolis with chef Jose Picazo, a former Andres acolyte, at the helm.

Like Tsunami, Lemongrass and Metropolitan, which have forged the way in making West Street a destination for good food and a good time, Kyma is adding to the buzz.

First, there is the knockout decor. Kyma means wave in Greek, and walls of gentle acrylic waves in shades of blue set the theme for the downstairs and upstairs dining areas. The 200-year-old building -- which has housed a telegraph office and a deli, among other things -- has been stripped to its brick walls, leaving old beams exposed for a loft atmosphere. The glass front is really three large doors that fold back to give the space an indoor/outdoor feel.

Rich wood tones are underfoot -- even the stairs are gorgeous -- and a line of rich wood tables faces a long banquette along one wall. The downstairs rear bar is dominated by a wood-fired oven. Upstairs, a second bar with a lounge area features low tables in front of another banquette. Dividing the lounge from the dining room is a stand for a disc jockey, who whips up an urban beat on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. (Unfortunately, the thump-thump-thumping music only added to my headache and made it almost impossible to carry on a conversation.)

Though small plates have been playing to diners in the area for more than a decade, it's obviously a foreign notion in Annapolis; at least that's the impression from the spiel the servers are still delivering months after the restaurant opened. Otherwise, the service is prompt and attentive.

Many of the dishes -- color-coded gold on the menu for Spanish items and blue for Greek -- are familiar. Gazpacho is pleasingly tart and smooth, accented with swirl of olive oil. Tabbouleh is mostly bulgur wheat with accents of parsley, instead of the opposite proportions. The spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) tastes mostly of spinach without enough bright accent of feta. Garides saganaki (Greek-style shrimp) features plump shrimp in a lively tomato sauce, but it needs a bit more punch from the feta. The mini chorizo sausages are pleasantly spicy.

But Kyma isn't just about the familiar.

Kolokithokorfades are zucchini blossoms stuffed with lamb sausage and mint. Pan serrano is an exemplary version of this classically simple Spanish tapa, toasted bread rubbed with ripe tomato and topped with moist slices of chewy Serrano ham.

Cocas -- Spanish individual-size pizzas -- are stars of the menu but probably nothing like you would expect. The cocas are long rectangles of crisp flatbread, topped with the likes of caramelized onions, goat cheese, black olive tapanade and roasted red peppers.

Each dish is stylishly presented -- on pristine white plates, some round, some oblong, some shell-shaped -- but the restaurant's version of the Spanish standard patatas bravas (roasted potatoes with spicy tomato sauce) best showcases the kitchen's flair. Known here as patatas bravisimas, the dish is presented as a dozen tiny cylinders of roasted potato, each hollowed out and filled with aioli (garlic mayonnaise) and standing upright atop a square plate spread with zesty tomato sauce. It tastes as good as it looks.

The dinner menus also offer a handful of larger dishes, including a selection of paella that are available Sunday through Thursday, including fideua , basically a pasta paella. Though most of the fideua (pronounced fee-theh-WAH) dishes that I have tried in Spain use thin pasta similar to vermicelli, Kyma uses what looks like skinny elbow macaroni. The dish includes much the same seafood as paella -- clams, mussels, squid, shrimp and monkfish -- cooked in a rich tomato and saffron broth.

At lunch, the menu includes a small selection of tapas, along with salad -- the lamb salad includes just medium rare slices of lamb atop a Greek seasoned salad -- and even crab cakes.

The not-to-be-missed dessert is yaourti, a martini glass of thick, luscious yogurt layered with honey and topped with caramelized hazelnuts. The traditional flan, both lighter and creamier than most, runs a close second.

Not every dish is a winner at Kyma, and some left me feeling shortchanged. I don't understand the concept of charging for bread, even good bread that is heated or finished baking to order in a wood-fired oven.

A $5 basket of either Spanish or Mediterranean bread consists of exactly six slices -- bread that even the management says is essential to a tapas/meze meal. Order just one basket and a small dish of one of the excellent spreads such as tzatziki (yogurt and cucumber), hummus (sesame and chickpea) or ktipiti (roasted red pepper), and before you even start, your bill is nearly $8.

The tab for drinks can be even more unpleasant. A standard margarita came in at $13.50; a glass of Marques de Caceres is $8 -- you can often find it for about $3.99 a bottle retail.

But then, who said being urban and hip was inexpensive.

Kyma Restaurant, 69 West St., Annapolis, 410-268-0003. Reservations recommended. Hours: lunch, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, noon to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; dinner, 5 to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 5 to midnight Friday and Saturday. The lounge is open until 1:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday and until midnight Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday. A limited menu is served from 3 to 5 p.m. daily. Tapas and meze at lunch, $4 to $7.75, main courses at lunch, $8.75 to $12. Tapas and meze at dinner, $3.75 to $9.75; main courses at dinner, $17 to $49. Accessible to people with disabilities.http://www.kymarestaurant.com.

If you have a favorite restaurant that you think deserves attention, please contact Nancy Lewis atlewisn@washpost.com.