Amada

[rlibkind]

...and where the Dangerous Dining Club was started in 1988.

←

Is there one of those Pennsylvania historical markers out front?

←

There was, but somebody ate it.

[Sfuffy]

A meal constructed of a Tortilla Espanola, a serving of sliced to order Serrano ham with bread and accoutrements and a fine draught beer or glass of sangria would probably run you about $20 (before tip) and be quite satifying as well as a mini vacation to an authentic Spanish tapas experience as you might have in Barcelona or Madrid.  You ought to give the menu a look and see if you could cobble together a very pleasant meal for yourself within your budgetary guidelines.  I believe it's totally possible if you're willing to approach with an open mind (and slightly open wallet!) 

←

Well, except for the fact that such a tapas experience would cost you half the price in Spain. Why is tapas always such a high-end endeavor here in the States instead of the affordable neighborhood staple it is in Spain? (as evidenced by Amada and the recently deceased Mallorca) Not to mention that thanks to the PALCB, a single glass of Marques de Monistrol Cava Brut goes for $9 when I can buy an entire bottle in NJ for $7!)

[mrbigjas]

Why is tapas always such a high-end endeavor here in the States instead of the affordable neighborhood staple it is in Spain?

i always feel that way too. but thinking about it, i'm trying to get past it. so, considering my big long rambling about bacon last night, i'm just gonna continue with a big long rambling about tapas places in the US today:

for a place like amada, i imagine sourcing good ingredients is pricey, for one thing. i'm kinda just thinking out loud here, but maybe it's also about the business model--in spain, you get tapas at a tapas bar, many of which are either hole-in-the-wall diner types of places, or cheap bars, or big ol corporate places. and you go out for dinner at a restaurant, that doesn't have tapas. it's like... i'm trying to figure out what exactly i'm saying here... places over there aren't set up like most every spanish place i've seen in the US: to be places where you go out to what you consider a nice dinner, and sit down with full service and order tapas for your meal. over there, you either go cheap with tapas, or with some menu del dia somewhere.

when i was in barcelona earlier this year, i was ... well, surprised isn't the word, but it did catch me off guard how much prices had gone up since i was last there in 2000. in this place el corral down in la ribera, they have old wooden picnic tables, a goat's head on the wall, and no one working there except the proprietor. you get a beer, or a sangria. there are a couple of other groups of spaniards sitting there smoking and drinking wine. it's divey, but you order a plate of jamon bellota and it'll run you over 15 euro. nearby is bar celta, which is a pulperia--fluorescent lights, a stainless counter you sit at... a dish of pulpo, some pimientos al padron, a little cod croquette, a glass of wine and a beer, and you've spent like 40 euro. it may look like a dive, but it ain't cheap.

(aside: i would like to have a bar give you little free cheap tapas like patatas bravas or pan con tomate or a dish of olives with every drink you order, like happened to us at several little neighborhoody places in madrid and cordoba, but i don't think that's happening here in the US anytime soon.)

so anyway, to sum up where i think i'm going with this train of thought:

1. they're trying to run a nice full-service restaurant (in old city, no less) based on tapas, which aren't necessarily the domain of nice restaurants in spain. but what else can you do? you can't just say, 'we're only running a nice full-service spanish restaurant here. no tapas.'

2. in spain, where restaurants ARE making all their money off of tapas, they're not that nice, and not that cheap. so our perceptions are off--especially since the change to the euro and the subsequent devaluation of the dollar, since when the price of everything in europe has gone up.

3. i bet if tapas REALLY caught on in the US, to the point where every bar had one of those glass cases on top of it, they would be cheap like in spain. but it would really take a sea change in the american style of being out for drinks/snacks for that to happen on a national, or even regional scale.

however, all that said, i still won't buy a pair of campers here in the US. because the first time i went to spain they were under $50 a pair. they were the cheap shit! and they cost like $100-150 a pair here. silly. oh and cf. also the clothing store zara, where we went to get some cheap ultrahip clothes for the first day we were over there this year when our luggage was lost--over here they charge like $60-70 a shirt... come to think of it, it seems like every spanish import is pricey these days.

oh and to REALLY sum up: i'm still going to amada, and soon.

(edited several times for some semblance of clarity)

Edited October 25, 2005 by mrbigjas (log)

[philadining]

jas, I think you hit it right on the head, the term "tapas" often evokes an experience of cheap snacks in a divey bar. But that's not what Amada is.

