Amada Restaurant: The Art of Tapas

 

A romantic getaway to Atlantic City landed us in an excellent restaurant of one of the best chefs in the United States.

 Jose Garces, won Iron Chef America after defeating chef Jehangir Mehta . A year before, he defeated Bobby Flay as a challenger in an episode that was featuring melon, and this is when I vowed to one day eat this chef’s food. You can imagine how delighted I was to see his restaurant while planning a weekend that included all play and no shame at all.
 Amada, in the Revel hotel, is also the name of Garces’ first restaurant that he opened in Philly in 2005. It’s a Tapas style restaurant.
 We entered this beautiful place, and were seated in a private and romantic “cabana”. While examining the menu I saw that one can choose tapas from the huge selection, but chef Garces also offers his own recommended selection. In a case like such, I always opt to having chef’s recommendation. The reason behind it being that I want to eat what chef is proud of. I also chose to pair with wines that were recommended with these dishes. I was really tempted to try the Sangria ( They have three types: red, white and rose’) but I chose the wine pairing.
This was the beginning of a culinary journey that embarked us on a taste, texture, aesthetic adventure. Tapas are small plates and we kept getting these palette teasers to our  table. From Aged Manchego cheese with thinly sliced apple and lavender honey to Serrano ham to flat bread with shrimp, chorizo and garbanzo beans puree as beginners. We continued with Spanish octopus and potato confit, Spicy potatoes, and unbelievably sweet scallops. The jewel in the crown was the Iberian pork , that is only served in three restaurants in the U. S. I am not a big pork eater, simply because I didn’t grow on pork. This pork, which is what Kobe is for beef, was succulent and could easily compete with any steak in any upscale restaurant. It was accompanied with a fragrant mushroom risotto with truffle oil. I cannot begin to describe to you how it introduced us to new flavors. We don’t get to eat a lot in restaurants and say: wow! This was something new but we did and it was fabulous. I don’t remember which desert was served. It was after that pork, that’s all I can tell you. We came out of the restaurant feeling great, and didn’t even blink at the check, which is about $100 per person.

I recommend it with all my heart. This chef is very accurate in the way that he presents flavors to his diners, and that makes the experience a truly great one.