digestifs 122
At Arroyo Vino, seamless ravioli and asparagus are draped atop slow-braised short ribs. Below, left: Crispy suckling pig is paired with kimchi purée and kale. Below, right: A sunchoke and pear salad is topped with hazelnuts.
I’m not quite ready for swimsuit season and it’s already here! I have lots of excuses and plenty of things to blame (apart from a complete lack of willpower when it comes to our local restaurants). Suffice it to say: So many dishes, so little time! Personally, I’m ready to proclaim that the recession is over. What better way to celebrate than to visit our beautiful city and join the locals in one of our more than 200 restaurants? Covering our exciting hospitality scene keeps me on my toes. Chefs get restless and frequently hop stoves, but the good thing is that with every move they strive harder to woo our palates. New players, too, join the fun and keep our taste buds constantly titillated. One such temptation is The Beestro (thebeestro.com), a downtown grab-and-go venue tucked along Marcy Street. Perfect for day-trip chowing, opera tailgating, or lunch poolside or at your desk, what sets The Beestro apart is the extensive use of fresh, local, and in-season ingredients. Try the Dutch chicken panini with lime-, garlic-, and jalapeno-marinated chicken breast, grilled and layered with Havarti, greens, and local apple butter and pressed on a whole-wheat baguette. Yum! Another new kid on the block is Dr. Field Goods Kitchen (drfieldgoods.com), smartly positioned next to Jackalope on Cerrillos. The eclectic menu, described on the restaurant’s website as New Mexico fusion, runs the gamut from fish and chips to green-chile pulled pork, and from quinoa salad to wood-fired pizza. (I think the pizza will be the big draw here.) The food scene on the south side of town is really heating up. I look forward to sampling the best our City Deliciously Different has to offer. As for that swimsuit, I don’t have a pool anyway!—JV santafean.com
june/july 2013
DOUGLAS MERRIAM
knowledgeable on food and wine pairings and can guide you in your selections. Some plates are small and others are mediumsized, which allows for and encourages sharing. While tapas dishes tend to be somewhat monochromatic in design, Connell’s come more fully realized; we wanted to sample them all, and we darn near did! Plates of simply roasted cauliflower, pickled vegetables, and ricotta con latte with a drizzle of emerald olive oil and sided with grilled bread got us going—straightforward and tasty. Salads are creative and perfectly dressed; sunchokes add an unusual crunch to a toss of greens, pears, and hazelnuts; while shaved fennel, arugula, and chèvre are a luscious blend of anise, pepper, and tartness. An intense vegetal asparagus soup is infused with the summery essence of tarragon and fancied up with a dollop of crab meat. Veggie options are plentiful—a table favorite was a crusty-on-the-outside/creamy-on-the-inside truffled potato cake sauced with a caramelized cipollini onion purée. Seamless ravioli, great for the low-carb crowd, is more ricotta dumpling than pasta dish but still yummy in a puddle of fork-tender, slow-braised short ribs. Another stunner was the crispy suckling pig kicked up a notch with kimchi purée. Connell’s creativity is his calling card. The petit four plate was a nice, light dessert option that we nibbled on while finishing the staffrecommended tenuta della terre nere from the slopes of Mount Etna that wowed us with its inky complexity. Start with the Gosset champagne, which hails from the oldest bubbly vineyard in the world. With a dining experience this good, the Las Campanas crowd won’t be able to keep Arroyo Vino a secret for long. I expect some serious culinary countercommuting to be going on. Pace yourself, Chef Connell; you have miles to go before you sleep!—JV