Review of La Boca in Santa Fe, New Mexico

My first impression of La Boca - chef James Campbell Caruso's new restaurant on West Marcy Street - was of a sunny window box of fresh yellow flowers under a large, clean plate-glass window. As I got closer, I could see the tables inside, neatly set with white linen. No curling, paper overlays here. Hoping to make a reservation, I entered through the Dutch door to find the tile floor just drying from a recent cleaning. I walked back to the kitchen where the sous-chef asked me, with a smile, to call later when more staff would be available

La Boca reminds me of some of the Italian trattorias I knew when 1 was in art school in Florence years ago. The room is narrow, extending back from the entrance. The tables are placed close together, the decoration spare. A bar at the far end of the room displays wine bottles and an espresso machine.

On a busy Wednesday evening, my party was shown to a table in the center of the room. I usually don't enjoy center seating - or closely adjoining tables - but, as the evening wore on, I found 1 wasn't uncomfortable. Drinks were ordered and menus delivered. One long look at the list of tapas and entrees told us that Campbell Caruso may be standing in Spain, but he's looking toward North Africa a direction I like.

We ordered four of the 14 tapas on the menu: Catalan olives, Torta la Serena (sheep's-milk cheese), pressed chicken thighs with a harissa yogurt sauce, and eggplant with charmonla - a spicy North African marinade of herbs, oil, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, onion, fresh cilantro, ground Chile peppers, black pepper, and saffron. The harissa, made in La Boca's kitchen, is another spicy North African sauce made with small, hot red chilies, garlic, salt, olive oil, cumin, and coriander and bound with hot water. The Torta la Serena was excellent - fresh, creamy, and cool. It was cut in narrow wedges and served with a reduction of red wine and honey, and Marcona almonds browned in olive oil.

The chicken was cut into pencil-thin strips and sautéed just to a point of tenderness. The harissa yogurt sauce needed more intensity - neither the tartness of the yogurt nor the heat and flavor of the harissa were pronounced enough for my taste. The eggplant was grilled nicely, and the red-onion charmoula was a good idea. However, the charmoula needed a bit more lemon or salt to meld better with the sweet onion flavor and better match the more subdued taste of the eggplant. After the tapas, we shared a grilled bibb-lettuce salad. The dish - which presents an interesting technical problem since the delicate, buttery quality of bibb lettuce won't take much heat - was well-executed. It must have been bounced off the hot grill just long enough to acquire a hint of warmth and flavor before it was served with a very good sheep's-milk feta cheese and a sherry vinaigrette. A true success!

The Moroccan salmon entree was tender and delicious, rubbed with a very good Moroccan spice mixture. It was cooked perfectly-right down to the very lightly rare center- then laid over an onion salad dressed with a mint-yogurt sauce and sided with baby carrots. The onion salad didn't have enough character to play off the spices in the rub. It rather detracted from the whole in a way the mint-yogurt sauce couldn't rescue. Don't get me wrong - the dish was good - but with a little tweaking it could have been great. I always like to try the pasta in a new restaurant - in this case, the rigatoni with sausage. I'm usually more interested in a dish's flavor and texture than its arrangement, but this was a very bland, homely looking pasta. A bit more tomato puree, along with some small tomato pieces, would help the look of the dish.

The rigatoni came with chunks of sausage, raisins, and chopped olives in a tomato-cream sauce. I like this kind of sweet savory combination but couldn't find any raisins to balance the sausage and olives in this serving. The pasta was overcooked, and there was not enough tomato in the cream sauce for my taste. But this is an interesting dish, and its flaws would be easy to remedy. I sent the rigatoni back and ordered the steamed mussel tapa with a tomato, oregano, and sherry-cream sauce in its place. The mussels were large, plump, and good - but I think the kitchen forgot to add the sherry. Try as we might, we couldn't detect a bit of it. In a busy kitchen, it isn't uncommon to miss part of a recipe's structure, but the good dish would have been even belter had it been included.

For dessert we sampled a dense chocolate mousse and an almond cake with fresh figs and a wine-honey reduction, and then finished with espresso. The coffee was edged with light brown crema and rich with flavor. Service at La Boca was very good. It was a busy night, and we were well taken care of. There was no problem returning the pasta. All was handled with a smile.

The noise level was high when the restaurant was hopping. I remember a popular place in New York that solved that problem by finding what appeared to be a supple fine-mesh screen that could be floated a foot or so from the high ceiling. It looked good and softened the sharp edges of the sound. For the moment, though, Campbell Caruso is not concerned with the noise - it's all part of lively crowd having good time, he says. Finally, a room of his own. Originally from the Northeast, Campbell Caruso is well-known in Santa Fe. About 10 years ago, he worked for six months with Sam Clark at Moro in London, and then roamed around Andalusia with Clark for six more months, taking classes and working as a guest chef. When he moved to Santa Fe, Campbell Caruso worked first at La Casa Sena for five years, then at El Farol for more than six years.

His reputation and experience have now found a fitting home at La Boca, the first restaurant he has owned himself. He talked recently about some additions he plans to make to die restaurant, which has been open for only a few months. A diverse selection of Spanish cheeses will be listed on a blackboard over the bar, and a collection of very good dry sherries to complement the growing number of 30 or so tapas will be added to the menu. Campbell Caruso is personable and obviously loves experimenting. He's still fine-tuning some of the elements in the dishes on his menu and is constantly inventing new ones, making La Boca restaurant to try now and then visit again soon. La Boca is located at 72 W. Marcy St. in Santa Fe, 982-3433