Tuesday, January 12, 2010

A Sneak Peak at Marc Vetri's Amis

Amis, the new Roman-styled trattoria of Chef Marc Vetri, takes its name from the Bergamascan dialect for "amici" (friends). Located in the Washington Square West neighborhood of Center City, the much anticipated third spot from Vetri and partners Jeff Benjamin and Jeff Michaud will open this Thursday, January 14, 2010.



Courtesy of an invite from friends, I was able to sneak in on Monday night for the first night of a two-night soft opening run. The soft opening is a required rite of passage for any new restaurant, allowing the staff to "practice" on friends and family, to iron out a few wrinkles before opening the doors for regular business. Given the restaurant's modest size and inviting energy, something tells me it's going to be yet another tough reservation. I'd never write one of my full-on restaurant reports based on a first look like this, but I thought I'd at least share some photos to whet your appetites and give a sense of the place.


The bar spans much of the length of the room's main wall, which runs parallel to 13th Street.


Every table is subtly different, custom built for the new space.


An elevated dining area in the room's southwest corner.


Vetri on patrol in Amis' open kitchen, a few of the first round of diners enjoying their view from the chef's bar.




A few antipasti to start (clockwise, from top left): mixed salumi plate; marinated seppia with fennel and grapefruit; marinated sardines; and fried lambs tongue with salsa rossa.



Housemade pastas: tonnarelli "cacio e pepe" with pecorino and black pepper; gnocchi alla romana with oxtail ragu.



Carne e pesce: pork and fennel pollen sausage with peperonata; mixed seafood grill.




Sommelier and co-owner Jeff Benjamin has put together a diverse, compact list of about a dozen whites and reds each, plus a rosato, a bubbly, a couple of stickies, and house white and red by the carafe. Bottles top out at around $65, with all available by the glass and all save two hailing from Italy.


Late night, Bryan Sikora of Kennett Square's Talula's Table jumped in for a photo opp with Chefs Vetri and Michaud.


Local singer-songwriter Phil Roy, a frequent performer at wine dinners at Osteria, was in the house.





Amis Trattoria
412 S. 13th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147
215-732-2647
Amis on Urbanspoon

6 comments:

TomHudson said...

David - what is YOUR definition of "sommelier"?

Wine of the month club said...

The food looks incredible. Wish I was coming out to PA sometime soon.

David McDuff said...

Tom,

Why do I suspect that's a loaded question?

I've been called a sommelier on many occasions for the work I do with wine and food pairing, wine dinners, consulting on the sales floor, and even teaching.

That said, when I hear the word "sommelier," I tend to think first and foremost of the restaurant environment, of the person responsible for building a restaurant's wine (and beer and spirits) program AND for working the dining room floor to help guests with questions/selections, provide wine service, and function as part of the overall service/mgmt team.

In today's world of restaurant empires and corporate beverage services, however, there more and more often seems to be someone -- let's call him/her a Beverage Program Director -- responsible for guiding if not entirely creating the wine and beverage lists across multiple restaurants. The responsibilities of delivering wine service on the restaurant floor, meanwhile, tend to fall to someone else, whether another sommelier, a somm-in-training or simply to the waitperson with the strongest familiarity with wine.

TomHudson said...

David - no loaded question, lol.

I couldn't agree with your sommelier definition more, especially the capitalized word "AND".

"That said, when I hear the word "sommelier," I tend to think first and foremost of the restaurant environment, of the person responsible for building a restaurant's wine (and beer and spirits) program AND for working the dining room floor to help guests with questions/selections, provide wine service, and function as part of the overall service/mgmt team."

I look forward to visiting Amis. Thanks for the sneek peek.

Alfonso Cevola said...

wow - looks fabulous - I would love to go there - you think they'd like to do a guest blogger wine dinner some time?

David McDuff said...

That would be uncharted territory for them, Ace. But if you promise to come wearing your six-shooters, I'm sure something could be arranged. In any event, come on up and I'll be happy to take you on a winin' and dinin' tour of Philly.

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