Amuse-bouche

TRATTORIA A MANO

Trattoria A Mano, reviewed; Irish-Italian spaghetti

With every seat taken on two recent visits, Trattoria A Mano appears to have carved out a place for itself in the year-round community.

Opened in December in the space most recently occupied by Galisteo Bistro, Trattoria A Mano has transformed the long, narrow, high-ceilinged room into a lively gathering spot for good food, good drink, and good company. The decor is eclectic, combining iron window grilles, oversized photos of ’50s Italian haute couture and hands kneading dough, a wall of quotations about food, and a flower-bedecked bicycle. A curtain of wood and glass rolling pins hangs above the glass partition that separates the large, long open kitchen from the tightly packed seating area in a way that shouldn’t — but does — work. The friendly vibe is reinforced by the excellent waitstaff and gracious maître d’.

A Mano’s website promises “handcrafted rustic Italian cuisine” featuring familiar Northern Italian dishes, and the kitchen delivers on that promise. Meats — braised, roasted, pan-fried, and grilled — are handled particularly well, as is the seafood. The menu offers 10 antipasti, including two soups and four salads; eight pastas; seven main courses; and six desserts, including a cheese plate — most of which are designed to be shared. Vegetarians can find at least one selection in each of the categories, having most choices among the antipasti.

The antipasto rustico is a deceptively simple platter of cured meats, including prosciutto and salumi, melt-in-the-mouth slivers of lardo — decadent and delicious when draped over a crisp bit of bread — an assortment of olives, house-marinated artichokes, roasted red peppers, fresh pecorino, and buttery Gorgonzola dolce. The quality of each of the ingredients — especially the cheeses — raised the bar from simple to superb, making this one of our favorite dishes at A Mano. The calamari fritti — which paired perfectly with a fresh, delicate Pieropan Soave Classico Veneto 2016 — features small, sweet, tenderly battered rings of squid served atop a salad of peppery arugula complimented by a spicy lemon aioli. Easily large enough to share, this is the best version of this appetizer we’ve had in Santa Fe.

The restaurant’s wine list is extraordinarily deep for such a small venue, at this time featuring 12 wines by the glass and a five-page bottle list, with selections ranging from $32 to $550, many in the affordable $40 to $65 range.

Because the pasta dishes are available in small or large portions, they can serve as either first or main courses. Our small serving of vegetarian-friendly fusilli with artichokes, porcini mushrooms, and leeks, scented with white truffle oil and gran cru pecorino — a sheep’s milk cheese that added creaminess to the sauce — was a light introduction to the courses that followed. The tagliatelle “fra diavolo” is a dramatic presentation of a lobster tail layered over a dish of black squid-ink pasta, the whole topped with a thick, spicy, bright red tomato sauce that gives the dish its name: “brother devil.” The lobster was tender, the pasta toothsome, and the sauce spicy enough to notice without distracting from the rest of the dish. A friend who has spent a good portion of the past 30 years living and eating in Italy likes to say that Italians eat pasta with sauce, while Americans eat sauce with pasta. A Mano seems to have found a good middle ground; its pastas have enough sauce to satisfy an American, but not so much that it drowns the dish.

The potato gnocchi with braised short ribs on the pasta menu sported four fork-tender, meaty ribs, along with carrots and onions and just five small gnocchi — a better fit, perhaps, as a main than a first course. That said, the gnocchi were well done, smooth and light, with none of the sogginess or density that can plague the little dumplings. A Mano serves its version of bistecca a la Fiorentina with fresh, garlicky spinach and roasted potatoes — a large cut of beef perfectly grilled to the requisite rare that could easily serve two. This was a tasty enough rendition of good old American steak and potatoes,

but with the exception of its rosemary seasoning, it was also not a dish that brought its Tuscan progenitor to mind.

The hearty pork shank fell easily off the bone, but was overpowered on that night by polenta that was too cheesy, too salty, and just too rich for the simple braise. On another night, the roast chicken, stuffed with a sausage-like concoction of dark meat, was perfectly supported by its companion, a creamy mushroom risotto so savory that we ate that first. The grilled branzino — an unthreatened variety of European bass — was also perfectly cooked, with a crisp skin and delicate, flaky interior. The roasted cauliflower florets had a good bite to them, moderated by a rich salsa verde.

Among the desserts, the almond panna cotta (or “cooked cream”) was a perfect rendition of the Italian staple. Neither too loose nor too stiff, the delicate almond flavor was enhanced by amaretto crumbs and decorated with a ribbon of spun sugar. The tiramisu, a dessert that often disappoints at other restaurants, was equally top-notch, with the chocolate and cocoa accenting but not overwhelming the mascarpone.

With every seat taken on two recent visits, Trattoria A Mano appears to have carved out a well-deserved place for itself in the year-round Santa Fe community, which bodes well for its long-term survival. The hearty fall/winter menu, though, is coming to the end of its run — a lighter spring/summer bill of fare will debut in early May — so visit soon if you want to sample any of these more robust dishes.