Different address, same flavor and flair

To see the vibrant smile Faten Munger flashes her customers as she strolls from table to table making sure everything is to their liking is to know the charming, detail-oriented restaurateur she has become over the last couple of years. To see her and her dance students on stage Friday and Saturday nights in action-packed pageants is to know that Munger’s talents extend well beyond the day-to-day duties of restaurant owner.

Luxor's buffet offerings are diverse and delicious.

By now, Munger’s résumé is well known to fans of both her choreography and her food. A native of Egypt who trained as a classical pianist, she’s performed everywhere from Cairo to Cleveland, with a stop in Italy to hone her skills as a Middle Eastern dancer. A later sojourn in Seville, Spain, extended her dance card to include the passionate, heel-clicking steps of flamenco. Café Trevi, the restaurant she opened on Prospect Street in early 2004 seemed the culmination of her loves — and the perfect venue to exhibit the talents of her students alongside the cuisine of her homeland and the larger Mediterranean.

The news that this one-of-a-kind café was closing early this year came as a shock to regulars. But a spirit like Munger’s doesn’t surrender to one entrepreneurial obstacle. In May, she resurrected her restaurant in a smaller storefront on Virginia Avenue. Downsizing isn’t typically a brilliant business move, but in the case of Luxor, it’s exactly what Munger’s enterprise needed. While the old spot always seemed a little too sterile, with too many seats facing away from the stage, the new location is just the kind of cozy, neighborhood haunt where diners can’t help but feel the energy emanating from the stage. Awash with cool shades of teal and carpeted with rich tapestry rugs, the new venue has a lot more of the authentic charm you might come across in a big city ethnic neighborhood.

The smaller stage doubles during the week as the backdrop for Munger’s main innovation at Luxor: daily buffets. This allows diners a bit timid with some of the Egyptian and Middle Eastern dishes to try them out. Many of them are available on the weekend, and diners can then order them again when they come back for a floorshow at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

A visit to the weekday buffet showed that the kitchen was cooking up similar pan-Mediterranean eats as at Café Trevi, with a slight bias toward the Middle East. A huge platter of garlicky hummus greeted us, along with a nice array of olives, pickles and salad items, including a tomato and cucumber salad, tzaziki and feta. Pasta primavera was perhaps the one liability of the day’s buffet. Rather limp pasta in a runny tomato sauce, not the typical creamy white sauce, left us heading for more attractive entrees.

But just about everything else was tasty and fresh, including a stew of ground beef with peas, carrots, squash and aromatic undertones of curry, cinnamon, and allspice. Chicken cacciatoria offered tender chicken legs braised in a very mild tomato sauce with smooth, creamy “Italian” mashed potatoes with a hit of garlic and parsley. Rice, well-seasoned vegetables, tasty strips of gyros and warm pita rounded out the buffet, as well as a sweet rice pudding heavier on the custard than the rice. Not bad for $7.95.

A return visit for the Sunday brunch ($9.95) showed that the spicy maneuvers of the Saturday show had carried over into an even more flavorful buffet. In place of hummus was a generous dish of foul (pronounced “fool”), an ill-fitting transliteration of a protein-packed Egyptian dip of fava beans, tomatoes, garlic and plenty of spices, this time with a subtle, surprising kick of cilantro. Penne Bolognese trumped the earlier primavera with a rich, obviously slow-cooked meat sauce. Okra in a light tomato sauce was hearty and perfectly cooked, a treat even for those who say they don’t like this acquired taste.

Carbohydrate-rich koshary included rice, lentils, and macaroni with caramelized onions and a spicy-sweet tomato sauce. Even the same chicken cacciatoria was much more flavorful than earlier in the week. One delicious addition was warm om ali, a sweet bread-pudding-like concoction with ground coconut that Munger said was Middle Eastern comfort food at its finest — the kind of dish a mother would cook up to soothe a crying baby.

Despite location changes and dozens of nightly pageants, Munger remembers her regulars, knows when they’ve been in last and even recalls their favorite dishes. She’s not afraid to joke about what a customer does or doesn’t like, and her eyes twinkle when she makes diners guess the more exotic ingredients in dishes. As with her choreography, Munger likes to change things up from time to time to keep customers wondering. Already offering a back patio, she plans to open a sidewalk café next spring. What will she do next?

Luxor
1026 Virginia Ave.
687-9220

Hours
Tuesday-Friday 11 a.m.-2 p.m.; 5 p.m.-9 p.m.
Saturday 5 p.m.-10 p.m.
Sunday 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

Food : 3.5 Stars
Atmosphere : 3.5 Stars
Service : 4 Stars