Kyle Nabilcy
The beet and cauliflower board from Eloura.
The beet and cauliflower board from the cold mezze menu.
Nobody says “fusion” anymore. Sure, there’s birria ramen, and sushi casserole, and any number of individual mashups proliferating on TikTok. The idea of a fusion restaurant, though, lost its luster so long ago that it’s actually kind of exciting when someone decides to take a chance and just dive all the way in. On the Capitol Square, Eloura is following the lead of its Fitchburg sibling kitchen and taking the fusion plunge.
That sibling, Zafferano Ristorante, was the menu that launched a thousand raised eyebrows with its hybrid of Indian and Italian cuisines. In March 2026, just more than a year after Zafferano opened, Eloura’s Mediterranean/Asian menu was unveiled. Eloura fills the expansive dining room (originally Field Table, most recently SASS) by also offering a daytime cafe in the front corner. The main kitchen and the cafe are led by separate chefs.
The cafe’s syrup-soaked semolina cake called revani was decadent, and a spinach-feta phyllo pocket concoction, simple and hearty. The coffees, where you’ll start to see the first glimmers of Eloura’s unexpected combinations, are less elegantly put together and, when I tried them, quite spendy.
Eloura’s main menu has starters and salads priced in the mid-teens, mains averaging a little more than $20. I don’t spend a lot of time on cost, typically, but I feel it’s worth mentioning because of what you get for your money at Eloura. It is a bit of a wild ride.
From the starters menu, my table tried for spanakopita cigars but they were out of them; we pivoted to duck confit egg rolls, which had all of the crispy crunch of fried egg rolls but little of the luxuriousness of duck confit. And at $20 for two slender rolls, that’s a steep ask.
When I ordered lamb potstickers on another visit, their delay in delivery was explained by the kitchen initially being out — but, I was told, the chef was putting more together. If they’d stuck the landing, that would’ve been a great point of pride, but the skimpy and very overcooked potstickers that arrived let all the air out of the kitchen’s sails.
But then there’s the shawarma skirt steak, with a truly stupendous amount of seasoned, grilled and sliced beef; I loved its dramatic streak of silky carrot puree, unqualifiedly. A chicken shish kebab plate doesn’t break much new ground, but again, it was plenty of food and confidently assembled.
You may be wondering, like I was: Where’s all the fusion? At Zafferano, the menu is divided into clear culinary sections, but Eloura just kind of drops the mashups in here and there, amid what feels like a merely quirky Middle Eastern menu, one where a falafel “burger” with date jam (a fun idea but disappointingly dense and kludgy) would be right at home. This is too bad, because the fusion is where most of the fun is; it deserves more of the spotlight.
The beet and cauliflower board from the cold mezze section of the menu was a bit of a false start; the combination of beet hummus and veg with togarashi and fried rice would have been better if the fried rice had actually been served. Similarly, a photo of the chicken katsu gyro looked incredible on the online menu; what arrived, however, appeared to be a chopped teriyaki chicken flatbread with almost no resemblance to a gyro.
On the other hand, the lamb bao was a closer cousin to a gyro than the katsu probably ever could have been. The beet-tinged tzatziki (Eloura loves its beets) had great flavor and cool, smooth texture, while the lamb was a good two- to three-bite portion and nicely crisped.
I had the most fun with the vegan falafel crunch cold yakisoba, just the kind of wackadoo dish you secretly love to see on a fusion menu, a Scrabble board mishmash of food words you’d never expect to encounter together in the wild. A large bowl full of squiggly cold noodles, lots of veggies and tender beech mushrooms, appreciable chili heat, and a little heap of crispy falafel chunks on top. Where was this falafel in the date jam burger? Give me more!
It’s four months in, and the owners have a first restaurant already under their belt. I would expect Eloura to feel more settled. Clearly, things are still changing. A number of the dishes I tried have left the menu, and the cafe prices have been reduced. I’m willing to look past the unsteady kitchen and some oddly vacant service; Eloura has bright spots. But it’s not all put together yet.
Eloura
10 W. Mifflin St.
608-630-8030; elouramediterranean.com
$12-$32
[Editor's note: This article has been edited to omit information about the price of cafe drinks being reduced. They have not been permanently reduced.]
