C19

What kind of place can make me wish I ordered the fish over a delicious NY Strip? C19.

There's so much to like about this place.  It has a great atmosphere; there's something intangible about C19 that really makes you feel like they care about their food and the entire dining experience.

I like to take pictures of my food; but I had no chance at C19. I was too busy eating it.

To start, the service was a little slow.  But once we had our orders placed, there weren't any problems.  I highly recommend the wine flights.  The sommelier comes out and chooses several different wines to pair with the food and gives tasting notes on each wine.  He really put effort into explaining and arranging, and not because it was his job; but because he really loves wine and wants to share that.

For starters, I ordered the snails, Nutzle had the beet salad, and we both enjoyed these starters.  She then got the special, local black bass.  It was amazing. I'm salivating just thinking about it.  The NY strip I had was good; a nice dry rub, thick cut served medium rare.  But I wouldn't rave about it.

The only potential downside is that for the portions, the food is a little pricey.  But because of the location in the city, as well as the focus on fresh, local, sustainable ingredients, the prices are warranted.  I will be back soon.

PS, there's a tiny TV in the corner of the bar, so if it's playoff time and you've promised to take someone out for a nice meal, this is the perfect spot!

http://c19philly.com/
267 S 19th St
Reservations via Opentable.com

Amada: Restaurant Week

As soon as I found out the dates for Restaurant week, I was on the phone making reservations at Amada within minutes. I met up with Quinn for drinks at Eulogy, and we then headed over for our 8pm reservations. We only waited a few minutes before we were seated. Amada is a huge, sprawling restaurant. The decor in the front in like a classy general store with a nice long open bar, while the back turns into a normal dining room after the open air kitchen.

Quinn had done a good bit of research (and I hadn't) and picked out everything that we ordered. Amada, like Chifa, is tapas inspired. Small dishes, meant for sharing, populate the table during the whole meal. For our first course, we started with an aged Manchego cheese. It was served with honey and apple slices, and the combination of these three were heavenly. We also ordered Serrano Ham, a thinly sliced antipasta style dish. This was good, but lacked the flavor to carry itself. The texture was more impressive than the taste. We followed up with goat cheese and roasted veggies on bread; nothing memorable here. We also had an order of garlic shrimp, and this tasted great.

The second course started with seasoned wild mushroom. I can't stress enough: These were amazing. That dish was one of the best things I've tasted in months. Excellent mushrooms in an even better marinade. We rounded out the second course with grilled chorizo, which was very good. We also had lima bean salad. It was okay. It had a weird texture and there were many menu ideas I would have rather tried. Lastly, we had grilled calamari, and that was great, too.

We had each of one of the desserts. I'm not a huge dessert person, and neither of these were that good. The best part was a complimentary almond wafer, which was basically a larger delicious fortune cookie.

For drinks, I usually don't expect much from nice restaurants. Amada, however, has a good, small selection. They have one representative from several styles: pilsner, IPA, lager, red ale, and stout. And they're all solid selections and normally priced. I had two Founders' Centennial IPA. Quinn stuck with the sangria and enjoyed that a lot. Amada has an extensive wine list, but I ignored it.

Bottom Line: It's easy to see why this spot is wildly popular. I've heard that it's even better off restaurant week. The atmosphere is cool and the service was great (Thanks Shelly!). Overall, the menu contains some hit or miss items, which is unfortunate. I was pleased with my meal, but this isn't at the top of my list for places to eat in the city. With the exception of the lima beans, everything was very good at the least, and spectacular at best.

Essentials:

217 Chestnut St

215-625-2450

Hours: Weekdays, 11:30-2:30, 5-10; weekend 11:30-2:30, 4-12

Avg meal: 40-60

Cash Only: No

Reservations: Required