The Bowl, another Flaming Amy’s original
THIS IS RE-PRINT FROM AN EARLIER COMMENT. THE EDITOR SUGGESTED I POST IT AS A REVIEW — R
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?
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