Amada is Chef Garces’ iconic first restaurant. Since opening in 2005, the gorgeous rustic-chic restaurant and bar have embraced the rich traditions of Spanish cuisine. Amada’s capacious dining room features a six-seat chef’s counter overlooking the open kitchen, a comfortable second dining room and lounge area, intimate private event space and a spacious bar area reminiscent of a typical Spanish bodega, complete with hanging jamòns. Since opening Amada in Philadelphia in 2005, Chef Jose Garces has emerged as an enormous talent and one of the nation’s most gifted chefs and restaurateurs. Today, he is the owner and operator of more than a dozen restaurants across the country, plus a thriving event planning division and 40-acre Luna Farm. He is a 2009 winner of the James Beard Foundation’s prestigious “Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic” award and one of only a few chefs in the country to hold the coveted title of Iron Chef. Chef Garces is also the author of two cookbooks, The Latin Road Home (Lake Isle Press, October 2012), a culinary and cultural tour of Ecuador, Spain, Mexico, Cuba and Peru, and his stunning first cookbook, Latin Evolution (Lake Isle Press, Fall 2008).