There are too many variables to make a clean comparison, but in the realm of Mexican cuisine, when Jose Garces was chef at El Vez, I thought the food was really great (actually still was, last time I was there post-Garces). But of course it was WAY more expensive than some little taqueria. Cynics would say it was all about decor and location and marketing and hype, but it was also about the quality of the food. The ingredients are more expensive, the preparation is more meticulous and time-consuming, the presentations give you more.

There's never going to be an answer to whether one approach is "better" than the other, they're just different. I find both the cheap, simple, straightforward thing, and the more refined, more expensive version to be satisfying in their own ways.

Now Garces is doing Spanish food. Yes it would be nice to have a cheap, simple, divey bar that served great cheap tapas. We don't have one one of those. Now we do have a nice restaurant that serves things that look like the inexpensive tapas, but due to the ingredients and preparations and accompaniments and service and location of the restaurant, they cost more.

Might not seem worth it to you. Or it might. Sounds worth it to me. (And I'm not rolling in cash either, I spent all my money, well, you know where...)

[Capaneus]

Why is tapas always such a high-end endeavor here in the States instead of the affordable neighborhood staple it is in Spain?

i always feel that way too. but thinking about it, i'm trying to get past it. so, considering my big long rambling about bacon last night, i'm just gonna continue with a big long rambling about tapas places in the US today:

<much brilliance snipped because, dude, it was *way* long>

←

Still, you barely touched on part of the issue: not why *Amada* is expensive, but why there is no such thing as a real bistro, or tapas place, or...

It *can* be done: assorted South American and Asian places are showing us that there is a business model wherein you get the gringos and/or gaijin in by the busload, give them cheap food for little money, and repeat the process many times a night for many many nights. Heck, what's dimsum but tapas with a little ginger, eaten earlier than is conscionable?

Why is it that the same cannot be done with *European* food? There are cheap sources for all the ingredients you'd need. It wouldn't be Brasserie Perrier (man *promised* me a "real" brasserie. Bastid!), or Amada, but it could be good and cheap. We do it with 'Murrican "bar food". Just change the damn menu.

I think most of us could name the wines we'd pour for $4 a glass (you'd be looking for Spanish at $6-$8/btl; they're out there). There's prolly a dozen of us who could whip up at least a rudimentary menu. Heck, pay Shola to develop the menu - World Tapas, Tasty and Cheap. Throw in beer and pretzels, you got yourself a place.

No?

[mrbigjas]

you got a point there pedro--why just tonight i drank half a bottle of a strikingly unremarkable tempranillo from madrid that's only $5.99 at the state stores.

[KatieLoeb]

Yeah but...

Do you really want to have a place that's distinguished only by being "cheap"? That serves "unremarkable" wine simply because it's at the right price point?? Trust me fellas, I just tasted through virtually every bottle of Spanish wine that's available in PA and the two dozen or so bottles that made the cut were the best of the lot, I can promise you that. Many are not $6 bottles. A few are $8-10 bottles. The $6/glass Santa Julia Torrontes costs $7.99 +$1.50 per bottle shipping. That works out to $9.49/bottle. That's about a 31% cost at the low end of the list. I defy anyone to compare that cost to what other "comparable" establishments like The Four Seasons, Brasserie Perrier or even any of the Starr restaurants are charging for comparable wines and decry it as price gouging.

And yes - the ingredients being used are very expensive. I personally witnessed inummumerable samples of anchovies and olives get tasted and rejected before the ones that made the cut were decided upon. Even the garnishes were taste tested repeatedly until the best source or recipe was determined. As I mentioned previously, Chef Garces is quite the perfectionist. But the end result is stellar food.

The idea of Shola doing a Pretzels and Beer menu is highly amusing. I'm sure it would be great and a vast improvement over the last debacle resembling that in our fair city. Anyone remember Marcus Samuelsson's original "Global Street Foods" menu at Washington Square? Yikes! Now it seems that Chef Samuelsson AND the ill conceived menu are both gone. Pity, but it's what happens when you try to be too ambitious/ambiguous.

[mrbigjas]

hey, i was defending whatever amada costs, and saying that my initial 'why isn't everything cheaper' mindset is the wrong way to go about things--i wasn't complaining. i mean, i haven't even been yet.

another short anecdote from spain this spring: the bar near our hotel, where we stopped for a drink at the end of the evening several times, had tapas on the counter, like every bar does there. and it was cheap. and one of their dishes was a bacon and egg sandwich--they'd fry a couple pieces of bread on the griddle, fry an egg over easy, fry a couple pieces of bacon for no more than about a minute per side, and then glop the biggest spoonful of mayo on the thing i've ever seen on one sandwich. it was 1/4 cup if it was a teaspoon. it's spanish, it's bar food, it's cheap, but do you really want it?

