Amada

My husband left his credit card in Olde City so we figured we’d go pick it up and get something to eat while we were down there. There are so many amazing places to choose from when venturing into olde city but I knew I wanted to eat at Amada. I love Jose Garces, his food is amazing no matter which one you choose! The best thing about Jose Garces is that he is ALWAYS willing to accommodate vegetarians.

Domenick was a little apprehensive when he first looked at the tapas menu at Amada. He said there was nothing on there for him, but I told him not to be overwhelmed by the vast menu options. He then looked at the menu again and chose a few dishes that suited him. To drink we chose the Temporada Sangria (seasonal sangria: white wine with peaches, ginger brandy and mint). It went down too smoothly if you know what I mean! Our waitress brought us a complimentary plate of bread crisps, tuna with black olive oil for dipping and a special roasted red pepper dip made for vegetarians.

Bread Crips with Tuna on left and Roasted Red Pepper on Right

We started off with the Aragones cheese that comes with white sangria honey and golden raisins. The cheese was great but when paired with the sangria honey and golden raisins it was amazing!

Aragones with White Sangria Honey and Golden Raisins

The Spanish olives came out with the cheese. I suggest getting the olives to complete any tapas meal you have at Amada.

Olives

Next came out the empanada which is stuffed with spinach and manchego on a bed of roasted peppers, artichokes, and red onions. They were oozing with cheese and they were good, but the succeeding dishes, blew this dish out of the water.

Amada's Empanada

Domenick also got the patatas bravas, which were almost like fancy tater tots with a smoked paprika aioli. They were good but also paled in comparison to the rest of the food.

Patatas Bravas

Then the Entrecote came out, which is prime sirloin sliced to allow sharing. Domenick ate it all and loved it. He said he would get it again.

Entrecote

I don’t know if this was intentional, but they saved the best for last. The Alcachofas a la Parmesana (Parmesan Artichokes) were one of the best food items I’ve eaten, and I eat a ton of artichokes. They were 3 artichoke hearts with a parmesan cream sauce and pine nuts. The artichokes just melted in your mouth, but the worst part was that 3 of these left us wanting more, much more. I would order 4 orders of these and call it a day!

Alcachofas a la Parmesana

Last but not least came out the Esparragos con trufas (Grilled Asparagus, Poached egg, Mahon Crisp and Truffles). This was also one of our favorite dishes. The shaved truffles, the perfectly poached egg, the amazing grilled asparagus, tender but still crisp! Wonderful! What brought this dish down a notch in both of our books was the Mahon Crisp, it was way too salty. I couldn’t even finish the half I broke off. This dish would have been so much better if the Mahon Crisp was just left off.

Esparragos con trufas

Although we were pretty much stuffed after this amazing meal, we decided on dessert because it just felt like the perfect way to end the night. The boy settled on the Crèma Catalana de Chocolate. It was caramelized dark chocolate custard, strawberry gelee, and berry sorbet. It was a good dessert and Dom scarfed it down.

 Crèma Catalana de Chocolate

I went with the waitresses recommendation the Pastel con Escabeche, which is a warm brown butter cake, seasonal fruit escabeche, and almond ice cream. I loved the brown butter cake and the almond ice cream. The best part was the warm cake melted some of the ice cream which combined with the escabeche to make a wonderful sauce. I’m beginning to realize that I love warm cakes on cold winter nights!

Pastel con Escabeche with a bite missing

At the end of the meal the waitress brought over a almond crisp and it was very tasty, I just wish I wasn’t as stuffed and I could enjoy more of it.

Almond Crisp

Overall it was a great date night and wonderful food. I would recommend Amada or any of the other Garces restaurants.

Amada
217-219 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia PA 19106
215-625-2450