Ornovel Nepali restaurant on Willy Street, is unlike anything I have experienced before. This is especially remarkable considering this is the family that brought Madison Chautara and Himal Chuli to State Street and Dobhan to Atwood Avenue over the decades.
Owner Rajan Pradhan extensively renovated the approximately 70-year-old sunken storefront at 809 Williamson St. with stalls on the first floor, a petite bar, a cozy loft dining room upstairs and tables tucked away on the landing along the stairs.
Somehow, each of my visits was to a still restaurant – and yet within minutes each time it was crowded and had almost no seats. If your meals are similar to mine, pleasure will come very naturally.
It was Pradhan’s parents who opened Himal Chuli in 1986, renowned for being the first Nepali restaurant in the United States. The cross-section of heritage is obvious. It doesn’t matter whether you order your kebab with a polished and affluent bowl of dal or a green, herby salad; the meal will put a smile on your face.
Amy’s menu is similar to Himal Chuli’s, but more narrow. There are also dishes from Chautara (closed in 2013) and Dobhan (closed in 2019). Why does a restaurant with so many callbacks seem so novel? Maybe, shame on me, I just haven’t spent enough time at Pradhan family restaurants to get used to dishes like phull mumari for brunch. Crispy-edged mung bean cakes appear where you might otherwise expect crab cakes, offering savory depth and a novel take on the usual texture. Momo’s filling is bison – novel and valuable; the spice level is well balanced with the lean meat. Lunch dosas appear on the egg-filled breakfast menu, smaller but lacking in fluffiness – a pancake breakfast through the Himalayas.
The shrimp biryani wasn’t a flavor bomb, but its subtle spice allowed the nicely cooked shrimp to take center stage. The baked salmon had more punch; topped with a delicately fruity chutney. This is undoubtedly one of the best pieces of fish I have eaten this year.
Ama also delivers excellent lamb and tandoori chicken kebabs.
A handful of cultural nonsense is cute, like Friday fish fry, huevos rancheros for brunch, and Mediterranean flatbread. I’ll have to come back for the first two, but the flatbread with dollops of hummus, carrots and red pepper paste gave me just as much joy as when Isthmus reviewed by Dobhana in 2006.
On Amy’s dessert menu, I found a slice of carrot cake that I quite liked; the kitchen introduces an unexpected twist with raspberry accents.
I look forward to coming back to Amy for all the dishes I haven’t tried and just spending time in this attractive space. There are a lot of flashbacks in Ama. The name means “mother” in Nepali and is a tribute to Pradhan’s mother, who died in 2022. Maybe despite this look into the past, but more likely, thanks to it, Amie manages to conjure up a completely novel atmosphere and it is simply a delight.
Or
809 Williamson Street
608-230-5308; amakitchenmadison.com
$8-25
[Editor’s note: This article has been corrected to reflect the restaurant’s cuisine as Nepali, not Tibetan.]
