Good food, good presentation and good service make dining at new Canyon Road addition a lovely experience
There’s a handsome new face on Canyon Road, a little place that offers great food at moderate prices.
Mateo’s Meditalian Bistro is the newest reinvention of a restaurant space that in recent memory has housed a German bistro, an upscale sandwich shop and an overpriced Mexican restaurant. Mateo’s seems to have the right mix of cuisine, service and pricing. A friend and I had a lovely dinner here — and got a discount for being locals!
As the name implies, the menu focuses on contemporary Italian — I didn’t see Mediterranean dishes — without a hint of green chile or corn tortillas. Dinner offerings feature plenty of pasta, as well as salads and a few select entrees with chicken, fish or veal as the star. After our waiter, Jorge, told us the Tumbleweed Salad was Mateo’s most popular dish, we tried it ($12.95). It arrived looking like a miniature vegetable birthday cake wearing an unexpected curly toupee of crisp fried onions, like the kind grandma put on her green-bean casserole. When was the last time just the sight of a salad made you smile? It didn’t disappoint tastewise, either. An excellent mix of chopped lettuce, mild blue cheese, bacon, boiled egg, tiny red bits of tomato and soft, ripe avocado, it was a meal in itself.
We sampled the calamari ($9.95), which stands out from the crowd because of a great marinara sauce spicy enough for Santa Fe palates, and an ample fresh side salad. I passed on the melon soup, the soup of the day, but enjoyed the Tuscan onion with its rich beefy broth and abundance of soft sweet sliced onions, and the fresh minestrone. Full of vegetables in a tasty tomato base, this soup was almost a stew (each $3.95).
My friend and I ate on the patio, watching the crowds stream into El Farol next door for tapas and music, or stroll past on their way to Geronimo just across the street. If you have lunch here, in addition to the food, you’ll be treated to a parade of shoppers, dog-walkers and curious tourists exploring the mysteries of Canyon Road. Mateo’s location, at the corner of Camino del Monte Sol, is prime Santa Fe real estate. The tables, topped with Italian-style cloths that explain various types of noodles, have umbrellas for daytime dining. As we enjoyed our dinner and conversation with humanity passing by, Jorge smoothly cleared plates, refilled water glasses, brought the next course and new silverware and kept a solicitous eye on us.
At Jorge’s suggestion, we tried the veal scaloppine ($18.95), an artfully presented meal of tender veal with a lemony caper sauce and a colorful assortment of fresh sautéed zucchini, yellow squash, julienne carrots and slender green beans. The veal was almost fork tender and the wonderfully tart sauce complemented it nicely. The polenta was a nice change from potatoes or pasta, but heavy.
The pasta carbonara ($7.47 for a half order) could be considered adult comfort food. The piping hot spaghetti was tossed with fresh peas and prosciutto in a sinfully rich cream sauce. My half order, an option also available for most of the other pasta choices including the lobster ravioli and fettuccine Alfredo, was plenty.
Jorge tried to tempt us with dessert, which Mateo’s offers free to locals to encourage us to come back and bring friends. When we declined, he gave us a 10 percent discount. What good marketing!
Before the discount, our dinner for two without drinks, tax or tip was $57.22. Parking is available in the city lot right across the street or, if you’re lucky, for free along Canyon Road.
With first-rate food, good service and its million-dollar location, I hope Mateo’s becomes another Canyon Road dining institution.
Mateo’s Meditalian Bistro
WHERE: 802 Canyon Road
FOOD: Italian, beer and wine
SERVICE: Very good
PRICES: Most dinner entrees $13.95 to $20.95
AMBIANCE: Pleasant outdoor deck and inside seating
