How could you blame Sheba if, every now and then, the restaurant started to feel a little bit like poor Betty Hutton in “Annie Get Your Gun”? I mean, everyone loved Betty. But after you’ve seen Ethel Merman, what else is there?

Such is the fate of a new restaurant which opens on the site of a much-loved eating place. Some fans will get their noses out of joint and never go back; others will return, but will find it necessary to note pointedly if the food and atmosphere in the successor don’t measure up to their memories.

It’s a thankless task. But Sheba, on the night we visited, seemed more than up to it.

The new restaurant occupies the sunny, wide-windowed space at the corner of South Park Avenue and Ridge Road in Lackawanna— kitty-corner from Father Baker’s towering Our Lady of Victory Basilica. It’s always been a great spot: where else can you watch angel sculptures hover over an intersection while you eat? Until recently, this space housed the beloved Daisies Cafe (which is alive and well, and operating out of a larger space a half-block down South Park).

Sheba is, make no mistake, no Daisies.

The restaurant’s menu is Middle Eastern, thoroughly and unapologetically, although kids (and unadventurous palates) will find it possible to get a hot dog, beef on weck or hamburger ($1.75 for the former, $3.99 for the two latter). There’s even T-bone steak available ($12), with fries on the side.

But why would you? Middle-Eastern fare, the house specialty, is the way to go here. Entrees include lamb or chicken ghallaba, served sizzling hot on a platter with “hommous” (i. e., hummus, or spiced and oil-anointed chickpeas) on the side; the lamb is $10, and the chicken a dollar less, for generous portions, and those are among the most expensive items on the menu. (You will need to share many of these dishes.)

Looking for a salad? The Sheba Salad is worth a trip in itself. For less than $4.50, a plate comes loaded with the freshest greens, cucumbers, tomatoes and herbs—all chopped into tidy squares, crunchy and deliciously tinged with a light oil dressing.

Real care is taken with arrangement of the plates here; the pride in the restaurant shows, and the service is friendly.

Fans of the old restaurants that have graced this corner in Lackawanna should take note of Sheba’s, and pay a visit.

Different? Yes. Delicious? More than you can imagine.

Sheba is open daily from 7 a. m. to 11 p. m.