Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 23, 1990                   TAG: 9005230082
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Lelia Albrecht
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long

TASTINGS IS BACK, AND SO IS GREAT FOOD

But after a long wait, the doors across from Quality Produce reopened, and there was the smell of baking bread again, with chintz flowering all over the place, and greenery growing.

Unexpectedly, though, Brasilia flowered there as well. Now, the second-generation Tastings Cafe features such offerings as "Chicken Mafiosa" at dinner, with surprising seasonings and a happy price ($5.95).

It's all due to the four Fonsecca brothers. While they have expanded Tastings' menu and extended its hours, specific hours and items are unpredictable. They have opened Tastings and closed, closed and opened - sometimes serving dinner, sometimes not.

Recently, my favorite Tastings' wine wasn't there, nor was Fonsecca brother Renaldo. Now he's back, and so is the fine white Concha y Toro ($1.95 a glass).

Tastings is a pleasant place to lunch downtown. It's difficult to spend much more than $6 for the midday meal, unless you accompany it with a wine or an imported beer, or with an excellent espresso or cappuccino (95 cents and $1.50 respectively) - if the machine is working, as it often isn't.

One of my favorite concoctions at Tastings' lunch has always been the unusual red cabbage slaw (50 cents). When it's available, it's listed beneath "Side Dishes." The slaw has glorious color, crunch and zest, making it a perfect partner to the long list of lunch sandwiches.

The sandwich list includes, oddly, Fettuccini Primavera ($3.95), tossed with fresh vegetables in a nicely spirited light cream sauce. Again, hardly classifying as a sandwich but a great idea nonetheless, is a baked potato "filled with broccoli or with your choice of mixed fresh vegetables topped with cheddar cheese" ($2.95), with that good slaw.

I'd heard good things about Tastings' smoked turkey sandwich with brie on a French roll ($3.50), though for a time it was hard to get one; the place was always out of a key ingredient. Finally, when I managed to try it, my sandwich arrived so stone-cold icy - it might have come from a glass cafeteria case filled with ice - and no taste. The miniscule touch of brie required a magnifying glass.

Tastings has a great enthusiasm for cheese, as do I, as well as a newly avowed interest in vegetarian cooking. The "Heated Cheeses" sandwich on the menu - "brie, provolone, Swiss, etc. on French or whole wheat bread, oven-heated, ($3.15)" - marvelous as it is, is loaded with calories.

The "Vegetarian Sub" ($3.50) is a hollowed-out French roll overflowing with seasonal vegetables held together with Tastings' own spicy-good dressing. But then it is topped unnecessarily with "gourmet cheeses"; those concerned about calories and cholesterol could ask for it without cheese.

At dinner time, Tastings Cafe shows its vegetarian inclinations more abundantly, along with some intriguing seafood entrees. In addition to five chicken offerings and three cuts of beefsteaks, there are eight vegetarian entrees. One is a "Vegetable Supreme" of broccoli florets, lightly steamed, and topped with cheese ($5.75).

Another dish Tastings does a tasty job on is eggplant Parmesan, slices coated with crisp crumbs and sauteed, then topped with fresh tomato sauce ($5.25). In "Aubergine Francais" ($5.95), the same vegetable is finished in typically French manner with white wine and lemon juice whipped to a light sauce. This one's straight from France, via heaven. If you're an eggplant fancier and a Francophile too, you're hooked for life.

An absolute knock-out of a brand new dinner is "Muqueca Capixaba," roughly translated as "fish stew," which in no way does it justice. The bounteous snow-white pieces of fish are sauteed first in palm oil briefly, and equally briefly left to bathe in a redolent red and rich sauce with a seasoning of cilantro leaves. These pungent, dried leaves add an unobtrusive and hauntingly exotic flavor to that mix of fish and fresh vegetables, served with rice. This celestial production is $7.25, accompanied by the French bread and green salad that come with each entree.

Desserts at Tastings aren't listed on the menu, and I've always been too full to make inquiries.

Postscript: There's a newcomer to Roanoke's gustatory scene, well worth trying - Tucher beer. Tastings Cafe and the Asian French Cafe, both on the City Market, are among the first to serve it. A wheat beer from Nuremberg, Tucher is refreshing and not filling. Both cafes serve the 17-ounce bottle (plenty for two) at $2.25.

TASTINGS CAFE 214 Market St. S.E., 344-4313. HOURS: Lunch 11 a.m.-4 p.m. daily; dinner, Wednesday-Saturday, 5-10:30 p.m. PRICE RANGE: Soups, sandwiches, full-meal salads; $.50-$3.95, hot entrees, $4.95-$7.95; children's meals, $3.45-$4.95. BEVERAGES: Wine and beer. CREDIT CARDS: Visa, MasterCard, Discover. RESERVATIONS? Large groups only. NON-SMOKING SECTION? No. HANDICAPPED ACCESSIBLE? maybe