Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Ame, July 8, 2008

I've been hearing about Ame for a long time and was excited to take Molly there. Since she only eats seafood, the menu was perfect for her and had many exciting dishes we wanted to try. We arrived a few minutes early for our 8:30pm reservation and entered in through the St. Regis hotel and lounge. The lounge is beautiful and I could imagine going back for a cocktail and Ame small plate. We arrived at Ame and were seated right away. The restaurant is L-shaped and we were sat at a great table right at the bend. The decor was earth tones; browns, creams, black, with dark wood and dim lighting. The staff was dressed in suits, no jackets, and were not wearing aprons.

We started with the Kaffir Lime Gimlet ($14) while we browsed the menu, a delicious cocktail made with Hangar One Kaffir Lime Vodka. After looking over the menu, we ordered our first round of appetizers; Sea Bass Suzuki Sashimi ($17.50) and the Tempura Poke ($15.50). I was interested in trying one of the sakes from their extensive list and our waiter suggested several of his favorites. After sampling a couple, we decided on the Watari Bune ($11) (Shiboritate Namazake Genshu Junmaiginjo "55"), an unpasteurized and undiluted sake. The sake was unlike any other sake I've had with notes of juniper, geranium and snap peas. The smoothness and subtle sweetness went perfectly with our first round of appetizers. The Sea Bass Sashimi was served with hijiki seaweed, myoga and a ume plum-soy vinegarette. There were 5 pieces of sashimi laid out on the plate and each bite was absolutely perfect. The fish was clean and fresh and was perfect with the earthiness of the hijiki and the tart-sweetness of the vinegarette. The tempura poke, a signature dish of Ame, was served as a maki roll, with each of the six bites being lightly tempura battered and fried. Each bite was perfectly sweet and salty with a bit of crunch. I could have eaten another round of each of these dishes.

For the next course we ordered the Tempura Squash Blossoms ($16.50) and the Grilled Marinated Octopus ($17.50) special. We split a glass of the Laroche Chablis ($18) for this course which was perfectly buttery to compliment both dishes. The squash blossoms were made with homemade ricotta and served with chanterelle mushrooms, sauteed persilane, tapenade and a garlic oil. We had never had cooked persilane and found it to be a little bit slimy like okra and thought it overpowered the texture of the mushrooms. The tempura was perfectly light and the saltiness of the tapenade complimented the ricotta. An interesting and delicious dish overall. The octopus dish was absolutely perfect and was a pretty large portion. The octopus was thinly sliced and served with sliced fingerling potatoes, enoki-like mushrooms (along with other wild mushrooms) in an herb-lemon butter. The sauce was rich and addictive and I could have eaten more and more of this dish.

For our entree we split the Butter Poached Maine Lobster Tail, Panko Crusted Claws
with Succotash and Fried Fingerling Potatoes ($39). The plate arrived with an entire lobster tail and two panko crusted claws on a bed of succotach. The succotach had various beans; cranberry, canalini, peas and green beans along with sweet corn and sliced cherry tomatoes, served with a bernaise-like sauce. The claw was stringy and the tail was meaty and it all went perfectly with the Henschke Semillon ($11) wine split glass we ordered.

I had read so many positive reviews about the desserts at Ame, so we decided to order the Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta ($10) and split a glass of Sudruit Sauternes ($14). Unfortunately we were disappointed with the dessert. The panna cotta was served with toasted pistachios bits, caramelized figs, an anise cookie and was drizzled with honey. When the dish arrived it smelled like burnt marshmellows. The panna cotta was tangy, but the caramelized figs tasted like burnt wood chips and just subtracted from the tasty qualities of the panna cotta. I like the anise cookie, but Molly thought it was soggy. Luckily the sauternes was absolutely delicious and our waiter ended up comp-ing our dessert.

Our total bill was $230 with tip, a pricey meal that we both agreed was well worth it. I would definitely dine at Ame again for a special occasion or splurge.