Small Bites

All good things come to those who wait. Case in point: Estevan Restauranté. The food was served quickly, yet it takes roughly 36 hours to prepare the demi-glace with red chile, which makes the Black Angus rib-eye steak ($24) a must order. The red chile is bought straight from the Chimayó grower after it’s picked in the fields; buying locally has always been Estevan Garcia’s trademark. But it is here on the second floor of Hotel Chimayó where Garcia utilizes his years of French cooking talents, combining them with the Southwest. He’s also been known to venture into the Pacific Ocean. Try the Hawaiian calamari, which is thinly sliced and served in a delicious lemon parsley butter sauce ($10). It’s something, the chef claims, you won’t find in all of Santa Fe among myriad ho-hum marinara sauces. Or, dame tres of that dessert, tres leches ($9), a trio of condensed, evaporated and regular milk that’s as moist as it is memorable. But chances are you won’t share it.