De Santo Latin American Bistro, St. Petersburg
The place is long on style, short on substance. But the margaritas are good, so go with a thirst.
By Laura Reiley, Times Food Critic
Published January 31, 2008
De Santo Latin American Bistro/Push Ultra Lounge
128 Third St. S, St. Petersburg
(727) 895-6400
Cuisine: Contemporary Mexican
Hours: Dinner 5 to 11 p.m. nightly
Details: Amex, V, MC; reservations accepted; full bar
Prices: Appetizers $4.95-$11.95; entrees $16.95-$23.95
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ST. PETERSBURG - De Santo Latin American Bistro and Push Ultra Lounge will be a hit. As the weather warms, the lush outdoor patio will be swarmed with devotees, ditto the rooftop bar, restaurant and lounge. The gloriously reinvented McNulty Station building has what it takes to be the It place in downtown.
Already a dozen acquaintances have waxed enthusiastic to me about this new hot spot, opened in December. What people seem surprisingly willing to overlook is that the food is not good. In three separate dining experiences, I had dishes that were good ideas but poorly executed; good ideas, done okay but with a fatal flaw like a noxious sauce; and just plain bad ideas.
The ownership team brought executive chef Alfredo Villenueva of Monterrey, Mexico, to town for the project. Maybe he had trouble rounding up local kitchen talent able to effectively follow directions for his contemporary spins on regional Mexican cuisine, or else they weren't trained long enough. This would be odd, because De Santo's dining room staff is excellent, personable and service-oriented with good menu knowledge and a clear understanding of the tasks they execute.
Look across the sleek brick dining room to the state-of-the-art stainless open kitchen. The neatly attired kitchen staff briskly goes about the business at hand, getting orders in the window exactly when they should, not missing a beat hot food comes out hot, cold food cold, no long lags between courses.
But what, then, explains a disappointing trio of ceviches ($10.50) featuring scallops, ahi and veggies? The first two had not been at all "cured" by their lime juice and were consequently slimy and utterly bland. A citrus kick, maybe tingled with a little chili heat, is what makes the gentle brininess of a ceviche pop. These dishes need to be rethought.
A Caesar salad ($9.95) is romaine all right, but drizzled (not tossed) with too much balsamic vinaigrette and paired with a soft, gummy Parmesan tuile. Nothing "classic" about it, though that's what the menu promises.
House guacamole ($7.95) has similar deficits. Where's the oomph of lime, the jalapeno, maybe a little cilantro or cumin? It's plain Jane (but real, not that preservative-laden prepared stuff you get in a lot of places). It doesn't quite make sense: De Santo's signature margarita ($7, but $4 at happy hour) is the most delicious, punchy concoction I've had in a long time. In fact, the whole margarita menu reflects savvy flavor marriages (try the Partida silver with agave honey, fresh lime and a splash of water, $12).
Moving on to entrees, things didn't improve. The single most ill-conceived dish was a pair of leather-tough pork chops ($14.95) perched on a bed of chopped raw zucchini and yellow squash. Go into your crisper right now and take a bite of a raw zucchini - not a lot of flavor. With this came two corn masa discs sandwiching a filling of black beans. Sadly, the masa cakes were over-fried in oil that tasted fishy.
Maybe the culprit was the scaled, fried skin of snapper served as a garnish on the super-fishy baked red snapper ($19.95), its bed of French lentils absorbing all that fishiness. An otherwise pleasant dish, the tacos a la Corona ($18.95) paired sliced skirt steak and caramelized onions with epazote rice (cloddy, but good flavor) and a ramekin of vile morita sauce. I kept dipping a spoon in to figure it out - and as best I can deduce, it was minced canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce mixed with tomatillo salsa and too much vinegar.
Sauteed jumbo scallops on a vanilla bean beurre blanc ($17.95) is the best dish we tasted, the sweetness of fresh seared scallops marrying nicely with the vanilla, their texture echoed by sauteed portobello mushrooms. And for dessert, the rice pudding is gorgeous.
Still, Villenueva and his staff need to sweat the details on many dishes. Otherwise, De Santo Latin American Bistro and Push Ultra Lounge will have to get by on the basis of its liquid refreshments.
Contact Laura Reiley at (727) 892-2293 or lreiley@sptimes.com. Her blog, the Mouth of Tampa Bay, can be found at www.blogs.tampabay.com/dining. Reiley dines anonymously and unannounced. The Times pays all expenses. Advertising has nothing to do with selection for review or the assessment.