Amano is owned by Chef Salvador Alamilla who was inspired to cook from watching his mother.  He started as a dishwasher and worked his way up to Executive Chef quickly and also spent time as house manager for several restaurants in Boise. In 2019 he opened Amano in downtown Caldwell, a 30 minute drive from Boise.  Since then he has been nominated twice for a James Beard Award.  It shows in the popularity of the large place.  The room was divided into sections set with small tables and various seating options.  The very high “plaster” ceiling was actually made of wood to look like plaster and music was in the background.  There was dining on the second floor also and a full bar with seats downstairs.  Our server stated that the bar squeezed their own juices so we did try one cocktail.   Service was friendly but not particularly efficient.  Overall the food was acceptable but not as inspiring as I’d hoped it would be.

Set-Up

 

Food

We tried the La Paloma cocktail that contained tequila reposado, cucumber and grapefruit soda. It was fairly weak, had too much ice and sweetness so we changed to beer with the meal.  You could have the rim coated with salt, sugar or nothing and we chose the first.

 

Rajas con Crema were roasted peppers, onions and queso with blue corn chips.  The chips were fairly thick with good corn flavor and a nice crispness.  The peppers and cheese also had good flavor but was difficult to scoop with a chip.  Mixed in with it was a bit of roasted corn.  It was good.

 

Baja Cali Fish Tacos were made with wild-caught ling cod and habanero slaw.  They came 3 to an order and the large pieces of fish were deep-fried.  The fish remained nicely moist and the habanero slaw had a real kick.

 

Carne Asada Tacos were filled with skirt steak and guacamole.  The beef was nicely smokey and cut into fairly big chunks.  The guacamole would only rate okay – it didn’t have much flavor.  The corn tortillas were quite good and the best part of both types of tacos.

 

Chile Colorado was made with braised Duroc pork and tomatillo chilies and served with refried beans.  Some pieces were moister than others but mostly they were tasty.  Something in the sauce gave it a very distinctive flavor but I couldn’t put my finger on it.  The beans were nicely cooked and dusted with some white cheese.  It came with very nice corn tortillas.

 

Pudín de Maíz was made with dulce de leche, burnt husk whip and pecan-pinole crumble.  This was recommended by the server, but only 2 desserts were available.  The bowl had fairly high sides that curved inward which made it hard to see inside but when you got a bit of all the parts it was all right.  Not too sweet and the crumble and caramel did accent the corn pudding.  The nuts tasted more like walnuts than pecans and pine nuts.