Special Pick!
Restaurant Max's
Cuisine Type: 40 Favorites , Continental , New American
505-984-9104
403½ S. Guadalupe St.
Santa Fe,
NM
Price Range:
Restaurant Information
| Alcohol |
Beer Wine |
|---|---|
| Meals | Dinner |
About Max's
When Max's first opened, it received an instantly warm reception from locals, as though it were an old friend coming to visit for the first time. The truth is, the spirited women who brought us this proud plum had little idea of what would come of their delicious experiment and, though they've kept us guessing, we've yet to be let down. And the courtesy of staying open until 11 pm on Friday and Saturday nights is much appreciated.With a new beer and wine license and some fresh ideas braising slowly in the kitchen, owner Maria Renteria is as keen to talk about her restaurant now as she was when Max's was but a twinkle in her eye. Renteria looks forward, as do we, to the influence that Chef Lisa Tyrrell will have on Max's menu. New to Santa Fe from San Francisco, Tyrrell is lending some original influence to Max's already steady rock of signature dishes. "The most revolutionary cooking begins and ends with superb ingredients, a lot of soul, and a killer appetite for life," writes Tyrrell, who describes her specialty as Italian, Latin and Asian-inspired rustic home cooking with a modern, sophisticated edge.
While Max's continues to evolve, its attention to the seasons remains steadfast. The autumn menu, for example, includes charred bread salad with roast butternut squash, pancetta and walnuts, lemon, and paprika seared steak with fregola and cabernet grapes, Barolo-braised beef short ribs with gingered celery root gratin, balsamic-braised pork shoulder with a sweet roast corn polenta, and pears in a honey pine nut caramel coupled with fresh local goat cheese. Now the question is, how can we get them to stay open really, really late? (A Qasimi)
Dinner Tuesday-Saturday. $$
We went to Max's based on this review for a friend's birthday (party of 3). The atmosphere is very nice and intimate. The service was mediocre (our waitress took our order, brought our food, then disappeared). The apps were great, we had the salad and the olive plate. The salad dressing was very interesting and had great flavors and the cheeses were wonderful. My friends had the papardelle/halibut cheeks which was good but lacked a little in the zip department and the salt department. I got the game hen, which turned out to be a standard chicken leg/thigh (unless it was the worlds biggest game hen), which is fine except that it came out cold in the middle, though cooked perfectly. When I brought it to our waitress' attention (when I finally caught her eye), she took my plate to warm it up and by the time I got my food back my friends were done eating. It was a good thing the flavors were good. Not at all what I expected from a place that has a $500 bottle of wine on the menu...