Coquinaria: The Jury’s Still Out

This is a place we’ve had our eye on for quite a while. A new concept in Santiago, an upscale market offering gourmet products (Chilean and imported)—a foodie’s delight—and tables indoors and out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

We stopped by with friends the other night, originally on our way to someplace else, but stopped in to check it out and decided to stay.

The ambiance is delightful. Modern yet cozy, sophisticated yet friendly. My kinda place.

But I am sad to say that the dining side of the set-up still needs work.

Granted, it was the night before elections and they wanted to close up early… Maybe the chef had to travel out of town to vote the next day. Maybe the kitchen staff was on some campaign trail–or catering a night-before strategy meeting for one of the candidates… we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt… this time…

We sat at one of the outdoor tables; perfect on a warm summer night in Santiago.The waiter immediately suggested we order our drinks first because he could only serve alcohol until 9:00 (ok, fine, although the law says midnight before elections. But let’s not quibble there. They want to get outta there early tonight–like most of the other places around town).

As the waiter served my pisco sour and I stared at the funky orange color, he commented that it’s because they use brown sugar. It concentrated the fruit in such a way that instead of being crisp refreshing, it was more like nectar. I’m all for experimenting with pisco sours, but this is an innovation I could happily live without.

A number of the dishes on the short menu were unavailable, and the server was not able to correctly explain the ingredients in some that were… Someone in the group asked about the gnocchis topped with gremolata, upon which he explained that gremolata was a little potato, which, of course, it most definitely is not. For the record, it’s a topping made finely chopped parsley, garlic, and grated lemon zest…also for the record, in the final result  the dish was overpowered by lemon (I suspect a whopping dose of lemon juice found its way into the sauce). Too bad, although one of the people who ordered it liked it quite a bit.

There’s a vegetarian in my favorite eating community, so we asked for 2 orders of bruschetta for starters that made absolutely no mention of meat in their description (I believe it was tomato and cheese), but what arrived was a beautifully prepared assortment of toasts topped with salmon, beef, and jamón Serrano… great for me, but not for the veggie guy. When we questioned it, the server shrugged and said, “this is what you asked for” (no points earned there).

My “freshly made” duck raviole with port sauce was hard around the edges (the pasta dried out before cooking) and the sauce a tad too sweet for my taste (it WAS made from port sauce, so I should’ve expected it, although I had hoped for a bit more balance.).

A few problems with the wine service—the kind of thing that you expect in a family-style restaurant but not in a place aiming for chic-cool.

Price? Pretty much in line with other places in the neighborhood, about $22,000 CLP per couple with wine, appetizers, and main course—no dessert, no coffee.

Will I go back?

Yes. I want to like this place. I really do. So I’ll give them another chance. I hear they do a nice Sunday brunch (don’t get enough of those in Santiago), and I bet their lunch menu is pretty tempting too.
I’d love to hear some other opinions, so if you’ve been to Coquinaria, please leave a message and let us know what you think!

Address: Isidora Goyenechea 3000, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile (downstairs in the new W Hotel Building, across from Plaza Perú)
Phone: 2-245-1958
Hours: Mon–Fri 7:30 AM–11:00 PM, Sat 9:30–11:00, Sun 9:30–9:30
Web: http://www.coquinaria.cl/

Jofré: shall we stay, or shall we go…?

Cool place; great food… service? Room for work…

Did you ever notice how some people are just not cut out for service? And how much a difference it makes in how you feel about a place?

Last night a group of friends decided on the spur of the moment to go get a drink and a bite. Someone suggested Jofré… Great place; I’ve been there several times over the course of its 6 or so years in business… Low-key Latina bistro type, set in a renovated cité with small dining rooms and a nice terraza. There’s cool artwork on the exposed adobe walls,  the kitchen’s open to view, and the wine list is printed in colored chalk on an enormous board on the wall…

Food wise it’s a keeper too. The menu usually offers 4–5 reasonably priced dishes determined in accordance with the daily market finds… (in fact, the menu is printed daily). But last night we were there for drinks and apps, so I didn’t even check out the main courses.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. First impressions first. Let’s start with one foot in the door.

We arrived at 8:50 (which is on the early side of a Santiago evening). The waitress met us at the door with a startled look… which was odd… we were dressed appropriately, no scary tattoos or intimidating face jewelry, no swearing, no pushing, no shoving, in fact, we were behaving like the professional adults that we are.

Did you call? (no)
Why not? she demanded. You should have made reservations… (Well THAT was very welcoming, nice to see you too…).

Four of us came in together and we told her that another 2–3 were on their way.

But I already have several reservations… (She drawls it out slowly, and to make sure we get her point, she extends her arm for us to observe the attractively appointed but very empty room). You know you should write down our phone number and call first.

