A little early for dinner, the appetizer menu was our target. The Crab Cakes New Orleans were surprisingly flavorful and moist. Served with a unique red pepper sauce, the treat had unexpected bite while offering a wonderful Marda-Gras-in-your-mouth experience. The calamari was also pleasantly surprising, and its texture did not conjure the choking phobia so commonly evoked by rubbery versions of the tube-shaped mollusk. We consumed the eight-armed delectable without fear of having to perform the Heimlich maneuver, or wondering if the chef fell asleep at the deep fryer.

Open since May, Sterling offers respectable nibbles in an environment suitable for sophisticated couples or singles. Thankfully, though Wal-Mart patrons lurk near by, Sterling remains free of yard-apes and their booster-chair, nails-on-chalkboard offspring. -K.M.