Geromino (Santa Fe)

[Schneier]

Out of all the restaurants we tried in Santa Fe, this was my favorite. It's also the least "local" of them all: it's not Southwestern, and it's not Native American. It's basically French. But chef Eric DiStefano is brilliant, and I understand why he wins all the awards he does.

Appetizers:

"Baby cured frisee salad with Humbolt Fog goat cheese, Italian prosciutto, and tangy cornichon mustard dressing." Good.

"Baked Helix escargot and tarragon mushroom duxelle tart with a red wine reduction sauce." Delicious. My only complaint was that I would have wanted more of this.

"Spicy Maryland blue crab cakes with sauteed leeks and white wine chive butter sauce." This had a nice bite to it, and was a very good execution of standard crab cakes.

"Hawaiian yellow-fin tuna, cherry wood smoked salmon and avocado tartare with sugar snap pea and gari salad, chive buttermilk pancakes." This kind of dish seems popular everywhere these days; I first had it at Aqua in San Francisco, and I still think they make it best. This was a good rendition, though. I like the use of pancakes instead of toast points--nice touch.

"Mesquite grilled coldwater lobster tail with crispy pears, Belgian endive and greens salad with fresh wasabi key lime aioli." This was only okay, unfortunately. The bitter taste of the endive workd well with the rest of the dish, but I wanted there to be more.

"Seared Hudson Valley foie gras with tawny port syrup and a compote of sweet tomatoes and mangos with warm foccacia toast." Perfectly cooked foie gras and a nice set of accompaniments. Nothing wrong with this dish at all.

Main courses:

"Hot chile and honey grilled Mexican white prawns with almond Jasmine rice cakes, frisee and red onion salad, Yuzu basil oil." Yum. Spicy, flavorful. Crispy and juicy. Pretty much a perfect dish.

"Sioux Farms pork tenderloin wrapped in pastry with veal and mushroom duxelle with a black truffle sauce." Delicious, but a bit dry. The sauce was poured onto the dish tableside, which was nice, but the pastry soaked it all up--and still needed more. Actually, if they just reduced the amount of pastry-wrapped pork by about a third, I think the sauce would have been perfect.

"Mesquite grilled cold-water lobster tails with homemade gnocchi, organic carrots and capers in a buttery mustard dill chile sauce." Very tasty.

"Mesquite grilled "Maverick Ranch" filet mignon of beef with country ham and Reggiano butter gratin, baked provolone potato cake and red wine veal jus." Meat and potatoes. Not my thing, but a good dish if it is your thing.

"Peppery elk tenderloin with apple wood smoked bacon, roasted garlic fork-mashed Yukon gold potatoes, sauteed snap peas and creamy brandied mushroom sauce." Better. The elk was flavorful, and the morel sauce was delicious. Better choice for the meat-and-potatoes people.

Mesquite grilled Colorado lamb chops with a ginger and fresh mint glaze, soft polenta and blue cheese raviolis with sweet cognac roasted shallots." Another delicious dish. Everything tasted good together, and the blue cheese ravioli was jaw droppingly good.

We ordered two side dishes for the table: "sauteed broccolini" and "sauteed organic baby spinach with shallots." Both were fine.

Dessert:

"Toffee cheesecake with pecan linzer crust and caramel ice cream." Okay; not great.

"Caramelized grapefruit on honey shortbread with a candy ginger, toasted sesame ice cream and grapefruit syrup." Certainly the most interesting dessert. I only had a bit, and liked it, but I wonder if it could sustain for the entire course.

"Lemon mousse with fresh papaya and pears, topped with pistachios and served with vanilla and mango sauces." Yummy.

The wine list was completely forgettable (unfortunately). The service was efficient, friendly, and fun. The dining room was pretty. We had a wonderful time here.

Bruce

[docsconz]

I just returned from a brief visit to Santa Fe and had dinner there last night with largely the same menu as yours. I wish I had read your review prior to my dinner, because I think you were pretty much on target with my own assessment. The overall meal was quite good, although I cannot say that anything blew me away. we also didn't have quite the variety that you did. I wasn't thrilled with the selections on the tasting menus and given that it was a Monday, the seafood tasting was not on my list, especially since the softshell crabs on the list were received on Friday and cleaned at 3PM.

My favorite dish of the evening was the escargot. I also had both the ahi tuna/N.Z. salmon sashimi with sesame oil (good, but ordinary) and the yellow-fin tuna/ salmon/avocado tartare. I thought this was good, but the sauce that went with it was too sweet. The crab cake was tasty, but heavy. The tomato tart was also tasty.

I enjoyed the strawberry - organic arugula salad with walnuts, although this too was perhaps a little sweeter than my ideal (not from the strawberries).

My main course was the meat and potatoes filet mignon. This actually came with asparagus and carrots too. This was a hefty dish and the most expensive one on the menu. It was good, but the elk was clearly the better dish. I also got to taste the shrimp, which was good too, but I wasn't as blown away by it as you.

The breads were exceptional IMO. They included a roll with sesame and poppy seeds that was perfectly baked and a delicious lavosh made with NM chile and corn. Both were irresistable.

For dessert we shared the caramelized grapefruit. This dessert did a good job of marrying the flavors of the grapefruit, toasted sesame ice cream and ginger. Once again, though there were added elements that were too sweet, taking away from the very fine native flavors of the ingredients.

