The misspelled title may be a mistake in the foreign owner’s translation of the language or a plan to attract attention. His probable spelling defects, he makes up for with charm. Branislaw Butina is a short man with tousled brown hair and a quick smile. It’s not about him though, it’s about the food. One of the few places to get genuine Baltic food in St. Petersburg, The Mediteran Restaurant will keep people from that region and other ethnicities like me, incredulous of the portion sizes and wondering about the recipes. He’s not about to reveal how he makes his ground beef dishes look like real steak.

A Serbian neighbor and some of his other converts tried to explain the size of Butinas’s Pljeskavica. He said, “That’s what everyone says.” He and I took our bikes to the 4th Street restaurant ready to freshen up. In the cooler behind the counter I saw Pepsi, old-fashioned, in the little glass bottles, perfect for starters. Since he couldn’t read the menu very well and didn’t know what was good, Pedja ordered for me.

There was another Serb man sitting at the counter and all three of them were talking and talking in their language which gave me plenty of time to occupy myself looking around the place. It definitely lacked a feminine touch but that didn’t take away from the good atmosphere. It was small, with about six tables and mismatched chairs. In the corners were imitation plants. The walls had pictures without much thought to the actual decoration.

The cabinets behind the guest counter where Butina started preparing our meals were bright purple. Attached to the front were their ads for cappuccinos and espressos. I had cappuccino for dessert, it was great.

A family with two teenagers was eating at one of the small tables and many times people would come in to order something or pick up food to go. As soon as the plate was placed in front of me, I was like, “This is ridiculous.” The meat was eight inches in diameter and was sticking out an inch from the sides of the special homemade bread and over the edge of the plate.

Looking at Pedja, Butina and vice versa, I tried to find out why he had brought me steak. He knew that this was not what he expected. Politely speaking to me in English, he said that it was ground beef and that Butina had a secret to making it with this unique texture. I kept saying as I was cutting the sandwich trying to form manageable bites, “This is steak.”

Served with pepperochini, red onions and sour cream, I wanted to stop eating but couldn’t. There seemed to be a lot of spices infused into the meat, in fact Butina had asked me how he handled the spices before he cooked them perfectly for me. The meat seemed airy but not spongy; I wish I knew how he did it. He’d be happy to sell the meat after he’d prepared it, but he wasn’t going to tell us how he did it. As an American who has enjoyed Indian, Lebanese, Thai, Italian, Hungarian, Greek, and perhaps other types of ethnic food, I felt the story about this Baltic treasure had to be told. People should go to The Mediteran restaurant and experience these flavors.

The name can be deceiving, before my friend taught me otherwise; I would expect Greek or Italian cuisine. He was probably ignorant, but if you are too, check out this place. I ate as much as I could and still had a full meal left. -notes to follow-

Mediterranean restaurant

6500 4th St N

Saint Petersburg FL 33702

727-526-4466

Mon-Sun 7am-9pm closed Tue.