Medina Oven and Bar may tout itself as a Moroccan restaurant, but its outlook owes more to Victory Park's geography than to that of its North African culinary homeland.

WILLIAM DeSHAZER/DMN

A Medina sampler plate includes four distinctive spreads and a dish of tangy marinated olives. Pita wedges are also included.

Though small and relatively understated by Victory standards – no towering nude topiaries or eardrum-thumping techno music here – the restaurant is undeniably chic. The tiny dining room accommodates 40 comfortably in four parallel rows of seating, with room for about 10 more at the bar overlooking the open kitchen. The space is done up in warm tones evocative of the rich spices that color the cuisine. A handsome tile floor and overhead lanterns suspended in attractive wrought-iron spheres underline the theme.

The first clue to Medina's cosmopolitan aspirations comes with a perusal of the cocktail list. Traditional Moroccan mint tea is given a twist – or, specifically, a twist of lime, a dash of orange blossom water and a healthy shot of vodka – in the Marrakesh mint tea martini. It's a delicious and refreshing concoction that goes down alarmingly easy. Other specialty drinks include the Medina Carpet Ride (Crown Royal, apricot brandy and lemon juice), the Med-Rim margarita (tarted up with ruby red grapefruit juice) and the sensually sweet caramel-fig martini.

Those not quite so adventurous can check out the wine list and its selection of moderately priced quaffs from around the world. I was looking forward to trying the Amazir Beni M'Tir, a Moroccan red that my server likened to a Spanish Rioja, but it was out of stock on both my dinner visits. The only other Moroccan wine available was a white from Geurrouane, a dry, fruity white with a crisp finish that paired well with many vegetarian and seafood options.

At first glance, the menu appears to be a relatively straightforward riff on Moroccan standards: couscous, merguez lamb sausage, hummus, slow-cooked stews called tagines. But when food arrives, it's just as stylized as the setting: tiny, tapas-size portions, carefully crafted and nuanced to bridge the gap between earthy Mediterranean flavors and polished urban appeal. And don't worry about adhering to the Moroccan custom of eating with your hands; utensils are as de rigueur here as at any of the restaurant's Victory Park neighbors.

Most diners we saw began their meals with a sampler platter of warm, pillowy pita wedges served with four distinctive spreads and a dish of tangy marinated olives seasoned with preserved lemon (a classic Moroccan condiment made by pickling lemons in their own juices with lots of salt). In addition to the hummus, the platter included a cumin-laced roasted-red-pepper-and-tomato mélange, a smoked eggplant dip (a chunkier version of baba ghanouj) and an addictively kicky Tunisian-style harissa aioli made with a cayenne-spiked chile-tomato base.

The brief selection of "oven crisp wraps" may conjure images of filling wrap sandwiches, but this takeoff on traditional Moroccan bastillas instead consists of small, egg roll-size phyllo cigars. Our two-bite treats were stuffed with a blend of goat cheese and harissa, and the creamy texture made a wonderful foil for the crispy, flaky pastry wrapper.

Grilled brochettes were also sized to leave us wanting more. Two fat grilled scallops were threaded on a skewer and served atop a bed of lively diced cucumber-tomato salad. The seafood was cooked perfectly, moist and succulent, but the price ($9) seemed high for the portion.

Salads and pizzas, however, were big enough to share, though given the freshness and quality of the ingredients, you may be tempted to keep them all to yourself. The Casablanca salad was a stunningly harmonious mixture of peppery arugula, diced beets, golden raisins, grape tomatoes, Gorgonzola cheese and pine nuts in a light pomegranate vinaigrette. Just as nice was the merguez pizza, topped with spicy lamb sausage, olives, red peppers, onion and feta and mozzarella cheese. I would have preferred a slightly crisper crust, but the thin, yeasty wood-fired base was otherwise picture-perfect.

For a more typical main dish, there are a handful of entrees, though again, they're pricey for their size. Lamb chops seasoned with za'atar (a Middle Eastern spice mixture that includes thyme, sesame seeds and sumac) were tender and juicy, cooked to a rosy medium-rare. Beef tenderloin tagine was enjoyable as well, though in this case the term tagine presumably refers to its conical ceramic serving vessel rather than a slow-cooked stew. While the accompanying poached prunes and whole almonds are traditional tagine ingredients, the fact that the meat was cooked medium-rare, as requested, was an obvious tip-off that it was not long-simmered, as is customary. Still, the flavors melded compatibly, even if the beef was tough in places.

Desserts include such nontraditional sweets as sinfully rich chocolate marquise and a silken crème brûlée flavored with orange-blossom water and set atop a drizzle of raspberry purée.

Service was friendly and attentive on a crowded weekend, though on a slow Sunday evening things dragged as our waiter spent more time socializing with colleagues than keeping an eye on his tables. Even so, the engaging mix of the exotic and the accessible makes Medina an enticing spot to rock the culinary casbah.

Medina

Oven and Bar

{star}{star}{star} (very good)

Food {star}{star}{star}

Service {star}{star}

Atmosphere {star}{star}{star}

Price: $$-$$$ (small plates $5 to $9, pizzas $11 to $13, entrees $16 to $23)

Address: 2304 Victory Park Lane

Phone: 214-979-0003

Web site: www.medinadallas.com

Hours: Monday-Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday noon to

11 p.m., Sunday noon to 10 p.m.

Credit cards: All major

Wheelchair accessible: Yes

Smoking area: Patio only

Alcohol: Full bar