About Santa Fe

Lake Como Food and Drinks
The taste of Lake Como in Santa Fe New Mexico is at Osteria d’ Assisi Restaurant. Your host, Lino Pertusini, is from Lake Como. For generations the Pertusini family has been associated with the finest restaurants and grand hotels. Mr Pertusini, along with his professional staff takes pride in their world class service and authentic Italian Cuisine.

A Journey through the Very Best of Italian Cuisine
Many visitors return from their vacations with wonderful memories of the great food that they tasted during their trip in Lake Como. There are many popular dishes native to the Lake Como area, and often you'll discover that the ingredients were grown locally, or even in their neighbor's backyard! We'll also share with you the unique customs shared by local Italians when it comes to eating and drinking so that you don't miss out on everything it can offer you. Eating and drinking is like a form of art in Lake Como!

Lake Como Food
It's the ingredients that make Italian food so special. Imagine the smell of your average Lake Como kitchen covered with fresh basil, oregano, garlic, organic tomatoes, home-made pasta and fish just caught from the lake. Each town has their own little recipe and secret about the best way to grill their freshwater fish. Lake Como has 5 different types of fish to choose from, the most popular being Lavarello. Aside from the hundreds of types of pastas and pizzas, you are bound to run across polenta, which is a type of cornmeal and mataloc, a dome-shaped sponge cake - both native to this area.

Lino Pertusini
I learned to cook from my Father, a professional chef in the Lake Como area of Italy. I have traveled extensively which has given me the opportunity to experience food from around the world. Ultimately, this has complemented and refined my taste in cuisine. I believe in using fresh, seasonal ingredients from local farms, and I enlist time-honored traditions from my native Italy to create amazing food. My philosophy extends to every homemade item in the restaurant from the airy pastas, breads, gelato and the most decadent Tiramisu.

Nothing is more satisfying to me than passing on an amazing dining experience to customers, new and old. It all starts with a warm greeting and an invitation to enjoy an amazing meal. Gracious service mixed with great food creates an opportunity to thrill and make for an unforgettable occasion for my customers.

Osteria d’ Assisi is a winner of the distinguished Ciao Italia award and the Luigi Veronelli gastronomy award of Northern American fine Italian dining. In addition, I have been awarded the title of Cavaliere del Lavoro by the Italian government. I am very proud to bring my knowledge and experience in Italian cooking to Santa Fe.

The Sangre de Cristo Mountains remind me of my beautiful home in Italy and ultimately it brought me back to Santa Fe for good many years ago. Osteria d’ Assisi is a special place that will stay with you and will welcome you back like a friend again and again.

Ciao,
Owner & Chef Lino Pertusini

Executive Chef Cristian Pontiggia
Christian, like Lino and Pietro, is from the region of Lombardi, on the north side of Lake Como, Italy. There he attended culinary school and in the following fifteen years received much notoriety cooking in the most prestigious restaurants and hotels from Bellagio, Bormio, Livegnio and Aprica to Milano. He also exhibited at the Soundrio Cook School in 2009.

Christian has been a consulting chef in the Taos area and managed the kitchen at the Steakout Restaurant, where he received the “best restaurant in Taos” award.

In celebration of Osteria’s seventeenth anniversary this November, Chef Cristian will feature a variety of special dinner menus throughout the month.

Lino, Pietro, and the staff are thrilled to welcome Christian to Osteria, and look forward to continuing to delight Santa Feans with authentic Italian cuisine as they have for the past thirty years.