I know Spanish food. To meet my heightened standards, a restaurant touting Spanish fare has to do one thing absolutely perfectly – seafood. It is the cornerstone of the Spanish table. If you don’t like seafood, don’t go to Spain. If you can’t make seafood well, don’t open a Spanish restaurant.
The benchmark of Spanish restaurants in the United States are those owned by PBS phenom and master chef José Andrés. His Jaleo, in Washington D.C., is my favorite. Andrés hails from Asturias, a compelling seaside region on the northern coast known for some rich gastronomic traditions including an amazing white bean stew known as fabada. But in my experience Andrés' restaurants seem to make every Spanish dish perfectly.
I had high expectations that Amada in Philadelphia would do the same. The chef is not Spanish – he’s from Ecuador. That’s usually a red flag for me, but a look at his numerous accolades (He's an "Iron Chef") and a glance at the inventive menu online persuaded me to give it a whirl. The place has some excellent dishes that take traditional Spanish and spin them with a new twist. The empanadas filled with spinach and manchego were excellent. A jamón serrano salad with spinach, figs, spiced almonds, and cabrales cheese came out as a meaty log, the greens literally stuffed inside a shell made from thin slices of this delectable Spanish "prosciutto." The jamón , however, did not have the same taste and texture that you usually get with this Spanish ham… I suspect a domestic imposter may have been used instead of an imported.
Amada's croquetas de jamón, traditional deep fried croquettes filled with ham-scented béchamel sauce, were equally inventive. Much smaller in size that those you normally get in Spain, these came served on dollops of a roasted vegetable and almond sauce called romesco. Tasty, indeed, but the consistency of the romesco was too grainy. A more thorough job pulsing the nuts into a fine paste was definitely in order. But overall the small plates were inventive and totally worthwhile.
A complimentary tuna spread served on toasted bread was tasty and the restaurant, which sports two bars off the seating area, offers three types of sangria. We tried the blanco and tinto. Both excellent.
But the seafood dishes were nowhere near my standards. There’s quite an extensive list of items that you can get a la plancha or "on the grill." Baby squid, or chiperones, had a fishiness that one wouldn’t encounter had they been recently removed from the sea. One of my all time favorite Spanish dishes, pulpo a la gallego, was equally unsatisfying. Cooked in a deep fryer, the delicate ends of the tentacles were burned to a crisp, leaving a charred, bitter taste in the mouth. Further, some of the pieces were perfectly cooked while others had the distinct rubbery consistency characteristic of overcooking.
In the end, a return trip to Amada would be worthwhile only to try more of the non-seafood items. But a Spanish restaurant that can't do seafood well is really not a Spanish restaurant at all.