The latest from the Espiritu crew is not yet the well-oiled Mexican machine you might expect.
By Nikki Buchanan | Photography by Tim Chow
Once upon a time, before restaurant critics were an endangered species, there was an unwritten rule about never visiting a restaurant in its first six weeks of operation – before rhythms had been established and dishes tweaked. I broke that rule to get a crack at Santo Arcadia, a buzzy, Mexican-inflected restaurant in East Phoenix. It’s the collaborative brainchild of chef and co-owner Roberto Centeno in partnership with husband-and-wife team Armando Hernandez and Nadia Holguin (Tacos Chiwas, Cocina Chiwas), who are also his partners in wildly popular Espiritu in Mesa. These are people with credentials.
That said, I’m reminded of the wisdom in waiting. Although the white-beamed, floral wallpapered space exudes charm and the fusion-y, elevated menu (rife with ingredients like fennel, quinoa and sage brown butter) reads well, there’s an uneven quality, at this early stage, in the cocktails (perfectly decent on one occasion, weak and diluted on the other), the food (which ranges from average to excellent) and the service (on point one night, woefully slow the next).
My most recent visit brought the best results, starting with a creamy, colorful refried bean dip, amped up with pork, confit tomato, cotija and cilantro. I scooped it into my mouth with a fantastic house-made flatbread made with lard, yogurt and salsa macha, and it was quite the perfect pairing. Also great: rustic birria dumplings, stuffed with smoked beef cheek and set afloat in a soy-splashed macha beef broth I would happily pour over anything.
Wood-fired chicken – charred, smoky and moist – served with de la olla-style beans, fragrant rice and flour tortillas, is wonderful; as is a marinated and grilled pork rib chop (also charred and smoky), served with pliant blue corn tortillas and a hash of potato, roasted green chiles and Parmesan. Sixty-five bucks seems a bit steep for the chop, but it feeds two people if they’ve also ordered an appetizer or two.
And now for the not-so-greats: chipotle-glazed hamachi collar, crispy but way too sweet; a pleasant endive and radicchio salad drowned in honey-sesame vinaigrette; and finally, a lobster tostada in which the lobster is eclipsed by heaps of charcoal fennel and cabbage slaw. Nothing luxurious about it except the $30 price.
Nevertheless, Santo shows great promise. Centeno and crew have already tweaked the menu since my visits. As I should have known, they didn’t need an over-eager critic jumping the gun.
Santo Arcadia
Cuisine: Mexican Fusion
Contact: 4418 E. Osborn Rd., Phoenix, 480-272-6799, santoarcadia.com
Hours: Sa-Su 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Tu-Sa 5-10 p.m.
Highlights: Frijol con tomate (bean dip, $12); birria dumplings ($22); pollo supremo ($36); grilled rib chop ($65)
