Review of Cafe Dominic in Santa Fe New Mexico

Open for six years on the site of the short-lived Prana and the well-loved Atalaya and Swiss Palace bakery-restaurants, Cafe Dominic is the new kid on the block. In 2003, Dominic Romero - yes, there really is a Dominic, and he's there most every day - bought out his partners to become the sole owner. This feel-good eatery is a find. For breakfast and lunch, you order at the counter and your food is delivered to your table. Dinner is a bit more formal. You sit at a table replete with candle, albeit a votive and a server takes your order. Dominic's decor is pure kitsch. Knives, forks, spoons, and other kitchen doodads are everywhere, dangling from the ceiling, depicted in large paintings, even fashioned into a chandelier.

The lunch and dinner menus are basically the same: sandwiches, burgers, salads, burritos, enchiladas, tacos, and five specialty plates touting seafood, chicken, and pasta. But don't let the simplicity of the menu fool you. Even the humble side dishes are fresh-tasting, simply and attractively served. Thinking we'd get two - a semantic confusion on the menu - we ordered one chicken and one pork quesadilla. When only one arrived, our server said that the kitchen had solved the problematic order by mingling the chicken with the pork. A definite first, but by first bite we were hooked. It was wonderful - plump, succulent chunks of chicken and pork and melted cheese blanketed by a warm flour tortilla. With a small salad on the side, the generous serving would make a perfect lunch. Orders of camarones al mojo de ajo - shrimp sautéed in a garlic-butter sauce with Spanish rice and black beans - and El Presidente - a combo plate with a taco, enchilada, and chalupa - arrived in the wink of an eye, looking flat-out pretty on their plates.

The stars of the first entree, however, were not the shrimp - which were good - but the beans and rice. I can safely say that I have never waxed poetic about beans and rice, but it's never too late. The rice was memorable, garnished with slices of red and green sweet pepper and onion, sautéed to glistening perfection. And the black beans, cooked with just garlic and onion powder for seasoning, were equally good. The combo plate had two winners out of three. The cheese enchilada was our favorite, the beef taco a close second. The chicken chalupa, although pretty, was unremarkable. The carrot cake we shared for dessert tasted like cinnamon and would best be renamed. But when our coffee arrived with three diminutive animal crackers perched on the saucer, all was forgiven. I traded my dinner partner a lion for a rabbit and ended the night on a very happy note.

On another visit, we opted to order breakfast (served until 3 p.m.) rather than lunch. Although the cafe's sandwiches are fresh and delicious, the idea of ordering pancakes at noon was very appealing. Who knew that blue-corn meal, pine nuts, and maple syrup could be such a winsome threesome? Trattoria Focaccia, a grilled focaccia-style bread slathered with a sparkling pesto sauce and melted jack cheese, was topped with perfectly cooked, over-easy eggs. The house omelet also was cooked perfectly, and the tomato, mushroom, and bell pepper stuffing was a treat in itself. A side of oven-roasted, herbed potatoes was - you guessed it - perfect. Cafe Dominic is located 320 S. Guadalupe St. in Santa Fe, 982-4743. They are opened Sunday to Monday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday from 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.