Small Bites

Jambo Café

The smell of sweet spices lingers, reggae blasts from the sound system and fills the air, prompting the host leading guests to their tables to dance all the way there. I'm sitting underneath a sign that boasts, "Guy Fieri ate here," but I won't hold that against them. This is the beauty that is Jambo, a low-key eatery specializing in African and Caribbean cuisine that, now in its sixth year of operation, is a Santa Fe staple. I'm a sucker for crab cakes and the ones here ($9.95), covered in fried cornmeal and topped with Caribbean sauce, are among the best I've tasted. Main courses are not for the shy. If you can't settle for just one item, try the best of all worlds—the house combination plate ($14.95)—which encompasses chicken curry, rice, roti, coconut lentils and goat stew. Interested in a side of good karma? Jambo donates 5 percent of earnings to their own kids' health clinic in owner/chef Ahmed M Obo's hometown of Lamu Island, located off the cost of Kenya. (Enrique Limón)

2010 Cerrillos Road, 473-1269
Lunch and dinner Monday-Saturday
jambocafe.net

L ’Olivier

Chef Xavier Grenet presents a surprising communion between French and Southwest cuisine in L'Olivier, located on the downtown corner of Galisteo and West Alameda, where friendly wait staff with ties provide prompt service inside, as well as on the tranquil patio that faces the western sunset. Rich French flavors stand out in dishes like the sautéed Californian white sea bass ($28), with saffron sauce, artichoke and black rice. And the hot zing of the Southwest spices entrées like the grass-fed rosemary braised beef short ribs ($28), served with glazed shallots, haricots verts, jack-cheese mashed potatoes and green chile. Serving sizes for the main courses will fill any American stomach, like the organic grilled beef tenderloin ($36), this one swimming in green peppercorn sauce, adorned with fava beans, Emmental cheese and heavenly little clouds of potato gnocchi. On a drink list replete with fine wine, there's an affordable gem in a glass of Gavroche ($6), 11.2 ounces of French red ale. (Justin Horwath)

229 Galisteo St., 989-1919
Dinner Monday-Saturday.
loliviersantafe.com

Santa Fe Reporter