Open only since June 28th, STEELES is quickly becoming a neighborhood favorite. Chef Beni Velazquez serves up an interesting mix of fare featuring the cuisines of Southern Europe, North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean on his lunch, dinner and tapas menus.

My visit to STEELES was on their opening day. The best part about dining there on their opening day is that I would have never known – except for the waitress that told us it was STEELES opening day and she was super excited. The entire staff appeared calm and collected for opening day. And truly, even in a well established restaurant, calm and collected can be truly hard to find most times.

I dined with 3 friends so we were a four-top – an relatively easy table. We were seated right away and our water arrived at our table just as our waitress left with our drink order which was a pleasant appeal to me – I hate waiting! As a person who is intrigued by smart or artful design, my eyes wandered about the restaurant and I took notice of the décor that they used. The place is cool – everything from the fun shaped lights to the Earthy, natural feel to the waitstaff’s burnt orange coats!

I was delighted when reading the tapas menu as I found a couple of really interesting items I had never heard of nor eaten before. The menu really is eclectic. Of course, it was mandatory that our four top ordered a feast of tapas which we all dove right into the moment they were served. The tapas were spaced out appropriately and all came out in a timely manner. Dining on just tapas surprised us because the small (but filling) portions of food delighted both our pallet and our eyes.

Being a new restaurant, there’s always a quark or two that needs to be worked out but none of them affected our experience or seemed to be a bother to me at all.

One more aspect that I find worth noting is how important I felt in the place, even though I was just one of many customers that night. Chef Beni was inspecting and plating all of the food as it came out. All one had to do was glance over and see what hard work and dedication goes into his dishes. The atmosphere of the restaurant was very inviting and I had already decided from the minute walking in that I wanted to come back again. I’d like to see how the flow of things play out in the future, after STEELES has been open to the public for a month or more. I would suspect only the best for this restaurant.