Reivew - Amasia Bistro

On Monday, my friend Writergirl asked if I could come with her to Falls Church to pick up her wedding dress. The plan was to actually go to dinner first. Since Amasia was blocks away from the dress store and Writergirl's fiance had been raving about it, we went to Amasia. The compliments fiance was heaping on Amasia were well deserved. While positive reviews of Amasia are popping up all over the Chowhound boards, amasia hasn't gotten much press. That's a shame. I am usually wary of Asian fusion cuisine because I find that it's essentially watered down Asian food, but Amasia's fusion was truly inventive. I started with the small order of potstickers, which were competently made that came with a dipping sauce that was out of this world. It was a dark soy with chili sauce and a hint of sesame oil. It was so good I started dipping my bread in it. Writergirl and fiance had the bowl of edamame. They insisted I try one, knowing my dislike for edamame. I hate lima beans and edamame taste like lima beans. Anyway, if I could have just sucked on the edamame pod without eating the soy nut, I would have been happy. The ginger olive oil it was tossed in was divine.

Writergirl and I had the much praised sweet potato wrapped rockfish. I think it was misnamed because potato was mor like a ribbon of sweet potato around the fish as opposed to completely wrapping the fish. But the dish as a whole was memorable. I love the contrasts of flavors between the sour sauce, the nutty asparagus, and the sweet sweet potato hash. It was like those different elements were dancing around the rockfish without overwhelming it. Needless to say the rockfish was expertly prepared. The true kicker comes with fiance's dish. Fiance is a vegetarian and the menu states - **Please ask our chef about vegetarian dishes exclusively made to order.** Considering restaureurs are loath to do substitutions, having chef Leticia Gonzalez and her kitchen make an entree to order is a unique and rare pleasure. And that's a lot of pleasure because what came out was a teriyaki tofu with grilled asparagus and bok choy. The tofu had it's own unique texture and the teriyaki sauce was out of this world. This was not the usual vegetarian option of stemaed vegetables or pasta primavera.

For dessert we had the cheesecake with the mango coulis, the hazelnut chocolate cake and the blackberries with creme anglaise. All excellent.

As an interesting postscript to our evening, we asked chef Gonzalez if they were willing to cater the engaged couple's wedding. She said they did that stuff all the time and would prepare a proposal. I can't wait for the wedding now.