40 Favorite Restaurants; Our Picks for Santa Fe's Best Dining Experiences
Santa Fe Reporter › August 05, 2009
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Summary
"Are you sure this is it?" That's probably what most people say to each other when driving up to Chocolate Maven for the first time. This exquisite bakery and café is completely out of place in a warehouse space next to an auto repair shop. But don't be deterred; just drive past all of the banged up Toyotas and park in the back. Once inside you'll immediately forget Maven's industrial milieu. The smell of baking sweets makes it hard not to drool before you're seated. Downstairs, the front room can be a little too busy, so try to get a table next to the big windows in the back room where you can observe the bakery workers like fish in a giant aquarium. Or climb the spiral staircase (warning: don't wear a skirt if you're shy) to the upstairs dining room where warm yellow walls keep your eye off the tattered carpet. Once you're seated, order pretty much anything on the menu--it's all good. The garlic rosemary french fries are crispy and perfectly seasoned. The chipotle chicken salad is just as sweet and tangy when made with tofu. Sandwiches come on excellent house-baked sandwich bread or focaccia; pizzas are thin-crusted and topped with just the right amount of toppings. Whatever you do, you must save room for dessert. The huge chocolate brownie covered in chocolate sauce and whipped cream is wickedly indulgent. If you're too full, choose one from the long list of gourmet hot chocolates. (GD)
Far away from the hustle and bustle of downtown's clicking cameras and fanny packs lies the welcoming haven of [Harry]'s. Owners Harry and Peyton Sinclair's 13-year-old restaurant offers the kind of consistency and variety that makes it an old standard itself. There's nothing too froufrou here, not much that would raise a red flag for a meat and potatoes guy or a "weird food"-fearing kid. On the menu you'll find many of the classics from the eclectic American recipe book: breakfast burritos, bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon, catfish po'boys, egg-plant Parmesan pizza and turkey meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy. While the weather's nice, regulars take every opportunity to eat on the landscaped back patio, where each table seems to occupy its own tiny grotto. Inside seating includes service at the counter in the brightly lit front room, and also in the dark bar, where you can have a dirty martini with your New York strip steak. When the significant other says, "Honey, do you want Thai? Italian? Chinese?" and you say, "Oh, let's just go to Harry's," it isn't a sign you're too hungry and delirious to make a decision. It means you're so hungry you want to eat something comfortingly familiar, you know, like Moroccan vegetable stew. (GD)The O'Keeffe Café has great ambiance, fabulous food and excellent wine service. There. You're done. You don't have to read any more. Or would you like to hear about its commitment to local ingredients? Chef Jessica Lynn regularly uses (and promotes on the menu) locally grown chicken, lamb, goat cheese, piñons and pistachios--even the signature red roses are from a New Mexico greenhouse. Her warm lobster salad with champagne-tarragon-truffle oil vinaigrette costs a painful $25, but it is so far above and beyond anyone else's lobster salad that it's worth every penny. Owner Michael O'Reilly (who also owns Pranzo), has decades of experience importing and exporting wine, and stocks nearly 200 bottles. His inventive pairings, like beef carpaccio with a Russian River Chardonnay, are meant to delight connoisseurs and expand the horizons of neophytes. Do not miss out on the opportunity to try one of the Café's tasting menus; they're not cheap, but with food of this quality and someone who knows wine as well as Michael O'Reilly doing the pairings, the experience will not soon be forgotten. The spacious patio is one of the best in town, and the indoor dining rooms are nearly unmatched in style, with a stark white and red color scheme and huge food-themed photographs of Georgia O'Keeffe. (GD)See the full content of this document
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40 Favorite Restaurants; Our Picks for Santa Fe's Best Dining Experiences
Andiamo!
Some food satisfies, some sustains; some food surprises, some seduces. How Andiamo! manages to consistently do all of the above is a secret kept in the kitchen, but the first hints arrive with the appetizers. The crispy polenta, swimming in Gorgonzola sauce, and beet salad accompanied by olive tapanade crostini are legendary riddles worth investigating. But Andiamo! is not a place to fear leaving the familiar--branching out is mandatory in order to maximize enjoyment of the well-balanced menu. The nightly soup specials are often savory enough to leave unsuspecting diners unable to form whole sentences for several minutes at a time. The risotto fritter with radicchio hits the tongue with such a potent sensation that bladder control is a real issue. Just when you think your tongue can stand no further pleasure, there are entrées to consider, buoyed by an earthy, basic and brilliant wine list. Billed since its inception as a "neighborhood trattoria," this cozy Garfield Street gastronomerie has cast a larger-than-average neighborhood net, winning popularity among locals, visitors, celebs and rarefied food freaks alike. The downside is a packed restaurant, a longer wait for a table and watching strangers eat food that you may have developed a sense of intimacy with. The upside is that, for all its buzz, the atmosphere maintains its easy style, the staff its knowledgeable and friendly professionalism and the kitchen its joyful noisemaking and straightforward Italian soul. (Zane Fischer)322 Garfield St., 995-9595. Dinner nightly. $$www.andiamoonline.comAnnapurnaSanta Fe caters quite well to vegetarians--at least vegetarians with money. Most of the upscale restaurants here offer meat-free entrees so appetizing that meat eaters hardly notice there's something missing. But vegans and those who follow an ayurvedic diet had it much rougher--that is, until Annapurna came along. Named for the Indian goddess responsible for food and nourishment, this Albuquerque concept developed a devoted following in that city, especially from students and teachers at the Ayurvedic Institute. Here, Annapurna's space in Solana Center is a colorful, tranquil place with handpainted tables and a series of curtained booths where you can sit on floor cushions and eat on low tables. The food here is similar to Indian dishes you've had at other restaurants, except that it's all vegetarian and mostly vegan, like saag paneer (spinach and cheese), samosas (vegetable pockets), and masala dosas (mung bean crepes filled with vegetables). The beverage list is particularly enticing, wit...See the full content of this document
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