La Boca – 80 Percent Good
Bob’s and Dang’s comments on my Kiraku post prompted me to wiki “octopus”. In a way, I needed to remind myself that computers are wonderful creatures that don’t always give me incomprehensible error messages. Then I got reminded of my most memorable experience with octopus on a plate. It was in Santa Fe this past summer.
When there are good news and bad news, I prefer to hear the bad news first, so that’s how I’ll start describing La Boca. Their octopus was terrible. Octopuses are chewy things, and I have never had any octopus as opposite from chewy as this one. Pulpo, as called on the menu, sliced and dressed in pimenton, olive oil, lemon juice and seasalt, sounds like a wonderful refreshment after touring Santa Fe under the flamboyant sun. Well, if you give this octopus to a green octopus-looking alien who hasn’t the slightest preconception of what octopus tastes like, he would most likely go home defining octopus as beans. Yes, it was dense and grainy like bean.
Blame no one but ourselves for ordering raw seafood in the middle of the desert. The rest of the meal, here comes the good news, was tasty.
Spinach salad with roasted beets, goat cheese, red onion, pomegranate vinaigrette. I’ve never had bad roasted beets (I would say the same thing for octopus prior to this day), and pomegranate vinaigrette sounds just right.
Grilled artichoke salad with jamon Serrano, arugula and aged cherry vinaigrette. Grilled artichoke is nutty, the right kind of nutty. And again, how I like fruity vinaigrettes!
Tapas trio: hummus, red pepper-almond spread, goat cheese, spinach, raisin, capers, and flatbread to scoop. Me most impressed with the spinach dip while the girl friends fell for the spicy almond spread.
Pincho de puerco: free range pork skewer with apricot honey and green olives. It would have been a great one had the pork not been so chewy. The wrong kind of chewy.
Cantimpalitos: grilled mini chorizos, garlic aioli, and potatoes. Hyunmi liked the potatoes, and that’s all that matters. 🙂
It’s one of those meals that makes me consider going vegan: the pasture was indeed greener there.
Dinner for four: ~$70 (We had to run for the last bus so we couldn’t even wait for the check…)
Address: La Boca
72 W Marcy St
Santa Fe, NM 87503
(505) 982-3433
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