Amada - Philadelphia, PA

Amada
217-19 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215.625.2450
http://www.amadarestaurant.com/

When doing restaurant research for Philly, I stumbled across Amada. It is owned by Jose Garces', winner of Season 2 of The Next Iron Chef. With his background and experience, I expected to be wowed at Amada. (On a side note, the night started horribly for me as I left my SD card for my camera at the hotel, 1.5 miles away. Thus, the pictures you see here were taken from my phone.




As soon as I entered, I was in front of three "bouncer looking guys" and two girls. Why are there 5 people at the front desk? One of the ladies escorted me to my seat. My waitress came by with a "someone else I have to help" attitude. I informed her that I would be doing the tasting menu and would like Iced tea. I also asked if I could get a menu of what I had. More about that later.

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Tuna
The problem with this dish, was that anyone could make it at home. It tasted like canned tuna with some balsamic vinegar. The provided chips were very salty.

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Boquerones (white anchovies, pine nuts & olives)
This was BY FAR my favorite dish of the evening. It was a cool, refreshing dish where the olives elevated all of the flavors providing one cohesive dish.

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Pimientos de Padron (Fried peppers, Maldon Sea Salt & La Peral Espuma)
The peppers were very fragrant. As soon as they hit the table, their aroma swept quickly through my nose. And I enjoyed it. The bleu cheese sauce paired nicely with the slight heat and provided great temperance. A few of the peppers (25%) were over salted.

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 Charcuteria
I don't remember the type of meat this was. The mustard that was provided had a great heat on it. The olive was very tangy and marinated in wine. The meat and bread were fair. Nothing that I couldn't have done at home.

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Pulpo a la gallega (Spanish Octopus)
Though it was a little oily, this was a good preparation of octopus. It was not super chewy, just a little meaty. The crunch that it had been given was a nice texture changer.

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Spanish Flatbread -  Coca Tomate Y Ajo (Marinated heirloom tomatoes, mahon cheese, red vein sorrel)
The bread was nice, but the sauce was very salty.

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Alcachofas a la parmesana (parmesan artichokes)
A nice creamy dish. The artichokes were wonderfully accompanied by the cheese.






Chicken and Potatoes (I'm not sure the exact name of this dish. I'll explain later)
The potatoes had a nice crunch, but the chicken was way too salty.

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Scallops
The scallops here were light and the garlic, lemon, parsley mixture was a nice complement.

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Lamb Chops
The lamb chop was super tender and melted off the bone. A bite or two had a little too much salt, but the rest of it was highly rich and delectable.

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Chocolate Flourless Cake with Ice Cream
The cake was very deep and chewy which I enjoyed paring well with the brittle and hazelnuts. A nice finish.





Almond Tuile
This was presented around the same time as the bill. A way to end on a light note. Think fortune cookie in texture, though a little lighter. I could barely fit any of the tuile in my stomach as I was quite satiated at this point.







Later in the evening I was presented a menu. But this menu just had the normal dishes. I asked if they could let me know which ones I had. They took the menu and highlighted the dishes. Upon further inspection, two of the ones highlighted, were ones I didn't have. Though this may be a miniscule detail for most, for me it was an easy request. I dropped the whole thing, paid the bill and left. At my later adventures, this request would be easily honored.

You may have seen a commonality throughout the meal: SALT.  Don't get me wrong; I love salt. I cook with salt. I enjoy salt. But these dishes had WAY too much! Almost every one of them. I was shocked. It really turned me off to the idea of trying any other of Jose Garces' restaurants.