Chef Jose Garces Reigned Supreme In Kitchen Stadium, But How Did He Do In His Own Restaurant? Part One

What would you have done? Would you have watched Jose Garces on Iron Chef first and THEN gone to his restaurant? Or, do what I did? Go to the restaurant FIRST, to get the mettle of the man, BEFORE he challenged an Iron Chef? H and I went to Amada, specializing in Spanish Tapas, last week, accompanied by the friend that had alerted me to the chefs appearance on Iron Chef. Chef Garces is a successful chef/owner of 3 restaurants in Philadelphia: Amada, Tinto and the newest, Distrito. He talks about them in this interview . He was nominated the past 2 years for a James Beard Award for best restaurant chef for the Mid-Atlantic region. (He lost out this year to Chef Eric Ziebold of CityZen in DC.) Garces also has a Latin American cookbook coming out in the fall focusing on how Spain has influenced Latin American cooking all over the world. Now about his restaurant... but, first, a plea to restaurateurs!!! PLEASE dont make the entire party arrive before seating those who are there. H and I were told we had to wait for everyone (ONE more person, for goodness sake) until we could be shown to our table. So were left to skulk by the reservation area, fortunately not for long, but still it gives a terrible first impression of a restaurant. PLUS they KNEW we were all coming, because I called to confirm. Mightnt I have mentioned that the numbers would have changed during that conversation? Our huge party of three goes to the table. I take the customary seat of the lady (okay, settle down, I wanted to take pictures) against the wall , which happened to be a banquette. H and F (riend) sit catty-cornered in nice chairs at the square table. I sit downand downand downuntil I am completely 12 inches lower than anyone else. The height of the bench seating is completely ludicrous. Im not talking slightly ridiculous; Im talking completely totally off the wall WRONG! This could not possibly have been intended. It would be one thing if all the seating were at pre-school height, (Stephen Starrs Tangerine has low chairs, but not THIS low) but here it was ONE SEAT at a table for four with the rest of the seating at normal height. (Not every table is like this. This was just in our section of the restaurant.) The lady-with-the-menus-who-made-us-wait-at-the-door did say that people sometimes sit on the cushions that were on the back of the bench. So I sat on one pillow, still too low, way too low. Then I took a second pillow and shoved it under the first one and it made the table that was obviously designed for a munchkin with an extraordinarily long neck manageable. But you know how I am with KITCHEN hygiene who knows where those pillows have been or where what had been on the pillows had been? The next wrinkle was our server. In his defense, he ended the night MUCH better than he started, but that isnt saying much. He was clearly very busy, but, after all, WE should have been what he was busy with. After way too long a wait initially, he came to tell us the deal with the restaurant: food served family style; dishes come out as theyre ready: dishes are meant to be shared. Fine, great He was about to walk away, when H told him we wanted to order drinks, because I guess that wasnt something he couldnt think of himself. I was mad, though, I really wanted to see how long it would take him to get around to the drink orders, but H could tell I needed my cocktail. As our waiter took our order - I cant remember if it was the drink or the dinner order - he went around the table POINTING at each person. In fact, he poked his index finger only inches away from F s chest as he said, And YOU? It was quite appalling. Then H asked him if they could do Guisantes (peas) as a first course without the meat. Mollejas Con Guisantes was on the menu, which is peas with sweetbreads, but plain guisantes with a bit of ham is a very common starter in Spain. Pointing Pete said Ive never had anything like that. He repeated it several timesnotLet me check