Frommer's Review
Santi Santamaría is ranked among the top three chefs of Spain, along with his chief rivals, Juan Mark Arzak and Ferrán Adriá. Santamaría gets my vote as the leader of the "troika," as these chefs are often called by food critics. He made his fame in his restaurant outside Barcelona. As his acclaim grew, he decided to open this branch of his fabled restaurant in Madrid. It's been hailed as an immediate success. Few chefs know how to present such an enticing and imaginative cuisine of the Mediterranean.
Santamaría's cuisine is called de mercado, meaning that it's based on the freshest ingredients available that day in the marketplace. The same painstaking and fine care that goes into the selections of ingredients is also demonstrated when the produce hits those skillets, pots, and pans. The taste of most dishes is sublime. Backed by an impressive, even daring, wine list, the menu includes such starters as a terrine of tuna and foie gras, an unusual combination that is both appealing, startling, and a taste sensation. Large and well-flavored red prawns appear with sweet-tasting and lightly sautéed onions. The Atlantic fish John Dory is appetizingly wed with fennel. One of the best examples of Santamaría's marriage of ingredients is cream of pumpkin with crisp sweetbreads and black olives, a tasty "troika" unto itself. And, of course, his caviar with pork jowl and creamy potatoes is better than your mother made, as are his frogs' legs with garlic paste and a parsley emulsion.
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