Restaurant Review: Andiamo!

Te amo, Andiamo!

By: Patricia Greathouse
Published online: Friday, June 29, 2012
Appeared in: Pasateimpo

How do I love Andiamo!? Let me count the ways: the ingredients are fresh, the food is delicious and unpretentious, the staff is friendly, there’s a good selection of reasonably priced wine, and it feels like a cozy neighborhood place.

Andiamo! celebrates its 17th birthday this year. That’s relatively old for a Santa Fe restaurant, but there are good reasons for its longevity. First, owner Joan Gilcrest has an unusual approach to running the business; she lets employees hire but holds them responsible for their choices; consequently, there hasn’t been a new server in four years. Second, servers spend time working in the kitchen before they go on the floor, so they know the menu well. Third, each new employee has to work with each of the old hands before he or she is vetted.

However, perhaps the best reason for Andiamo!’s ripe old age is chef Esteban Parra, who has manned the kitchen since 1999, a few years after Andiamo! opened. His most recent kitchen hire was eight years ago, and the seasoned staff enables him to maintain consistency and quality. While much of the food is healthful and balanced, there are also luxuries like lasagna with handmade pasta and a Bolognese sauce. Parra and Gilcrest insist that each dish be prepared to order, and they use locally sourced ingredients when possible.

Many of Andiamo!’s dishes have the pleasing textural contrast of crispy outside and creamy inside. The crispy duck legs, Scottish salmon, polenta, saffron risotto cake, and even the profiteroles follow that pattern. An additional touch that adds savor, moisture, and contrast to some dishes is the light house-made broth that skims the bottom of many plates.

The appetizers are uniformly delicious. The polenta has a golden and crisp top, a smooth, moist, and light interior, and a creamy rosemary Gorgonzola sauce. An antipasti plate, also full of contrasts, comes with excellent finocchiona (fennel-seed-flecked salami), traditional Toscana salami, watercress, thinly sliced fennel, and radicchio. They create a fresh, vibrant background for creamy mozzarella, olives, and roasted garlic.

The soup of the night, a spectacularly orange carrot purée, was full of simple sweet and savory flavor. The garlicky Caesar salad, whole leaves of perfect small romaine with a dressing made with anchovies, is dusted with Parmesan and tossed with small crunchy croutons. Tender meat is the hallmark of the crispy duck legs. They come with tangy sautéed spinach, house-dried tomatoes, and turnips with a side of grilled polenta.

A moist Scottish salmon (the fish of the night), lightly cooked and served on a saffron risotto cake, had a drizzle of bright salsa verde. The fresh vegetables on the side — asparagus, zucchini, sugar snap peas, and spinach — were cooked perfectly and simply dressed with lemon, olive oil, chile flakes, and salt. The veal scaloppini was a little thick, but the caper sauce more than made up for the chew. Sautéed spinach and garlic potatoes complete the dish.

The Sweet Grass beef special, New Mexican grass-fed tenderloin steak, was superb. A man at the next table remarked to the server that he couldn’t remember when he’d had a better steak. I agreed, although tenderloin is normally not my favorite cut; however, this piece was tender and beefy tasting, grilled perfectly, topped with sautéed shiitake mushrooms, and accompanied by sides of mixed vegetables and garlic mashed potatoes.

Andiamo!’s selection of good wines at reasonable prices has a special focus on Italian selections. A Friulan Anselmi white wine, delightfully light and fruity, came in at well under $40 a bottle. The Zardetto prosecco was a nice, light, bubbly start to the meal, and the Arneis white — often referred to as white Barolo because of its tannin-softening uses in the formation of Nebbiolo-based wines — was excellent with food. The restaurant offers “Vino Schmooze” educational wine evenings.

Desserts are worth the indulgence, and none are too sweet. They range from fruit granita and a plate of very good cookies to a rich chocolate pot de crème with a finish of chocolate sauce and profiteroles — a wonderful thing to share. Tiramisu, moist and java flavored, is also enough for two who want just a few rich bites. To sum up Andiamo!’s appeal, here’s quote from a conversation I overheard in a coffee shop: “Let’s go to Andiamo! instead. The food is just as good, and we can’t ask [our hosts] to pay for ...” Fill in the blank with high-profile fine-dining restaurant names.