I couldn’t help but remember my husband’s stories about working as a classical guitarist in a hoity-toity hotel restaurant, and the Maitre’D who reveled in making people squirm as he glowered at them and dragged out his favorite sneer, “Noooo… ti-en-e… me-saaa” (so you don’t have a table……)… Shouldn’t we beyond that these days?

She was nearly beside herself, and my initial reaction was to turn heel and leave. I don’t need someone lecturing me at the door about how to reserve a table. Okay, I get it, this is not my grandmother’s house and she is not going to be glad to see me any time I decide to pop in. But… if she doesn’t want our business, there are plenty of other places in town that do.

But my friends were oblivious and just looked at her til she found us a table. An excellent table, actually, in the back by the bar, and as it turned out, we had the whole section to ourselves; so what was all the fuss?

She emanated her  holier than thou throughout the evening, although I must say that we enjoyed ourselves despite the attitude.

Oh! You’ve finished all the bread already….

A bottle of Tres Palacios Merlot, a Tiger beer, and a Paceña, along with Daditos de Carne (cubes of beef in a rich sauce), Grilled goat cheese with arugula (yummy), and Corvina tartar (this ceviche-type dish was my least favorite of the three, but it still disappeared pretty quickly). We had originally ordered the Mollejas (sweetbreads), but were told they would take too long.

Oh… you’re not ordering dinner? Hmm, then give me back the menus…

At one point our conversation turned to a new restaurant that had opened recently, and she actually contradicted the person who was talking… Excuse me? It’s not that I think that waiters should be invisible, and I do enjoy a bit of light conversation with them, although I pretty much draw the line at someone interrupting a guest’s conversation to contradict them… wouldn’t ya think?

Most people think of service in terms of competence, but this was not an issue. Her order-taking skills and ability to get things on and off the table without mishap were just fine. But the part about making guests feel welcome and comfortable? Not so much…

The bill (including tip) came to $30,000 pesos for 6 people. Not bad.

Ratings:

Food: Good, tasty, sufficiently innovative

Menu: Updated daily in accordance to the market offer

Wine list: Good

Beer list: Good

Ambiance: Cool, informal, comfortable (dress up or down, as you prefer)

Price: Reasonable

Service: 1 step forward, 2 steps back…Needs some work…

Address: Jofré 388, downtown Santiago

Phone: (56-2) 635-1927 (be forewarned,  she really wants you to call first!)

Casa Silva puts Colchagua’s Cool Coast on the Map

Terroir is a big thing in the wine world… It has to do with wines of origin… wines that reflect the geological and geographical and climatic conditions of the vineyards to create wines that cannot be reproduced any place else. Chile has produced wine for more than 450 years, but in the last 20 or so, it has engaged in the search for new places to grow wine grapes… and in a country full of amazingly diverse little nooks and crannies, there is plenty to be discovered!

The Colchagua-based Viña Casa Silva has spent the last 4 years making a go of its own terroir project and today launched its first wine to come out of this cool-climate coastal vineyard outside of Paredones and just 5.5 miles (9 km) from the Pacific Ocean. They flew a small group of winewriters  out to the site (see the flight path on the map). Check out  “Chile by Air” on Cachando Chile for aerial photos of the Colchagua Valley.

Viña Casa Silva's chief winemaker Mario Geisse. (Photo © MSnook 2009)

Chief winemaker Mario Geisse gave us the run down on the 40-hectare vineyard planted in 2006 (half Sauvignon Blanc, half Pinot Noir), along with the particular conditions that make the site special: the typical clay-coarse sand soils of the Coastal Mountains, the very moderate temperatures that vary as much as 25ºF in a single day, but that don’t change significantly from season to season, the favorable conditions of water and wind, and other factors to produce one very special wine.

Next stop: Buculemu, the fishing village 5.5 miles due west, to taste the new 2009 Cool Coast Sauvignon Blanc from Paredones.

There’s no comparison between this and the Sauvignons you know from Casablanca. None of that peach and ripe pineapple here. This is austere, mineral-laden, and citrusy, bursting with lime and loaded with grapefruit dancing around a stony backbone that makes it easy to drink and keeps you coming back for more. It’s more palate than nose, which is just fine, because after all, it’s flavor we’re after anyway, right?

It’s got a nice texture, plenty of structure, and the body that helps it stand up to a variety of foods… and just to make sure we got that point, they served up an ample selection of seafoods: octopus ceviche, oysters on the half shell, white fish ceviche, Chilean abalone, mussels, reineta, salmon, quinoa salad, and caldillo de congrio (Pablo Neruda’s famed fish soup). In fact, it was the only wine served throughout the entire meal, and no one missed the reds.

This one’s a treat, with a price tag that will keep it that way… at $12.000 CLP, it’s not going to be showing up at the table on a regular basis, but will certainly be savored when it arrives and missed when it disappears.