Our wine was a 2001 The Steading. This did a nice job with the meal and was I thought one of the better values on the extremely mediocre and over-priced wine list.

The room wass lovely and elegant and not too stuffy. Service was good, though not faultless. They initially brought the wrong wine - Woodcutter's White instead of The steading.

Overall, this was one of the best meals I have had in Santa Fe, but there is still room for improvement.

[fyfas]

Interesting reading and thanks to both for the thorough posts.

When responding to people planning visits to Santa Fe - people often asking what "the best restaurant in town is" - I've said that Geronimo is arguably the best but then ranted about the outrageous wine pricing. When I start trying to select menu items based on all of the wines I won't order, something is wrong. I'm not unwilling to spend money but feeling "raped" is something else again. Geronimo, IMO, is the worst in this regard.

And, if you think the wine list (choice) is mediocre, you should have been visiting restaurants here ten years ago when the lists were rarely more than a single page (Casa Sena being the exception).

[foodie52]

Mu Du Noodles

here

Arguably THE best food in SF. I ate there this weekend, on a recommendation from a friend of mine who owns a restaurant. Check out their exciting menu! Anyone else eaten here??

[Verjuice]

I love the Shrimp and Lemongrass soup at Mu Du Noodles, but have been disappointed by almost everything else. It's a nice space, too, and I like Mu (the owner), but I have also felt rushed there in the past. It can get seriously crowded and they make it clear that they don't like diners to linger, which is fine, but not usually what I go for when I eat out.

The best restaurants in town are Ristra and Tulips, in my opinion. They do the whole French interpretation of the Southwest gig much better than Geronimo.

Julian's and Trattoria Nostrani are nice for Italian, as well.

[Susan G]

I *adore* the food at Mu Du Noodles. But I hate the long wait for a table, (no reservations are taken), the loud noise of other patrons, and the tight spaces between tables.

Ristra is incredibly expensive - and worth every penny - but for overall performance I really like Pranzo. Or the Casa Sena, if I'm splurging.

[Absonot]

I recently had a wonderful solo dinner at Geronimo, but I have to ask: what’s with the service?

When I arrived for my 8pm reservation, I was greeted quite warmly and immediately escorted to a very nice table- in the back room next to the fireplace. I was handed the menu and wine list by the charming hostess and settled in. A server came to the table to take my drink order. But then soon another server came to give me bread. And then yet another server came to ask if I had any questions about the menu. “Which one of you is my server?” I asked, jokingly. She waved a hand around the room, smiled and said; “We all are. We share tables.” This struck me as odd, and I was honestly a bit bummed by it, because one of the joys of dining alone is establishing a bit of a rapport with your server. But no big woop, I figured everyone I’d encountered so far was so nice, so who really cares?

But once I ordered (beet salad, escargot and mushroom tart, elk loin…half bottle of Drouhin Pinot Noir ‘00) and was brought my first dish, I saw another problem. Instead of one of the servers bringing me my food, it was delivered by a runner…clad in a long sleeved, over-sized white polo shirt with “Geronimo” emblazoned on the back and black apron. I would have asked the runner what the type of cheese was on the top of the salad (I had forgotten), but after putting the plate in front of me, he literally ran off without a word.

As I dug into my salad (which was quite excellent), I watched the action in the room. The servers were clad in tasteful white shirts and high aprons, calmly checking in on tables and pouring water, wine. In stark contrast, the runners, in their baggy shirts and aprons, were running back and forth delivering plates of food and frankly looking quite harried. It was very incongruous to the overall calm, peaceful vibe that every other element of the restaurant created.

What confuses me is this: after spending so much obvious painstaking effort to create such a wonderful sophisticated, sedate, calm and warm atmosphere, why would they choose to dress their runners in baggy shirts (the sleeves had fallen down below the hands of one of them) and aprons—something you’d see behind the counter at Lottaburger? It was just a clash of aesthetics that surprised me.

Anyone else ever noticed this? Or did I have too much time on my hands since I was dining alone?

[misstenacity]

I hadn't noticed that when I was there, but I was not alone. There were many servers, but the overall thing that I noticed was how seamless the attention was - you might glance down at your empty salad plate, then look up and continue your conversation, then glance down again and the salad plate is GONE... yet no one was even noticed approaching the table, let alone whisking away your dinnerware. Amazing.

Later my dining companion said that he could see one designated person simply hovering just out of sight of our room, carefully watching for any signs that anyone might need service, then dispatching it. That's all that person did - just scan the room.

I may have noticed what you did - not really being able to ask questions, but if you just look around in a "needy" way for a few seconds, someone would probably be at your side to answer anything (although they may be a completely new person to you).

Our food was wonderful, the service fantastic, and the bill matched both. All in all a great birthday dinner.

Andrea

http://tenacity.net

[ulterior epicure]

Nudge. Any recent reports? Is this place still kickin'?

[Benjamin B]

Nudge.  Any recent reports?  Is this place still kickin'?

←

It's still kicking. I hear the economy is hurting it quite a bit right now.

[ulterior epicure]

So, I hear DiStefano is back in the house. Any updates?

[Benjamin B]

Eric is back in the kitchen.

Most of the menu seems to have taken on a serious Asian influence.

I've heard mixed reviews of the new menu but I haven't been yet.

I plan on going in the next month or so to check it out.