Geronimo Restaurant Santa Fe Review

NOTE: SINCE THIS REVIEW, SANTA FE'S TOP CHEF MARTIN RIOS HAS LEFT GERONIMO. HIS NEXT RESTAURANT, LOWER KEY AND PRICED, WITHOUT GERONIMO'S HIGH OVERHEAD, WILL SOON OPEN. I'D GO WHERE HE'S COOKING!

LOCALS FEAR THE QUALITY AT GERONIMO WILL DROP WITH HIS ABSENCE. CHEF ERIC DESTEFANO, WHO RECENTLY TRIED TO REVITALIZE THE LESSER QUALITY COYOTE CAFE, HAS RETURNED TO HEAD GERONIMO. HO-HUM. 8/4/09

Geronimo is refreshing, in a welcoming casual way, that’s a breath of crisp fresh mountain air. On tourist filled Canyon Road, it is all too easy to walk by its simple exterior, and miss this elegant gem.

Step in, and straight ahead, there’s an altar-like setting with stunning ivory moose antlers, over the fireplace. Georgia O’Keefe fans might be reminded of her cow skull motif-you are near her gallery; farther away is Abiquiu , her spiritual home. Yes Dorothy, you are in O’Keefe Country now. The green plant is a touch of life, of spring, and set off by the red,high backed leather chairs. Red and green, just like the chiles.

Geronimo seats 100 guests. Scattering among four dining areas, people aren’t crowded. As we walk in, an alert staffer recognized us from poking our heads in the day before for a sample menu, a very good sign of attentiveness. We are immediately taken to a table in the back dining room, walking past an attractively simple black and white dining room along the way. Deer (or elk) antler chandeliers abound-a nice rustic touch. Lighting is soft enough to be wrinkle-kind, and bright enough to easily read the menu.. Our room has white adobe style walls and ceiling, round wood ceiling supports. Below, rich maroon benches face similar chairs. Light jazz plays in the background, segueing into ‘40’s music with clarinet, supplied by satellite radio.The superb service sets Geronimo apart from so many restaurants we’ve dined in-it’s like a Michelin one star in that respect. Water glasses are efficiently topped up by respectfully attentive servers. As soon as we sit, the sourdough bread, with flecks of cheese and mildly spiced with green chile, arrives. The butter is artfully topped with a tiny rosemary leaf. There is no long wait to take our order, as we compared this to the Compound’s initially less attentive staff, and it’s less noisy as well. A problem about the menu…Two greeters, and later one server, proudly claim, “ The Menu Changes daily.” Oh, really? That having been said, the menu for Friday did NOT vary one iota from the menu for Saturday, except for a different date at the top!! Hmmm. I pulled their Oct 20, 2008 menu off the web, from 5 months ago, and except for one appetizer, and just 4 main courses, it was the same for the other apps and mains! Ahem, guys…Printing the current date atop a menu is NOT evidence of any such menu that truthfully “changes every day”. Bogus claim-rebuked by Geronimo’s own evidence.. When pressed, our server admitted that “what really might change monthly are some vegetables, even the Elk is on almost year round, and most things change with the seasons. You know, root veggies phase out as spring fresh veggies appear”. It's also wasteful of paper-you the customer is paying for this "impressive" touch.

The choices for Friday, and identically Saturday’s evening menu include: Appetizers: Sweet Corn Chowder with American caviar, Maine lobster potato souffle and bacon powder (($14),; Spicy Dungeness Crab Cakes with butternut squash, lemon preserve, and French pickled-cucumber jalapeno remoulade (18); and Spice-Rubbed Semi-boneless Quail with white bean puree, chorizo, spring garlic and a dried black cherry citrus gastrique.
Main courses include: fiery Sweet chile and Honey Grilled Mexican White Prawns with jasmine almond rice cakes, frisee red onion salad (35); Peppery Elk Tenderloin and Applewood Smoked Bacon, wth roasted garlic mashed potatoes, sugar snap peas and brandied mushroom sauce (41); grilled Colorado Lamb Rack with spinach, garlic confit (44). These items, and the specials are served with a Southwestern style, perfect for Santa Fe. This is more authentic and inspired than that of its neighbor, The Compound.

