Joy Godfrey
Pan-roasted sea bass with black olive and saffron fennel butter, jasmine rice, pea sprouts and shimeji mushrooms
Louis Moskow's 315 has quietly become a Santa Fe fine-dining staple over the past two decades. The atmosphere inside the home-turned-restaurant is both intimate and convivial. Service is attentive and efficient but not overbearing. You would expect a French-inspired restaurant to get its sauces right, and Moskow's kitchen doesn't disappoint. The squash blossom beignets ($14) are delicately battered and quickly fried to find a happy home atop a goat cheese fondue and drizzled with a lively tomato basil sauce. The pan-roasted sea bass ($30) is served with sticky jasmine rice and a black olive saffron fennel butter, accented with lemon juice and shimeji mushrooms. It's exciting and varied without overwhelming the flavor of the fish. You'd be remiss passing on dessert. Even when we were full, a single scoop ($3) of house-made pineapple brown sugar sorbet was divine. The restaurant's seemingly endless wine list (from which bottles are half-off on Tuesdays) has a pairing for every dish and a wide selection of half bottles and wines by the glass. Moskow recently added a select few spirits, including pastis for a hot summer afternoon or an early fall evening on the patio.
315 Old Santa Fe Trail, 986-9190
Dinner daily
Twitter: @315restaurant
