My first visit to Santina happened to be during a snow storm and the bright cheery seaside decor was completely transporting.  But at the same time the glass walls offered a beautiful view of the snow falling in the hours before the plows come out and it turns into an ugly mess.  This is probably my favorite restaurant opening in NYC in the last year.  It truly doesn’t often happen that I feel the need to immediately return to a restaurant because I really want to try the majority of the menu.  While I did not try any of the pastas on this visit, everything I did have was very light, especially in comparison to Major Food Group’s other recent openings.

The lamb tartare was elevated with mint and olives and a terrific filling to the cecina, a chickpea pancake served in a cast-iron skillet.  But the stars of this dish were the accompanying salsa verde and tomato soffritto.  Separately both are extremely good, but together they are spectacular.  I wish I could eat the Tricolore splendido salad, topped with tuna carpaccio, everyday for lunch.  And the squash carpaccio is easily one of the best squash dishes I have ever had and so much more than I was expecting when I ordered it.

Fiori – gin, chamomile, Campari 

Lamb tartare cecina 

Tricolore splendido 

Amalfi gold – bourbon, orange, ginger, creme de peche

Squash carpaccio

Lime meringa