Amici

Amici
326 Broadway
Tel: (204) 943-4997
Fax: (204) 943-0369
Email: amicicatering@mts.net
http://www.amiciwpg.com/

April, 2011



Amici has a long reputation in Winnipeg as one of the best fine dining establishments in the city. Consistently, Amici has served delicious and innovative food. Situated in the heart of the Broadway business district, Amici has a perfect location for a power lunch huddle, or a romantic dinner setting before a night out. Much of Amici’s success was attributed to owner and executive chef Heinz Kattenfeld. Now that Kattenfeld has retired, can Amici maintain its vaulted status?

The dimly lit dining room and elegant décor calmly struts its elegance in a classical fashion. Whereas today’s restaurants ring with beating music, showy colours and artful shapes, Amici brings you back to a quieter era of stylish dining. Tonight, the packed dining room roars with din, somewhat diminishing the subdued nature of this dining salon.

The meal begins with a basket of bread featuring thinly sliced options of raisin bread or plain. Both come soft and meltingly fresh, although neither is warm enough to melt the plain, hard butter. Instead, opt for the thyme-herbed butter orbs, which spread easily onto the slices.

Amici offers a wide spectrum of appetisers which provides appeal to every colour or preference. The ubiquitous calamari comes perfectly fried with just enough battering to coat the tasty and tender rings. The light lemon herbed sour cream provides a wonderful accompaniment to this lovely appetiser. Equally Italian, the bruschetta bursts with freshness as the perfect complement of basil and delicious tomato stars in this simple intro. Mild cheese and herbed crusty bread completes the perfect antipasto.

If you want something a little heavier for your appetiser, the fluffy gnocchi swims in a substantial herbed cream sauce. Perfectly grilled slices of rare tenderloin provide a wonderful base in lapping up the luscious sauce.

In addition to the regular menu, Amici presents a considerable list of specials, and the hamachi carpaccio immediately grabs my eyes. If you’re familiar at all with sushi, you recognise hamachi, the delicious yellowtail that tastes divine when fresh, but fishy as heck when out of prime. Amici’s thinly sliced hamachi doesn’t provide enough substance to get the essence of the wonderful fish; the diner is left with only a tease of the taste. The juices of the candied beet adornment ooze through a part of the plate, smothering the delicate flavour of the hamachi. I prefer to see the tried and true Japanese ginger as a palette cleanser. While bits of crusty lemon add a nice highlight to the fish, the oversized chunks of sea salt shockingly disrupts the hamachi. I much favour traditional hamachi sashimi over this carpaccio rendition.

Whenever I visit an Italian restaurant, I always try at least one classic Italian dish. The spaghetti with grilled chicken features a perfectly seared chicken breast sitting on pasta in a garlic cream sauce. Pancetta accents this rich sauce and a generous portion of spinach leaves finishes the meal. This simple and basic Italian classic is done perfectly in every way.

Similarly, the linguine with seafood starts with properly al dente linguini in an understated tomato broth. A rich and powerful tomato sauce can sometimes overwhelm the delicate flavours of the seafood; Amici’s tomato broth finds the target as an ideal oasis for the shellfish. The artful dish features the half-lobster, seared nicely and sitting as the centerpiece. Plump and well-prepared mussels surround the plate while enormous shrimps and scallops swim in the broth. What a beautiful plate!

Amici’s polite, prompt and professional staff sees to all your needs, including a water glass that’s never less than half full. If you want more than water, of course, Amici’s wine list caters to all tastes and pocketbooks.

While the hamachi was a bit of a miss, everything else at Amici’s nails the bull’s eye. I’m happy to find a restaurant that has maintained high standards for so long, and continues to do so.

**** /5

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