I Spy: Flaming Amy’s Bowl
In the parking lot behind the now defunct Cinema Grill East is a bright and funky-painted building with a “Flaming Amy’s BOWL” marquee. Not sure yet what it is, exactly, but if it’s anything like the original Flaming Amy’s Burrito Barn on Oleander and 41st, then woo hoo!
That could be a life-changer. -I.
There was a very interesting description of it in Greater Wilmington Business Journal last week, but they don’t have much on the website. It was something to the effect of the Mongolian barbecue concept but with premade sauces (and not presumably not necessarily Chinese) and you would get your stuff cooked on a clean place on the grill so it doesn’t taste like the guy’s meal before you …. I liked Flaming Amy’s at CB the couple of times I ate there, will look forward to trying this place. I already pitched the Biz Journal and don’t remember when they said it would be open.
A rep at the original Flamin’ Amy’s yesterday said The Bowl would open “next week” and alluded cryptically to hoops still to be jumped through. This reporter, a Flamin’ regular for four years, will be among the first to visit and promises a detailed posting for the GP.
Well?? How was it?
Like its predecessor, Flaming Amy’s Bowl is a true original. In fact, it’s any restaurant you want it to be. While it carries a vague Mongolian Grill theme that suggests Oriental food, it’s also possible to visit Italy, Mexico, New Orleans or the Mediterranean, the common denominator being a choice of white or brown rice or noodles (linguini).
The “bowl” part refers to the receptacle you fill before eating. Choices at the “Fresh Food Bar” are numerous (more than 30 in all) and include carrots, peas, chilies, peppers, spinach, sprouts, and beef, chicken, pork and fish. Once your bowl is filled, you hand it to one of three tattooed grill cooks (it appears Amy’s makes it a prerequisite for employment to have ink or multiple piercings), who will ask about the rice or noodles. The last choice is a sauce, 10 in all ranging from Thai peanut and Teriyaki to marinara and chipotle BBQ.
The whole mess is cooked before your eyes in typical Amy’s fashion, which is to say hot, fast and easy. The cheap part, at least compared to the original Amy’s, is debatable (dinner is $8.75, lunch $6.75, but get this: you get to fill your bowl as many times as you want).
Because there are so many choices, I can’t wait to go back. I suspect repeat visitors will benefit from learning how it all works and sampling different combinations of foods and sauces, plus the Bowl, less than a week in business, will soon work out some kinks (the utensils for transferring meat from the food bar to my bowl didn’t work so well).
The decor is edgy and fun. My wife kept pointing to things and saying, “Cuuuuute.”
While the staff at the original Amy’s seem to be on automatic pilot, which is not a knock, the group at the Bowl, many of whom transferred from the Burrito Barn, is eager to show off their new concept. The hostess, the wait staff and even the grill cooks looked excited and happy to help in any way.
Since the Bowl’s space is significantly smaller than the Barn, we wondered what would happen if there were a backup. The hostess showed us the previous night’s waiting list, which had about five names on it. The grill cooks, steaming their way through order after order as if on stage, can only move so fast. It will be interesting to see how the Bowl evolves, but I’m cheering it on for this simple reason: When someone visits from out of town, would you be content taking them to a conventional place like Wrightsville Grille or even Big Thai, or turning them onto something memorable and different like the Bowl?
Almost forgot: While the choices may overwhelm some, the Bowl’s menu includes a list of suggestions such as Pad Thai Bowl, Mad Italian Bowl and General Mux Bowl. I went with the Red Curry Bowl, which features peas, corn, onions, shrooms, and beef, and I had it over noodles. The red curry sauce was light on taste so I added a few splashes of chili sauce, which is provided, along with cajun spice, lemon pepper, parmesan and sesame seeds.
Also, little tortillas are provided so if you miss the original Amy’s, you can simply wedge the whole mess into a few of these babies and pretend it’s a burrito.
R & I went last night for the first time (actually we succeeded last night for the first time: We’d gone by once or twice before, when it first opened, and saw lines too long to wait in). I loved it.
It takes a while to get used to, to find what things you want to put together. And the space is small, which kind of pushes against the “bottomless bowls” they offer and the idea that you can loiter and chow down.
But as with the original, the food is great, the people are great, fellow diners are from Every Walk. More than anything else, I’m excited about how a place like that can animate a dead area. Long Leaf Mall or whatever it’s called has not been — was getting to be less and less of — a place. Just some giant, oil-spot parking lot with a McDonald’s and a tire shop. Bowls is like the best kind of frontier saloon in this regard — and in other regards.