Alex De Vore
A pizza covered in arugula? The best!
Food, Feb. 2: “Italiano Redux”
Guilt Tip
Sorry, as good as your review was, I won’t be going there. I am strongly opposed to “kitchen taxes”, “tips for kitchen crew” etc. as Pranzo and a couple of other downtown restaurants have been doing. Pay kitchen help a decent wage, for heaven’s sake. If you can’t afford it, charge more for food instead of sticking it in as a nickel and dime guilt trip.
Lynn Clark, Santa Fe
Food, Jan. 26: “A Feast for the Senses”
Regret Paying Dearly
I’m writing in response to Kiley Larsen’s review of Liu Liu Liu. My wife and I were inspired to order takeout after reading Larsen’s fawning assessment, but we were quite disappointed. Being vegan, we ordered the black hummus, bean curd, cucumbers and tofu.
The black hummus did have an interesting sweetness, but the crudites, including the mealy Thai eggplant, had been crudely hacked with the skill level of a middle schooler struggling to pass home economics. Larsen described the noodles in the bean curd dish as having “excellent bounce.” Undercooked would be more apt. Yes, the Persian cucumbers and tofu dishes were flavorful, but both had been drenched in a gut-bombing surfeit of oil. And the tofu dish included excessively large ginger slices that my wife initially mistook for potatoes. I really want to support a new local restaurant that buys its produce exclusively from the Santa Fe Farmers Market. But when I’m paying dearly for those veggies, I expect some sort of culinary transformation. I admittedly can’t speak to Liu Liu Liu’s meat dishes, libations or black and gold strip-mall ambience. But for any vegetarian craving high-end Asian fusion, save your disposable income for Izanami.
Lander Burr, Santa Fe
