By MERIDITH FORD
Journal Restaurant Critic

PROVIDENCE -- What happens when a Lebanese couple from Canada moves to Providence and opens a restaurant?

Opa happens.

Joseph and Aline Karam came, saw and are busily trying to conquer the restaurant scene on Federal Hill.

Both are originally from Lebanon, but moved to Canada in 1977. In Halifax, Nova Scotia, they owned a coffee and sandwich shop called Pita Paradise. Joseph graduated from the Cordon Bleu in Toronto, and his formal training shows in his cooking -- a yin-yang of lean cuisine intermittently mixed with all things rich and wonderful, such as butter and cheese.

In Providence, they started on Hope Street at a shop called Mr. Pita. In March, they moved to Federal Hill, where Opa occupies the tiny but comfortable spot that was once Josephine's.

Great salads

Salads alone make a trip to Opa worthwhile. Everything from a traditional Greek salad of lettuce, tomato, cucumber and onions with lots of salty feta cheese and Kalamata olives to a salad fattoosh make up the offerings. Tabouleh -- the most noteworthy of Middle Eastern salads -- is there, too, with its invigorating mixture of bulghur wheat, mint, parsley and tomatoes.

A Lebanese specialty, prettily arranged fattoosh is a crunchy combination of romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, green peppers and sliced onions with a refreshing chop of fresh mint and parsley -- two must-haves in Middle Eastern cooking. It's doused with an astringent blend of olive oil and lemon juice and traditionally garnished with crunchy pita chips.

Pita is in abundance in another Middle Eastern mainstay, hummus with tahini. The hummus, a smooth blend of chickpeas, lemon juice, garlic, and olive and sesame oils, is particularly fresh and flavorful at Opa, with a good balance of lemon and garlic amid the mild nuttiness of the chickpeas. A meze (appetizer) plate is mounded with the smooth paste and drizzled with a mild olive oil that floats dreamily on the surface.

A long coastline allows Lebanon to enjoy an abundance of fish and seafood, and other than the entrees, meat is somewhat missing on this menu -- including lamb, usually so prevalent in Middle Eastern cooking. Instead, the menu is mainly composed of lots and lots of seafood.

A long history of grilling (think kebobs) combined with all that seafood makes for a plethora of great dishes. Among the many offerings is calamari, served in a decidedly un-Federal Hill style.

Here, tender squid rings and tendrils are grilled and seasoned with a plucky balsamic vinegar and olive oil and surrounded by a mesclun salad. This calamari has a mild, sweet flavor with smokiness from the grill. While I'd never want to permanently replace the deep-fried-with-cherry-peppers version, this is a more than pleasant diversion.

Six-cheese treat

Amid the meze-like appetizers are oddly juxtaposed selections of a French nature: coquille St. Jacques, onion soup and a little ditty called cheese galleon, which is basically a big, shallow ramekin filled with melted brie, mozzarella, gouda, Parmesan, white cheddar and yellow cheddar.

All six cheeses are melded into one big, oozing concoction of yummy flavors to spread over thick slices of baguette. It's not just the goo factor that makes this such a treat: the sharp contrasts of the cheeses -- bracing cheddar, pungent gouda, musky brie -- are as much a reason as the dish's sinful texture.

I could easily explain the appearance of French dishes with Karam's classical background, but by phone he explained that he also wanted to offer dishes completely different from those elsewhere on Federal Hill.

Perhaps a restaurant that excels with meze shouldn't bother with second courses. With so many salads and appetizers, Opa doesn't really need them. But much thought has gone into the entree selection -- some examples are a frutti di mare over cappellini; salmon, tuna, scallops and shrimp marinated in olive oil and served over risotto; and a grilled lamb steak over rice. Still, it is the appetizers for which I would return.

That said, salmon -- pink and flaky -- was deliciously smoky over fettucine covered in a light cream sauce.

The flavor of grilled chicken in another dish was nothing to write home about, but the bed of brown rice underneath it, mixed with a savory, almost buttery, flavor and topped with pine nuts, was worth the entire bill of fare -- I simply couldn't put my fork down.

French windows

Opa has the added pleasure of French windows that open to busy Atwells Avenue. On a warm summer evening, there are few things that can compete with a table at the window, watching passersby while perusing the dessert list.

There is only one dessert here, really. While there is a refreshingly well-rounded selection -- pineapple- or almond-flavored creme caramel, banana eclairs and cheesecake -- it is the baklava that is exceptional.

Baklava can come in lots of shapes and sizes, not just the triangular shape much imitated in the United States. At Opa, the crispy triangles are served, as are tiny, finger-sized rolls of filo filled with pistachios, pine nuts, almonds and clarified butter. Here, the filo is allowed to breathe beneath the mantle of Karam's secret mixture of sugar-and-honey syrup -- leaving it crispy and crunchy, with lots of nutty flavor within, not drenched in syrup.

The word "opa," by the way, is Greek. Although there is no literal translation, it's often a shout that accompanies a dancer or certain festive foods as they are brought to the table -- kind of like "you go, girl." A blessing or toast, if you will.

"Opa!" to Opa.

Opa, 244 Atwells Ave., Providence, 351-8282. Casual. Reservations accepted. Smoking after 10 p.m. at bar only. Bathroom is wheelchair accessible. Open for lunch, meze and dinner 11 to 1 a.m. Sun-Thu, Fri-Sat 11 to 2 a.m. Brunch Sat-Sun 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. V, MC, AM, DIS, DC. Complimentary valet or on-street parking. Highchairs available.

A wide range of salads and meze are $6 to $12; entrees are $11 to $21. Low-fat or heart-healthy dishes are designated on the menu with a red heart. Desserts are $4 to $6. The wine list is very modest, with bottles from $18 to $40, with a nod toward Californian selections.