Chef/Partner Martin Rios, formerly of the Old House, and Inn of the Ansazi in Santa Fe, trained in New York and abroad in savory and in pastry work. Unlike certain other Santa Fe chefs, he doesn’t rest on his laurels.

My partner's tenderly prepared Pan Seared Pesto topped Alaskan Halibut, is served with butternut squash, white asparagus and crisp vegetables with a light crystallized ginger sauce (~30). Wonderfully prepared, lightly crisped with a touch of “heat”, she finished the fish before I could get a second bite!

The server recommended I have the Natural Sonoma Duck Breast, with lavender truffle glaze, a wonderful sweet potato tart slice, with roasted grapes, white asparagus and bok choy in a foie gras emulsion, with a bonus good sized piece of lightly seared crisp and tender foie gras terrine on top (29). This exceeded my expectations, with its beauty, its combination of elements that synergistically created one of the best duck preparations I’ve ever had. The duck is tender with crisp skin, devoid of excess fat, artfully sliced, topped with microgreens, and layered over white and green vegetables. Our Malbec wine goes well with both dishes.

There is a good assortment of desserts-we chose (my memory is not ideal) a new one with pecan crunch cake, champagne gelée (think Jello- made by angels) and a honey crisp cookie, ad strawberry sorbet. The strawberries are kept in basil and sugar, and there’s a green mint-basil syrup. Very tasty! Local foodies in Santa Fe said this is “the best of the best” from Albuquerque through Santa Fe and up to Taos, and we agree in that this matches or exceeds the quality in any USA city. Next visit, we’ll try Santacafe and one or two others. Wish we could have tried Coyote Cafe years ago, when Mark Miller was on premises, the reputation has allegedly since plummeted, trading glitz for quality. One local “foodie” said “The Compound ain’t what she used to be 1-3 years ago. Geronimo’s now trounces the Compound. If you lower your expectations from Geronimo’s, you’ll then be ok with the Compound.” Ouch!

The Compound still has very nice general American food, lacks a Southwestern culinary identity, and is worth a lunch visit for lunch, while shopping on Canyon Road. Geronimo’s is more attractive, with a nicer casual Southwestern elegance. The dress at both spots is nicer casual. Conversations at Geronimos indicated tourists slightly outnumbered locals on our visit, whereas tourists are the bulk of the Compound’s diners. Your mileage may vary. I recommend trying Geronimo’s first, then the Compound later, and let me know your experience.

As we were leaving Geronimo’s, we asked for a copy of the evening’s menu. It arrived as a scroll, wrapped with a gold ribbon. That’s above and beyond-that’s Geronimo. We’re hooked on Geronimo, just as the Santa Fe folks.

Geronimo Restaurant, 724 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, NM, 505- 982-1500

The Compound Santa Fe Review and Geronimo

We chose to have our first "finer dining" Santa Fe meal at The Compound, as Chef Mark Kiffin recently cooked at a local home for the Naples, Florida Winter Wine Festival. While we had a very good meal at The Compound, we only later learned from locals that the best restaurant, higher end, is Geronimos, then Santacafe, with mainly tourists reading outdated Fodors still going to fallen Coyote Cafe, which "has lost it" since Mark Miller left.

The Compound is in a quaint adobe structure just off of tourist-laden Canyon Road that can easily serve 20 or cater a wedding for 250 people on its grounds. Inside, it's painted white, with a lower wooden roof, and sparse wall decoration in the main, first dining room. There's no real window view at night. Even though the place had less than 30 diners on a weekday off season, service was too slow waiting till our order was taken, then it picked up. Kudos to the man with bread, keeping plates replenished with slices of a good wheat bread, and a tastier olive bread.

Most of the diners are tourists, the same held for our experience, except for a larger table where two men were loudly pitching locals with investment plans. The lighting is low and nice. It can get noisy when full.

