Renowned Chef Roland Passot now boasts a trifecta of restaurants at San Jose’s Santana Row. Joining his LB Steak and Left Bank Brasserie, his new Meso opened its doors in November in a newer section of the mixed use complex right near tech firm Splunk.

The modern upscale Mediterranean restaurant not only sports an elegant design by Oakland’s Arcsine, the firm that also created the look of Duende in Oakland and Wursthall in San Mateo, but a head chef with an impressive background. Executive Gregory Short spent many years working at The French Laundry in Napa before taking the helm of Masa’s in San Francisco. He even lured fellow French Laundry alum Pastry Chef Eva Wong to join him at Meso.

While a master at French food and techniques, Short acknowledged there was a learning curve for him when it came to Middle Eastern cuisines. But as he told me a few weeks ago when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant, he combed through a myriad of books to hone in on the distinct flavors of the region.

Meso, which means ”middle,” immediately transports you to that area with its color scheme of cool blues of the Mediterranean sky and sea. Patterned metal screens, curved archways, and a blue-purple lighted fountain divider in the spacious dining room give the air of modern Morocco.

If you need a crash course in the spices of this region, Short has a clever way of educating you about them. As you settle into your seat, fried chickpeas are brought to the table with small bowls of Aleppo pepper, paprika, and sumac. The server adds a little of each to the chickpeas, then tosses them to coat. Because the spices are left on the table, you’re free to sniff, taste and school yourself on each one.

The cocktails are crowd-pleasers, especially the ones on tap that can be ordered by the glass or in bottle service to serve a group. The Gin + Kumquat ($15 for one glass; $56 for larger format) is a little like an herbaceous Negroni with bitter orange notes mixed with plenty of botanicals.

The Tequila + Pomegranate ($15) looks almost like a kid’s fountain float with its creamy froth of pomegranate foam. It takes a little doing with just a straw, but mix the various layers consisting of La Pinta pomegranate tequila, grenadine, lime and sage tincture together before sipping. It’s a little like a creamy, sweet-sour margarita.

Of course, there’s hummus ($9) to be enjoyed. Here, it’s very creamy, and very thick. Enjoy it as is or get it topped with crisp-edged hen of the woods mushrooms ($3), which I highly recommend. A whole pita that’s fried comes alongside. It’s a marvel — golden, so crisp you can thwack it with your finger, yet fluffy inside and suffused with the taste of good olive oil.

Crispy Brussels sprouts ($14) are as dangerous here as potato chips, especially with creamy soft feta enlivened with charred scallions smeared artfully on the side of the bowl. It’s like chips and dip — Mediterranean-style.

Thick, creamy labneh gets a shock of fuchsia from bull’s blood beets and their greens sprinkled with hazelnuts. Another whole round of regular pita accompanies it so you can scoop up the rich yogurt cheese generously.

Beef is cured in-house for two weeks for the carpaccio, leaving the thin slices tender yet toothsome. The pickled veggies and blueberries strewn over the top add crunchiness, but there may have been too many of them because I found their sharpness at times overwhelmed the slivers of beef.

Goat- and sheep-milk halloumi ($16) arrives in a sizzling plate accented with preserved lemon and Aleppo pepper. The firm cheese, which doesn’t melt, almost has the consistency of firm tofu. It’s chewy and squeaky, and substantial.

You can find a couple kebabs under “bites” and “appetizers.” The ground chicken kufta ($10) is moist and juicy. The smoky, tender beef kebab ($13), made from short rib, is drizzled with green harissa and garnished with blistered tomatoes. Maybe owing to the Japanese-influenced cuisine he did at Masa’s, Short uses yakitori skewers to spear the kebabs, too.

Spiced lamb flatbread ($19) isn’t cracker-thin but thicker, and chewy and crisp in all the right places. Crisp, deep-fried lamb pieces are strewn over the top with a smear of yogurt, sumac-scented onions, roasted tomatoes, and zhoug, a spicy blended cilantro sauce.

Meso favors Spanish octopus ($21), a smaller variety that’s favored for its tenderness. Short sears it, leaving its edges crisp. It comes on a bed of herby labneh with confit fingerling potatoes that are beyond creamy, as well as a shower of fried kale leaves.

For our entree, we shared the whole branzino ($41) cooked on the plancha, leaving the skin as crisp as can be, and its flesh incredibly moist. The fish arrives whole, but boned out, with more of the herb labneh, and spicy zhoug sauce. It comes with a side of buttery saffron pilaf covered in toasted almonds.

Save room for dessert. As befitting a former French Laundry pastry sous chef, Wong’s creations take the tried and true — and improve upon them.

I like baklava, but rarely order it because it’s usually so very sweet. Wong’s “Pear and Medjool Dates” ($10) are three phyllo triangles filled with pears and dates, topped with walnut praline, and drizzled with honey syrup. Served with cinnamon ice cream, it evokes the taste and texture of baklava, but is much less cloying, making it a pleasure to the very last bite.

Arancini can be found as an appetizer on most any Italian menu. But here, it’s on the dessert menu instead. Formed from rice pudding, these darling little fried rice balls ($10) can be picked up with your fingers to dunk into a pool of bright lemon curd. The sweet yet bracing curd, along with plenty of lime zest, gives these rice balls a nice light lift so they don’t eat heavy.

For a final bite, Wong sent out her version of Twix — slender sugar-cookie bases topped with caramel and enrobed in chocolate with a pinch of Aleppo pepper. They’re definitely a step up — way, way up — from the trick-or-treating staple.

A lot of the restaurants at Santana Row are places you slip into on a whim just to recharge after a day of shopping. Meso, though, definitely lives up to being a destination in and of itself.