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When naming your new restaurant in Santa Fe Horno you have to make a bold claim. By referring to the oldest oven in the world, the name conjures up a gourmet company that might attempt to epitomize City Different’s oldest influences. But you won’t find pueblo bread or empanadas in the refreshing and affordable new Horno from Chef David Sellers.
Sellers has referred to the company as “food for the people” and “an Italian-themed gastropub” on several occasions, but Horno’s menu is everywhere on the menu. His multicultural stew with street food influences is reminiscent of Sellers for seven years at the Street Food Institute, the non-profit culinary training program with a focus on food trucks that he co-founded in 2014. With its three trucks and two cafes, the Street Food Institute seems to serve everything under the sun – and it’s consistently good too. Sellers also spent time at Santacafé and as the head chef of the late, defendant Amavi (2007-12).
Chef Sellers and his team – which includes his wife, Heather Sellers, pastry chef Sarah Greene, and a young, eager waitress – began renovating the former Il Piatto space on Marcy Street late last year, which opened in June. The new restaurant is lighter, lighter and a little louder. But you can’t blame people for the volume. Horno creates dishes that arouse both enthusiasm and joy.
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In almost every dish, intercultural flavors are united and in love. On the side of the small plates, chicken wings ($ 13) are doused with Thai crab caramel, smoked, and covered with piñon. Soft, juicy agnolotti noodles ($ 11) with ricotta and oyster mushrooms are served in a bath with bold yellow corn butter. Vegetables ($ 8) are roasted with miso and topped with mint, basil, and pinon vinaigrette.
Horno is relaunching tuna tartare with raw yellow fin pieces on a crispy risotto cake with black pepper and anchovy butter. (Molly Boyle / For the magazine)
Tuna tartare ($ 16), a staple of many local menus that often doesn’t deserve its place, is superbly reinterpreted with raw yellow fin pieces on a crispy black pepper risotto cake and hearty anchovy butter.
Seemingly simple salads benefit from Sellers’ light, creative touch. A mix of roasted beets, vegetables, and cucumber ($ 12) is enlivened by the complex textures of crispy pepita piñon granola and tender tofu feta clad in a tangy dill dressing.
A rocket salad (13) is served with pickled carrots, hazelnuts, puffed quinoa, creamy goat cheese and a tarragon mustard vinaigrette. (Molly Boyle / For the magazine)
A rocket salad ($ 13) gets the unexpected thrill of ginger pickled carrots, hazelnuts, puffed quinoa, creamy goat cheese, and a tarragon mustard vinaigrette.
Of the two sandwich options, Sellers had run out of two-time Green Chile Cheeseburger Smackdown ($ 16) winner. The cheddar-covered burger features a bacon and onion patty and a secret sauce, served with french fries or salad. We settled for a stellar Oyster Po Boy ($ 16), which has crispy, wonderfully salty clams embedded in a crispy baguette with lettuce, tomato, spicy tartar sauce, and Louisiana hot sauce.
Even the “big plates” on the menu are inexpensive and big enough to share. Like a few guests nearby, we were overwhelmed by the 48-hour Korean BBQ Shortrib ($ 28) that fell sensually from the bone and was topped with fried kimchi rice, star anise-scented pickled mushrooms, and fermented chili paste.
A bouillabaisse for two (market price) is filled with mussels, clams, white fish and prawns. (Molly Boyle / For the magazine)
A bouillabaisse for two (market price) is served with mussels, clams, white fish and prawns in a garlic-saffron broth in a bowl lined with focaccia slices. (“Why are these mussels so plump?” Moaned my Greek dinner companion, who is often skeptical about seafood in Santa Fe.)
A creamy, layered summer berry parfait ($ 10) is one of four dessert options, along with a semifreddo ice cream trio of chocolate, strawberry, and pistachio ($ 10) celebrating the season.
And in addition to the inclination to try every dish on the extensive menu, you may feel obliged to drink more than affordable wine by the glass. We loved a tangy Broadbent Vinho Verde ($ 8) and the juicy, dark-fruity Klinkerbrink Cabernet ($ 11). To pair with the bouillabaisse, we were led to a bottle of crunchy, zesty Domaine Louis Michel Chablis ($ 57). Horno’s affordable, creative list stretches from the west coast to all of Europe, while four beers on tap celebrate New Mexico’s finest breweries.
While the restaurant was half empty on a weekday in late June, Horno’s crowds are now starting to rival those of its well-established neighbor on Marcy Street, La Boca. Both restaurants are really two sides of the same coin, each with a long-time chef from Santa Fe who cooks at the highest creative level. For my money this summer, however, I’ll keep going back to the new kid on the block.
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