[KatieLoeb]

hey, i was defending whatever amada costs, and saying that my initial 'why isn't everything cheaper' mindset is the wrong way to go about things--i wasn't complaining. i mean, i haven't even been yet.

Jas:

That wasn't directed at you. Heck - it probably wasn't really directed at anyone. More of a lob in the general direction of the naysayers, I guess. An attempt to tie up/comment upon the ramblings and salient points of the preceding few posts.

It's late and I'm lacking clarity. My apologies.

[Andrew Fenton]

Wow, I'm looking forward to trying Amada in December, when I'm back in Philly. (Anybody want to come along?)

I can't speak to relative prices of Spanish and US restaurants, but assuming it's comparable to Italy (maybe a false assumption, I don't know), the price differences can be really remarkable. Sometimes that's something that can be chalked up to the availability of local ingredients (bufala mozzarella or fresh sardines are obvious examples of things that are cheap over here, not so in the US). If you're trying to use those ingredients and do a good job of it, it's gonna cost you, and there's no way around it.

Wine, too. Seriously, wine here is so cheap it just makes me want to clap my hands and laugh like a giddy schoolgirl. (Or like a drunken sorority girl; take your pick.) At wine stores, you can get a bottle of wine that would run $30 in the US for under 10 euros. That's true at restaurants, too: even pretty high-end places will have a good selection in the 15-euro neighborhood. (Not to mention house wines; often great, always cheap as free.)

I haven't been able to figure out the reason: maybe subsidies for vineyards, more likely just supply and demand. It's easy to grow wine in Italy, and everybody's cousin has a vineyard, so there's a flood of cheap Italian wine. I'm doing my best to drink up the flood, but can't... quite... keep... up... That's just not the case in the US, where the supply is just plain lower; hence, no $4 liters of good wine in US restaurants.

This is all very rambling and probably not saying anything that anybody doesn't know already, but it's just to reinforce Katie's point. You can do it in the US, you can do it cheap, or you can do it right: pick any two...

[wkl]

As a point of reference for tapas pricing check out www.jaleo.com. This is a very successful (and very good) tapas restaurant in DC. The website lists all their tapas, hot , cold, and seasonal with prices. I've eaten there a couple times and don't think you can get out of there for less than $25-$30/ person. (Three tapas and a glass of wine) And three tapas orders probably wouldn't fill you up.

To follow up on Andy's previous post, I just got back from two weeks in France and was astounded at the wine pricing in the Loire Valley. For 6 euros you can drink very good Chinon. It's no wonder wine is part of the daily regime for those prices.

[shacke]

NB - Saw a sign in N liberties of a spanish tapas restaurant opening soon. 2nd and Girard.

[Sfuffy]

As a point of reference for tapas pricing check out www.jaleo.com. This is a very successful (and very good) tapas restaurant in DC. The website lists all their tapas, hot , cold, and seasonal with prices. I've eaten there a couple times and don't think you can get out of there for less than $25-$30/ person. (Three tapas and a glass of wine) And three tapas orders probably wouldn't fill you up.

←

All of Jaleo's tapas are under $10 with the majority of selections in the $6 to $8 range - very reasonable. And there seems to be a lot of Spanish imports on the menu. While I can't speak to their quality, Jaleo also has a large variety of wines in the $30 a bottle range.

Edited October 27, 2005 by Sfuffy (log)

[cinghiale]

Um, to get back to the food:

Last night had the tapas chef selection or tapas tasting or whatever it's called:

Complimentary, with our order: tuna-cheesey dip thing. Really good.

(0) Some sorta queso fresco with strawberries (dried?) in balsamic. Terrific (Was a pre-tapas tapas cuz we were so hungry -- rest of the plates came right away anyhoo)

(1) Machego w/truffled honey. I didn't care for the honey; gf thought the truffles enhanced the honey

(2) Serrano. OK, it's ham. It's good. It's standard, I guess.

(3) A torta-like thing (ferget the name) w/aiello. Nice and tater-y, yet light, and the garlic sauce was great.

(4) Toasts w/melted goat cheese w/assorted sauteed veggies (onion, pepper, eggplant?)

(5) Marinated anchovies. Tasty, but a little too pickled for my taste

(6) Roasted chick peas with spinach. Wow. The crunch really hooked me. Really well seasoned.