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The menu, unfortunately, is not different in offerings or price from offerings in higher end spots in Chicago, NY, L.A., or say Washington, D.C.-there's sadly just not one appetizer, main, or dessert to let a visitor or local savor the delicious New Mexican cuisine unique to Northern New Mexico. The appetizers include Saltine Crusted Maine Crab Cake ($18), Iceberg "Wedge" with Bacon and Stilton dressing(13), Crispy Fried Oysters with Risotto (18), Seared South Carolina Quail with Pomegranate Gremolata (16), and Organic Baby Lettuce with Baby Tomatoes (13).

Having had a later lunch, I ordered two apps, instead of a main. The Short Rib of Beef Papardelle, with wild mushrooms, tomatoes and Parmesan Pepper Cress (17), is slow cooked and delicious.

The Sweetbreads and Foie Gras, with cayenne and sherry wine is rich, a good portion, and priced fairly at $18. The foie gras was correctly seared and rare, and the sweetbreads were slightly rubbery or chewy, overcooked a little, rather than desireably soft. They were still tender enough-the wonderful sauce covers up all glitches. We passed on the tempting Prickly Pear Margarita (12), with Herradura Silver Tequila, Cointreau, and Prickly Pear Puree.

There are 8 main courses, the "Classic" Buttermilk Roast Chicken with Foie Gras Pan Gravy for $26, and "Classic" Grilled Beef Tenderloin for $40. The menu changes seasonally. The main courses now are: Atlantic Salmon with Chorizo and Spanish Piquillo Pepper Stew (29), Sea Scallops "Diane" with Bacon, Cognac and Cream (32), Pork Porterhouse with Chutney and Moroccan Harissa (28), Lobster Bolognese with Pancetta (45), and Wild Mushrooms and Polenta (25), for vegetarians.

My partner had the Braised Lamb ($34), with Baked Goat Cheese Orzo and a tomato-red wine broth. The portion is large, properly cooked, and the equal of that at any finer restaurant in the USA. Our tablemates had the Buttermilk Roast Chicken, which they said was "good, not great for the price". For $26, I hope the "inexpensive" $26 Chicken becomes "great." The prices are higher than most other spots in town.

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There's no mix of New Mexican cuisines at all, at these or lower prices. We're told that prices keep away many of the locals.

The Compound advertises in local publications, and has a steady, well heeled tourist business. Locals say it's better to be visited for lunch, where the Pastrami Sandwich is $16, Hamburger is $12, Chicken Schnitzel is $12, with a side of Sauteed Asparagus for $12, and Wild Mushrooms are $12.

Desserts include a signature Liquid Chocolate Cake (10), Carrot Cake (8), coconut Cream Pie (9), and daily Sorbets and Ice creams (7).

While it is a good meal at a high price point, they have lost a bit of their local following, as people choose other spots, for better value for their dining dollars. Properly cooked food overall, it lacks any Southwestern character, and could have been served in St Louis, Detroit, or Iowa City. That's not so attractive to diners visiting Santa Fe, a city famed for Southwestern cuisine. The service is not memorable. That's why I and others come to dine at this noted "Southwestern Chef's" restaurant, and are disappointed. These points may explain the Compound's decline.

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The Compound is attempting to get the locals' dinner casual business, only on Wednesdays evenings, offering still pricey Fried Chicken for $15, Burgers for $12, Fish and Chips for $14, Mac n cheese for $10, Meatloaf for $14, and bottled water for $8, until season starts up. "Too little, too late. Way too high priced for supper burgers and meatloaf in this town-Mark's so completely out of touch with Santa Fe and the economy" one food-savvy local noted.

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In comparison, our service and meal at nearby Geronimo's was superb, memorable, and comparable in price. Geronimo's setting is more elegant, "romantic" one woman said, and still the dress code is "nicer casual". Try Geronimo first, then The Compound, and let me know your impression. Santacafe is also well recommended.

653 Canyon Road, 982-4353