Amis Trattoria in Philadelphia

I must start by expressing how much I admire and respect the Vetri family. We've been to Osteria many times and I've recommend it to everyone I know.

As a foodie I love the small plate concept so when given the chance to visit Marc Vetri's latest addition Amis I jumped at it. Like a child counting down the days till Christmas I was counting down the days till our visit.

The restaurant is beautiful and has a very hip atmosphere. The open kitchen center stage is the main focus and I think it adds so much to the feel of the restaurant.

As we sat down the waiter seemed to be a little flustered and distracted but as soon as I ordered the $100. dollar bottle of wine from their reserve list we got his full attention....

All the dishes are served with the intention of sharing, family style. We started with the Salumi Misto and Sal's old school meatballs. The salumi was outstanding but Sal's old school meatball's with tomato and potato was out of this world good.....before this trip I paid homage to Lidia Bastianich (owner of Becco in NY and culinary super star) for having the best meatballs but I have to pass the baton to Amis. As I've said before, the best meatball's I have ever had.  Our next course we had the Strozzapreti alla Tuna, I can not even find words to express how good this dish was. My winebaeu and I were fighting over the last bite of pasta. It was so good that when I woke up in the middle of the night the first thing that popped into my mind was the pasta.

I've been blessed over the years to visit some of the best restaurants in America and as I sit in Amis thoughts of this joining the top five is really getting me excited. We ordered the Pork Chop, the Guinea Hen Leg Saltimbocca and a side of Polenta. Entree arrived and to use terminology from a truly great foodie Anthony Bourdain it was like we where spiraling downward out of control without a parachute.....I do not know what happen. Maybe I was just to high from the previous courses but both dishes feft me feeling disappointed.

I look forward to returning to Amis but I'll stick to the appetizers, pasta's & reserve wine list.