As Tapas 177 owner Demetrio Cavatassi will tell you, a good restaurant has to "evolve" if it wants to keep old customers, attract new ones, and keep everyone coming back to see what's new and exciting. In its nearly 10 years at 177 St. Paul Street, Tapas 177 has evolved from a tapas bar into a traditional restaurant offering a full range of entrees. As dining habits change, Tapas 177 is changing a bit too, emphasizing small plates and new combinations while remaining true to the dishes - like the signature calamari salad - that keep people coming back. The menu is both seasonal and "multinational," combining Greek, French, Italian, Mexican, and Vietnamese influences to create an eclectic and mostly successful cuisine in what Cavatassi describes as the "tapas tradition." But new emphases and new items do not mean that old favorites are gone.

Within seconds of being seated in the restaurant's cozy, candlelit basement dining room (side note: this is the perfect place for a date - first, second, or 50th) I ordered one of my favorites: the flash-fried calamari salad ($10.95), which the menu describes as "our most popular item by far." While munching warm focaccia and waiting for the salad to arrive, we ordered a pitcher of white wine sangria (a summery alternative to the traditional red wine version with peaches and nectarines, oranges and apples; $20), and worked our way through the lengthy appetizer menu, determined to order several small plates rather than two entrees. Tapas 177's small plates are anything but small. All of the appetizers, the salad included, could easily be split between at least two people. We vastly over-ordered: a rack of lamb ($12.95); prosciutto-wrapped artichoke hearts ($7.95); and a three-cheese stuffed poblano ($10.95) in addition to the calamari salad.

Moments after we ordered, the calamari salad arrived - lightly battered pieces of tender, sweet, young squid served over mixed greens with asiago cheese and a tart, lemony vinaigrette to balance the fried decadence of the still-warm calamari. Next, the lamb chops, easily the most artfully presented plate of the evening. Four baby lamb chops were balanced on a cube of fried polenta, dotted with tsatsiki (a yogurt-cucumber dressing with hints of mint and garlic) and basil oil and topped with zucchini fries. The lamb was tender and flavorful, if slightly overdone; and the polenta made a wonderful sop for the juices and sauces. The savory-sweet zucchini fries made a nice accompaniment. The artichokes, wrapped in prosciutto, sautéed, and topped with a gorgonzola cream sauce, were good but the sauce would have been better in a much smaller quantity. It overwhelmed the artichokes and allowed only the barest hint of the ham's flavor through.

We were finishing the lamb and the artichokes when the three-cheese poblano arrived. Two cornmeal dusted roasted poblano peppers stuffed with cheese, fried, and served with a salad of black beans, red peppers, and roasted corn along with a tomatillo salsa, this was the only dish that we left mostly uneaten. The poblanos sat in a small pool of oil, and were stuffed with a flavorless cheese (a traditional chile relleno uses very sharp cotija cheese) that made them heavy, not savory. The bean salad was a tasty mix of black beans, corn, and red peppers jacked with cumin. It provided a nice, earthy counterpoint to the bright green flavors of the tomatillo and cilantro in the salsa.

By our fourth appetizer, we moved on to dessert. The house specialty, xango (bananas and mascarpone cheese stuffed in a tortilla, fried, dusted with cinnamon sugar, with vanilla ice cream and a sinfully rich caramel sauce), was so good that I wondered about the propriety of picking up the plate and licking it clean.

Tapas is bar food. I next visited the restaurant's upstairs bar around midnight on a Saturday. I always like dining at the bar, and I was glad to see that lots of other patrons were doing the same. I ordered a mojito ($7) and settled on the tuna tartar Napoleon ($13.95) and a tapas sampler plate ($15.95).

The Napoleon, a tower of alternating layers of minced ahi tuna and crispy wonton skins served with wasabi cream, sesame oil, and chili sauce, is a beautiful and delicately flavored plate. I made short work of it, using the final wonton as a scoop for stray bits of tuna, and turned my attention to the tapas sampler, which included saffron-steamed mussels, flash-fried calamari, slices of grilled chorizo, and fried risotto balls. While the first three items were good - the mussels were some of the best I've had - the best things on the plate were the instantly addictive risotto balls. Balls of rice studded with pieces of chorizo and then deep-fried, these were the apotheosis of bar munchies. Take a friend with you to share in the bounty, or make friends with the envious people who are sitting next to you as I did.

Tapas 177, 177 St. Paul Street, 262-2090, is open for dinner Monday-Saturday 4:30 p.m.-midnight, Sunday 5-10 p.m.; a special late-night menu is offered Friday and Saturday midnight-2 a.m. Sample menus, special events, and an entertainment calendar available at tapas177.com.