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Bistro Bleu rises high above ashes of NoHo Bistro in South Tampa

TAMPA

All of a sudden S MacDill Avenue in Palma Ceia is starting to look like a bona fide dining district. It's the introduction of Bistro Bleu back in May that seems like the tipping point. Pane Rustica, Byblos, Restaurant BT, Datz and Osteria Natalina — it's a heady array of cuisines and price points, all dynamic visions from independent owners. Bistro Bleu follows suit, taking the place of the relatively short-lived Moroccan Marrakech Restaurant.

It's the next chapter for longtime local restaurateur Tina Hurless and her new partner, Tomas Carrasquillo. Hurless and former partner Jessica Raia-Long owned the NoHo Bistro for seven years, a charming spot kneecapped by its tiny size, lack of windows and slightly dicey location on Armenia Avenue. Raia-Long sold her portion of NoHo to Hurless a while back to spend more time with her family. Then Hurless and Carrasquillo jumped at the chance to move the business to a larger, more promising location.

It's a good fit. A comfortable dining room is divided by a generous horseshoe bar; a covered outdoor patio promises great seating once the summer swelter has dissipated. On Wednesday nights a couple of guys play gentle versions of guilty-pleasure classic rock and servers quickly orient you on the superb craft brew list (lots of stylish local suds from Cigar City).

It's a neighborhood place, which means Bistro Bleu values its local customers as well as its local vendors, paying tribute on the menu to Urban Oasis Farm in Carrollwood, Sammy's Seafood in St. Petersburg, the Ravioli Company and Buddy Brew Coffee, both in Tampa, and other local farms and food purveyors. That said, the culinary focus is geographically restless. My last visits at the NoHo I felt that chef Hurless had a slightly more rigid French palette, the walls' Parisian street scene trompe l'oeils perhaps hemming her in. In the new setting, flavors draw equally from Latin America and Southeast Asia in dishes that are often familiar but with an unexpected zing.

The signature soup is a homey sweet potato apple puree (perhaps a little heavy for this time of year; $7 at dinner) given verve with a swirl of tangy creme fraiche and a few nubs of spicy-sweet candied ginger. A duet of perfect crab cakes (not a lot of filler, crisp exterior; $10) get squiggles of an aioli that tasted of floral lime leaf and a little sly heat, and a fluff of Cahaba Farms' fabulous microgreens. A nod to 1950s luncheon fare, a shrimp- and crab-stuffed half avocado ($10) is straight-up American, all ingredients playing nicely in a dish that feels luxurious but still somehow light and refreshing. Our only head-scratching starter was a fried calamari dish ($9) rendered limp with a cloying orange sauce and paired with braised endive, its bitterness no friend to the mild squid.

Craft-O-Matic Vendor List!

Craft-O-Matic is guaranteed to reduce stress, increase happiness, and fulfill all your handmade desires! Craft-O-Matic is a department store style, indie craft event featuring over sixty local artists, fun and funky live entertainment, and crafty make and takes from MADE Collective! This St. Louis Craft Mafia production will happen on Saturday June 4, from 11am to 11pm at the Regional Arts Center in the Loop. Representatives from Tenth Life Stray Cat Rescue will be there to share the love for special needs kitty cats.

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