Those of you who read my posts know that I am rarely negative. Last night, we were really excited to go to Sazon, one of the new nouvelle-type Mexican places here in Santa Fe. The setting is quite nice with maybe 15-20 or so tables varying in size in three small dining areas with large Mexican paintings all over the wall (I was particularly enamored of the 6 foot tall Frida Kahlo one with her breasts slightly exposed) along with sombreros, some religious art and a large kiva fireplace in the center. The rafters have an old feeling as I think the building is most likely colonial and hence all wooden.
Our server brought a small plate of 5 different moles for us to taste along with fresh mini tortillas. This is to get you to decide if you wish to choose a dish with one of them and get to taste it up front. They were a chocolatey Mole Poblano, a fruit based New Mexico mole(with apricot), a superb Mole Verde with tomatillo, a Peanut Mole which I loved and a spicy red Coloradito with chile de arbol. A half glass of Cava Segura Viudas was complimentary to cleanse the palate and accompany them. I loved the plethora of Mexican wines and we chose a bottle of Vinsur "Refeljo" 2020 from the Valle de Guadalupe in Baja California made from 42% Petit Verdot, 35% Syrah and 23% Cabernet Sauvignon that was wonderfully earthy and had great flavors to boot.
I chose the Gazpacho with Crab special starter and Will chose the Shrimp Ceviche, also a special and thus, no prices were given. Will's ceviche was yummy and quite filing with a lot of juice, but also a lot of shrimp and yummy chips. My gazpacho was about 5 spoonfuls with maybe 1/2 spoonful of crab; Will was kind enough to share his shrimp.
Since I loved the Coloradito Mole I ordered that on the Duck Breast, but Will opted for the Chef's signature dish of Enmoladas de Pato which was cron tortilla with duck breast, layered with sweet potato puree and the Mole Poblano. He called is dessert duck as it was very rich and quite sweet due to the chocolate combining with the quite sweet sweet potatoes. My dish was a hit, but we told our server Megan that Will was not very happy, and he had eaten barely 1/3 of it. She offered to bring out a shrimp salad which we assumed was complimentary, and Will said it was quite boring and very bland.
I wanted to give them a chance so ordered the Rhubard-Strawberry Cobbler which was decent but would win no prize. Will's coffee was warm, mine was lukewarm.
The check came and I went into shock at the $25 for the teeny bowl(check out the FB pic) of gazpacho, but also the shrimp salad was not complimentary. Megan came over and said the manager had to deal with it. I almost blew up and told Will, it would come out of her tip for sure if they charged us. The manager came over with a new tab without the salad and all was well....until the middle of the night when I clearly had some kind of food reaction issue. So no more Sazon for the Savada-Stevensons!
Tonight dinner is at the opera house!
