We found this restaurant just wandering the streets of SMA. Inside it's a cool, contemporary space with lots of comfy seating.
The waiter started us out with tortilla strips that looked like they were made in house and paired with 3 different sauces. One pesto (not spicy), one some sort of red sauce which the waiter referred to as"picante". This was my husband's favorite. I knew to stay away! The third was a sweet onion relish - my favorite. I thought it was spicy enough, but both my husband and the waiter said that it was not spicy. I liked it enough to keep eating it, but with lots of water.
I ordered a spinach empanada which I'm glad that I did. The pastry was the best combination of crispy and soft! It was also a fairly large empanada, so you could share it with another person if you need to save space to try other things.
We shared the special onion which my husband compared to the blooming onion at Outback, but better.
I had the pear and fig salad. I wasn't sure that I wanted a salad for dinner, but since it was getting late, I chose to have something on the lighter side. This was such a good decision! The lettuce was the perfect amount of crispy without being too watery. The balsamic dressing and fruit added just the right amount of sweetness with a hint of tart, and the best part was the crunchy roasted sunflowers. This really made the dish, and they were very generous with the amount of it. I was expecting a sprinkling of it, but the amount just made every bite just wonderful! I would go back just for this salad and I'm not a salad person.
My husband got the frutti di mare. He said that it was alright, but not as stellar as the other items on our table.
Four stars because smoking is allowed in the main dining room. They seated us in one of the smaller rooms with only one other party that was not smoking so it was alright. Also, there was no beverage menu and the waiter did not speak much English so we just ordered water and were given a local artisan spring water, which we didn't mind, but if we were to return, we'd probably enjoy it more if we could have different drinks.
Overall, we enjoyed our meal and would return. read more