Everything at Asian fusion restaurant is done well
Mauka rocks! This attractive, heads-up restaurant, which opened in October, adds a new dimension to Santa Fe’s food scene. There’s nothing in town quite like the Asian-inspired food you’ll find here, served with a gracious smile.
Mauka occupies the space that Kasasoba vacated this summer. The new owners have slightly recast the decor, replacing posters with elegant floral prints and adding background music that reflects the Asian influences and a contemporary approach.
In any relationship, first impressions set the tone. My friend and I were off to a good start. I found an empty parking space in front of the restaurant (there is ample parking in Sanbusco Center) and we were greeted with a smile, like welcome guests. The hostess gathered up menus and promptly seated us in the relaxing and unpretentious dining room. The staff had set about a dozen wooden tables, white linen napkins and silverware. The beautiful hardwood floors, subtle lighting and muted colors on the walls add to the soothing tone. The look is sleek and clean and the food equally elegant.
Everything on the one-page menu looked good. Starters include an ahi tuna spring roll, kimchee pancakes, sashimi, soup of the day and a Kurobuta kalua pork Napoleon ($8-$11).
Kurobuta is to pork as Kobi is to beef, meat from animals specially bred to be extratender, marbled and juicy. The kalua doesn’t refer to Kahlua, the coffee-flavored liqueur, but rather to the slow style of cooking you’d find at a Hawaiian luau. The pig of the evening emerged succulent and fall-off-the-bone tender after long hours in a hot pit. The meat layer of the Napoleon deserved a standing ovation, and the crisp, sweet and starchy taro chips, caramelized bits of apple and macadamia nuts that came with it added up to a gourmet treat.
The remarkable lemon grass coconut milk soup combined light coconut milk, the tangy green flavor of the lemon grass, slivers of shiitake mushrooms and leeks for a rich, complex, heartwarming flavor. At the bottom of the bowl was a wonton-like dumpling with an intensely flavored scallop filling, like the exclamation point at the end of a sentence. Perfect.
The menu features only six entrees (plus vegetarian options if you ask for them), but each one sounded luscious. We ordered the pork belly — such a mundane name for an outstanding dish. Chef-owner Joel Coleman braised the meat in soy sauce and cooked it until fork-tender. He matched it on the plate with crisp curried cauliflower florettes and braised red cabbage. The generous serving could have allowed the possibility of taking some home, but that would have required restraint. Each mouthful demanded another.
The fish “spontanée,” a playful French way to say “of the day” was walu, the Hawaiian name for escolar. It arrived atop a layer of beautiful orange winter squash rounds, a layer of baby spinach and a platform of risotto, crisp on the outside and creamy within. The fish itself wore a little crown of micro greens and had been cooked to a slight crunch on the surface but still pink in the middle and was tender, juicy and mildly flavored. I could eat it daily.
Other entrees meshed American and Asian influences: crispy-skin duck breast with sour plum sauce; beef short ribs with bacon truffle mashed potatoes and Chinese broccoli; lamb chops with Thai basil pesto, beef ribeye with red curry sweet potato puree; and, the night of our visit, a special Kobe steak.
Desserts were good, if less exceptional. The evening’s special dessert, chocolate spice cake, arrived with two Bing cherries dipped in white chocolate and served with pink salt. Wow. The small round cake had a fudgelike frosting and arrived slightly warm with a rich, fruity chocolate cherry sauce. The profita rolls, two light golf-ball size pastry globes filled with vanilla ice cream, could have been average, but the accompanying compote of raisins and apple slices lifted them from mundane to special.
We finished with individual pots of French press coffee. Our dinner for two was $98 without alcohol, and before tax and tip. We got our money’s worth and left eager to try the rest of the menu. Throughout the evening, our waitress checked back with us, always polite, never interrupting.
The restaurant’s name, a Hawaiian word for mountain, speaks to the underlying concept. Hawaii’s wonderful food encompasses many Asian cuisines, often creatively adjusted and updated to suit American tastes. Mauka’s sophisticated, fresh and unique approach deserves to become a Santa Fe standout.
Mauka
ADDRESS: 544 Agua Fria St., 984-1969
PRICES: Dinner entrees $23-$30; Lunch $8-$12.
HOURS: Open for lunch 11:30-3 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and dinner from 5:30 Tuesday-Saturday.
ATMOSPHERE: Clean and contemporary.
SERVICE: Excellent
FOOD: Asian fusion. Wine and beer.