(7) Cod croquettes. Light as a feather, rocking flavor. Great

(8) Chorizo. Grilled, served on skewers. Good.

(9) Octopus. Thin little rounds. Incredibly tender and light. I don't give in to hyperbole easily, but, for me, Best..... Octopus..... Ever.

(10) Shrimp sauteed w/garlic. Freakin' garlicky! Awesome.

Had a flan (catalan?), which was more brulee-ish, in a gooey kind of way. Really good.

Drank a pitcher of sangria, very good, distinct taste of cinnamon.

Had an Oloroso each -- way too cold, I think, Katie. Chilled yes, icey no.

Big almond cookie with the check. $140 before t/t

Great room(s). Almost like a warren. Blond flooring. Dark walls mask all the mechanical stuff at the ceiling. We sat in the main bar; there are two others -- one in front of the kitchen, and one in the back. Bar, bar tables and many stools are fashioned from really old planks, pine I think. Great look. Manager kindly offered to email the designer for a project I'm working on. Very attentive staff. I kinda got a kick when I tried to order sherry from the guy behind the bar standing in front of the jamon slicer; his sole job is to slice ham (and maybe slice the displayed cheese, too). He 1/2 hour or so of music + dancers. Kitchy, but fun.

Definitely worth the trip, IMO.

Edited October 27, 2005 by cinghiale (log)

[KatieLoeb]

cinghiale:

Glad you enjoyed everything. You definitely tried some of my favorites. That fresh spreadable goat cheese (I think you had the Queso de Cabra from your description) is delicious, and the balsamic strawberries are a great accompaniment. The "torta-like thing" was the Tortilla Espanola with Saffron Aioli. The one tapa you will find at every tapas bar in Spain. The cod croquettes, octopus and Garlic shrimp are all classic traditional tapas as well. They are all excellent representations of the dishes. I'll send your hyperbole concerning the octopus on to the chefs. I'm certain they'll appreciate it.

Thanks for letting me know about the sherry. I'll have them check the temperature on the bar reach in refrigeration. Really glad you enjoyed the sangria. Try the white next time and let me know what you thought.

[Greg Ling]

just got back from there.

I did'nt think it was that pricey,but we got there late and only cheese and charcuterie was available. we had all the meats which were sliiced perfectly,my favorites were the lomo and chorizo blanco.we were comped some cheeses.and the bill was a hundred without tip and me and popshad atleast 3 drinks apiece.really knowledgeable bartenders.My sister cancelled her sat. res. so she could go here instead of the other place she was goin to go to,I 'ma get that sucklin' pig.......uhmm...baby pig

[KatieLoeb]

really knowledgeable bartenders

YESSS!!!!

That is one of the best things I've heard so far! Good hiring by the managers and it means I did my job too.

[Capaneus]

Alrighty, then!

This place really is remarkably good. Saturday night 8:45 dinner, we elect to sit at the kitchen counter (which I recommend, since given how the place is set up you get a bit more privacy there). Staff were pleasant and helpful, the space is attractive. The somewhat high ambient noise, abetted by a pulsating soundtrack is initially lively, though with time it will get on my nerves. The kitchen staff behind the counter are young, efficient, their assorted creations appetizing even incomplete, even from a distance.

We know we will be ordering the tasting menu, so I get to focus on the wine list: we start off with short pours of the Sly Fox Weisse and the Dogfish Head... IPA? I forget. The existence of the smaller servings of the well-chosen beers is a nice touch, as they are much cheaper ($2 vs. $5), and make a stress-free choice for a quick starter. The wine list itself is small but heavy with reasonably-priced choices, many $40 and under. I settle on a '99 Crianza. Which is out of stock. A quick switch to the homeboy favorite, and I order the '01 Dom Martinho Alentejano, a Portuguese red I've had before and I feel should work well with the menu: more of a food wine, won't have the polish or sophistication of some of the Spanish and New World bottles, but it's closer to what I think of as a tapas red.

The tapas start arriving within minutes, as soon as the beers hit the table. That might have felt a bit hurried, but we're hungry, and in any case the added informality works with the experience, so no problems. The first dish is a creamy tuna dip with balsamic, presented with crisp flatbreads. Very tasty. Manchego with honey, apples and bread, and jamon with cornichons, pickled caper berries, mustard and bread follow quickly. These three... well, the sequence was as reported by Cinghiale. My favorite was also the octopus, but I thought the chickpeas with spinach, garlich and tomato was a very near competitor. The chorizo... well, I'm Portuguese. "Theirs" doesn't taste quite right. Very nice, sure, but not like *ours*!

