Saturday, August 14, 2010

Atlantic Jazz Yard










For our anniversary we ate at a place called Atlantic Jazz Yard. We got a table on the outside of the open area. There were tables and a bar surrounding an open area where there was live jazz music. The hostess, who was Russian, was super nice, friendly, and accommodating. I was waiting for our table to be cleared while David filled the meter. The guy who was to be our server was giving'the schpeel' to his large table. We sat down and he just came over and asked us if we were ready to order . He didn't give us the specials, favorites, tell us about the restaurant. So when he came back the second time we ordered brie grilled cheese as our appetizer. It came quickly, cut into triangles on whole wheat bread with bacon and raspberry jam. It was to die for (we recreated it the next day). We then ordered our drinks which are all from the prohibition era with hand chipped glass and all made from scratch. I had a Wilmington Street Shuffle which was strong and tangy from the orange zest. David had The Last Word which had gin in it and I thought the taste would be drowned out by everything else in the drink, I was wrong. About the 4th time he came back (after asking him what the specials were and what he recommended). I had soft shell crab with a carrot ginger sauce and tapioca balls. All had very little flavor which was disappointing, I would have preferred a tastier dipping sauce. David had prawns in a spicy coconut sauce over penne. Prawns gross me out because i hate the feelers and eyes and claws so after he disassembled I tried it. The sauce was only picking up the spice from the chorizo and I thought it would have been better if it was a bit thicker of a sauce. For dessert we had the PB&J which was a puff pastry with a creamy, sweet, thick filling over a blueberry puree. We also had a cherry mint hommade ice cream with a cookie similar to biscotti. Both were delicious, PB&J being my favorite (I'm a sucker for PB). All in all good for the apps and desserts, not the entrees or drinks.

Amada









David and I have wanted to go to Amada for about 7 months now but we weren’t able to go before I left for Japan. Amada is a Spanish tapas restaurant with a new Iron Chef as head chef and owner. The weekend I came back to Philadelphia we went. It was a bit of a disaster getting there, we completely missed our reservation, but they were accommodating and we only had to wait 10ish minutes. We did have to sit at the bar though and it would have been nicer to sit at a table. Our server /bartender was unenthusiastic, but the food came quickly. This is one of those poorly lit restaurants for ambiance effect which was nice but not so much for my pictures. Over by the main bar there is a wall covered in a shelf housing many wine bottles, bar seating in front of the kitchen, bar seating at the main and back bar, and then seating in a main room and back room. First we were offered baked pita chips with tuna something, it was ok but I’ve had better tuna. We ordered the Aragones which was cheese with sliced apples, sliced baguette, and raisins soaked in sangria and then put in honey. It was pretty delicious especially all piled up on the bread and dipped into honey. The hint of sangria was a great flavor and something I’m definitely going to try to recreate. The next item of food that came out was Amada's Empanada which was spinach and manchego and artichoke. Then we had rabbit ravioli, it was amazing, tender and flavorful, and the cherries were such a complimentary taste, I just wish there had been more. Then we had a flatbread topped with short ribs, parmesan, horseradish, and bacon. It was very salty, but the meat was tender and the flatbread wasn't too hard. Finally we had ham croquettes. They basically tasted like ham put in a blender with some sort of classy spicy ketchup concoction, that may not have been the best description but trust me they were good. All in all the food was delicious, but a bit pricey for the portions which were small, even for tapas. We finished off with dessert from Franklin Fountain, a "lightening rod" which was topped with espresso, chocolate covered espresso beans, and chocolate. yum !