Opening Alert: See and Be Seen Eating Evo's Eastern Mediterranean Cuisine

Portland's latest hotel restaurant opens today, June 17 at 4:30 p.m. at the Hyatt: Evo is offering more Mediterranean to downtown diners. Co-owner Casey Prentice, chef Brandon Hicks, and chef de cuisine Matt Ginn all told Eater the limited size of the project, with roughly 50 seats split between downstairs bar seating and mezzanine tables, is a strength. "You can't do a scratch kitchen or farm-to-table for 360 seats," Prentice suggested in reference to much larger Mediterranean neighbors Ebb and Flow and Tiqa.

Hicks also runs the kitchen at the Prentice Group's Inn at Chebeague Island and previously worked at Lebanese eatery Ilili in New York. He called Evo's focus eastern Mediterranean, specifically Jordanian and Lebanese. Hicks balked slightly at being lumped in with the city's "small plates craze," suggesting instead that everything on the menu is meant to play well together. "You could come here five nights, you might get a hummus plate every single night, but when you mix it with different components you're getting entirely different dishes." See a preview of those dishes below, and check out a sample menu online.

Peeky Toe Crab Falafel.

Scallop Crudo.

443 Fore Street, Portland, (207) 358-7830, website. Open Tuesday to Sunday 4 p.m. to 1 a.m.