I ask about alternative tasting menus for repeat customers, and am told they envision changing the selections every week or two, starting soon.

For dessert, we ordered wine-poached figs with a goat-and-cream-cheese-cake made with lime zest, pistachios and something else I forget. Delicious.

The service remain assured and pleasant throughout the meal, personable without ever crossing over into intrusive. It was actually one of the better, and better-served, meals I've had in a long time. The tasting menu actually ends up being a *lot* of food. I do wonder how the restaurant works it if you have odd numbers at your table, though?

Total was $146 before tip. Not at all bad, considering, and it could have been lower: several drinking options, like beer or sangria, would have cut the total without greatly undercutting the overall concept - they may in fact be closer to the real deal; and dessert was really surplus to requirements: order it if you are eating a la carte, but it is really excessive with the tasting menu.

Anyway, very little to quibble about: a duplicate tapa was quickly whisked away; the music was a touch loud towards the end of the night; one of the figs was both unripe and unpoached; Mr. Garces turned out not to be nearly as tall as he looked atop his podium; a dessert wine accidentaly made it onto the very fine and thoughtful list with a 600% markup. All small misteps that did not detract from a terrific and original dining experience. Terrific, terrific addition to Philadelphia's dining scene.

[Alec Hart]

The best restaurant in Philly. Fifth time there. I went on a Tuesday around 8pm and couldn't get a table so I ate at the bar. The bartender was great (I'm pretty sure he used to be at Fork) and everything was excellent. I have two small complaints:

1) The lights in the beer coolers are obnoxiously bright. When the bartender was rooting around for a beer the glare made me look away.

2) This one is shocking. And Katie, I'm blaming you unless all you worked on was the wine menu. They carry Blue Moon beer. Ughhh. Crappy, crappy Coors product.

Also, now that I've learned to navigate the menu a little better, Amada isn't as expensive as it was on my first two visits.

Alec

[KatieLoeb]

The best restaurant in Philly. Fifth time there. I went on a Tuesday around 8pm and couldn't get a table so I ate at the bar. The bartender was great (I'm pretty sure he used to be at Fork) and everything was excellent. I have two small complaints:

1) The lights in the beer coolers are obnoxiously bright. When the bartender was rooting around for a beer the glare made me look away.

2) This one is shocking. And Katie, I'm blaming you unless all you worked on was the wine menu. They carry Blue Moon beer. Ughhh. Crappy, crappy Coors product.

Also, now that I've learned to navigate the menu a little better, Amada isn't as expensive as it was on my first two visits.

Alec

←

Alec:

Glad you're still enjoying everything. I did create the beer list, but didn't order the Blue Moon. It's probably a sample from an overzealous vendor that asked them to "see how it would sell". I assure you I didn't order it.

[Rich Pawlak]

The best restaurant in Philly. Fifth time there. I went on a Tuesday around 8pm and couldn't get a table so I ate at the bar. The bartender was great (I'm pretty sure he used to be at Fork) and everything was excellent. I have two small complaints:

1) The lights in the beer coolers are obnoxiously bright. When the bartender was rooting around for a beer the glare made me look away.

2) This one is shocking. And Katie, I'm blaming you unless all you worked on was the wine menu. They carry Blue Moon beer. Ughhh. Crappy, crappy Coors product.

Also, now that I've learned to navigate the menu a little better, Amada isn't as expensive as it was on my first two visits.

Alec

←

Alec:

Glad you're still enjoying everything. I did create the beer list, but didn't order the Blue Moon. It's probably a sample from an overzealous vendor that asked them to "see how it would sell". I assure you I didn't order it.

←

M

Blue Moon. Ick. You know Katie wouldnt do dat!

[Alec Hart]

Whew! I feel much better now.

-Alec

[KatieLoeb]

Whew! I feel much better now.

-Alec

←

And my reputation remains unblemished, I hope.

[KatieLoeb]

Nice Amada review in this week's City Paper.

And the restaurant's website is finally up and running. You can view the interior of the restaurant, menus, wine list, cocktails, etc. in addition to making reservations on OpenTable.

Amada website

[Diann]

Nice Amada review in this week's City Paper.

And the restaurant's website is finally up and running.  You can view the interior of the restaurant, menus, wine list, cocktails, etc. in addition to making reservations on OpenTable.

Amada website

←

Hurray for websites! Also, Katie, if you were in any way responsible for the specialty cocktails, I applaud you. Lavender white grape gimlets, pear cognac martinis, grapefruit mimosas -- I am giddy with anticipation.