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| Santana has a hit with Maria Maria | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| By Jess Harter, Get Out | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| April 3, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Now, he’s showing he may do the same thing in the restaurant industry. Maria Maria, the musician’s stylish Mexican restaurant that takes its name from another of his famous songs, opened March 31 at Tempe Marketplace. If my initial visit is any indication, Santana has another hit on his hands. (read the Q&A with Maria Maria's chef Roberto Santibañez)  Ancho chile relleno stuffed with roasted zucchini, red onions and potatoes served over melted cheese and roasted tomato chipotle sauce and topped with crispy sweet potatoes and zucchini The look and feel of the place is impressive. From the parking lot, you follow a long, curved patio as it goes on and on — wrapping around two-thirds of the building before it finally reaches a large fire pit. Just past the fire pit, the restaurant’s heavy wood doors open to a cavernous space called the Candle Dining Room. A long bar runs the length of the back wall; above it, two giant trees are illuminated by more than four dozen faux candles. To the right, behind a musician playing acoustic guitar, a wall of cubbyholes filled with more candles hides another dining area. To the left, a covered portion of the patio is served by an outside bar. The opening night’s see-and-be-seen crowd is surprisingly young — the majority in their 20s and 30s — and mostly dressed to impress. As I take a seat in the lounge area, a server brings out a copper dish of house-made tortilla chips and three types of salsa. The first is a typical mild one, nothing to get too excited about. The other two, though, pack plenty of kick. One is a dark red “salsa de arbol” made with roasted tomatillos and arbol chiles. The other is a light green “salsa de manzano” made with fresh tomatillos and fiery manzano (apple) peppers. The two salsas are good examples of the complex, globally inspired cuisine of Roberto Santibañez, the acclaimed Mexico City chef whom Santana and partners tapped to create Maria Maria’s menu. I start with chicken flautas ($9), crispy corn tortillas filled with mildy spicy chicken. An orange tomatillo sauce is made a bit more luxurious with crema and cotija cheese. Soft duck tacos ($11) are a popular item at finer restaurants nowadays, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find any as good as these. The finely shredded pink meat practically melts in your mouth. Habanero cream sauce is complemented by chopped onions, cilantro and sunflower seeds. Foot-long skewers of beef tenderloin and sliced chorizo links separated by pieces of onion, pepper and pineapple ($19) are brushed with a bacon vinaigrette. Like all entrees, they come with a bowl of saffron rice and black beans (cooked in vegetable oil, not lard), both spiced with guajillo peppers. I barely have room to try the flourless bittersweet chocolate cake ($7), which has the consistency of thick pudding and comes with juicy slices of orange. Like a new song that you just can’t get out of your head, I can’t wait to go back to Maria Maria for an encore. Maria Maria Where: 2000 E. Rio Salado Parkway, TempeOpen: 5 p.m. to close daily; lunch begins Monday, April 7 Prices: Appetizers $7-$14, salads $6-$13, entrees $13-$21, desserts $7 Info: (480) 449-3663 or mariamariarestaurants.com Contact Jess Harter by email, or phone (480) 898-5690 |
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Maria
Well, I'm in no hurry to get back to Maria Maria, as the service staff still needs to figure out who has what job! I ended up having to fill my own water glass, the kids were constantly waiting for their drinks to be refilled, and it took 10 minutes just to get ketchup! Other than that, I have to say, the ambiance was FABULOUS (I'd love to have this set up in my backyard!), presentation very nice (especially on the ceviche, which was served on a coconut half shell!), and once they got our order right on the Baked Cheese (aka Queso Fundido), the food was very tasty. Oh, just be prepared on the Baked Cheese dish...when you read the menu, it says it comes with a Tomato-Habanero-Chipotle sauce (I don't know about you, but that rings fire alarms in my head)...it tasted like YAMS!!! We did inform the staff of the fact that what it said in the menu gave a false impression of the spiciness we were looking forward to having, and finally got the dish with what we only wanted...chorizo (which is more of a cut up sausage than your typical ground chorizo...) and cheese. I'll give it another month, then, when my friend, Maria, from Sacramento comes to visit, we'll both go and put our name in as....MARIA MARIA! Suggest removal of this commentApril 5, 2008