Ambrose Restaurant
Walk through to the rear of Exeter’s historic Inn By the Bandstand and you’ll find a uniquely enclosed outdoor patio framed by gardens, a water fountain and a fireplace. This, along with the inn’s downstairs dining and living rooms, is one of the chief gathering areas of Ambrose Restaurant (6 Front St., Exeter, 772-7673, innbythebandstand.com/ambrose-restaurant), a scratch-cooked eatery quickly becoming known for its seasonally inspired and locally sourced small plates. Named after Ambrose Swasey, a once-prominent Exeter philanthropist and engineer and an important figure in the town’s history, the restaurant features a menu of regularly rotating options crafted by executive chef Stanley Orantes, a native of El Salvador with extensive experience in Boston’s dining scene. Some menu items are mainstays, notably those that pay homage to Orantes’s roots, like the pollo en chicha, a traditional Salvadoran dish featuring roasted chicken and a chicha puree sauce made from fermented fruit and alcohol. The Scene recently caught up with Orantes, along with Jaime Lopez, a native of Mexico and one of Ambrose’s business partners, who also serves as the innkeeper, to talk about how local history and ingredients have been combined with globally inspired techniques to make up the restaurant’s unique concept.
How long has Ambrose Restaurant been around?
Lopez: [We opened on] June 25 of 2021, so last year. … This building was built as a private residence in 1809, [and] we’ve owned and operated it as The Inn By the Bandstand for nine years. Little by little we have renovated the entire space, indoor and outdoor. This beautiful indoor dining space, and the patio, was just being used for breakfast, but then would just sit empty, so we thought we could fill a niche [and have] something small and unique, not forgetting our roots and the [role] that history has played in this building over the years in Exeter.
What makes Ambrose Restaurant unique?
Lopez: I think, when people come to a place like this, it’s a place that gives you its essence. … It’s not just about the food; it’s about the whole package. It’s the ambiance of the old building … [and] how refined an experience can be by the table setting, the music, the service and the food. All of that combined is, I think, what makes Ambrose quite special. … In searching for someone to come and walk into our vision, with the alignment of the stars, we came across Chef Stanley, who is extremely talented in his own way. We didn’t really want to impose or create a set of rules or expectations. We just wanted that person to see what was already in existence … and so Stanley was the one with the idea of a small-plates restaurant.
What is your personal favorite dish?
Orantes: The pollo en chicha. The pollo en chicha is the most popular [dish] on the menu.
Lopez: I would have to agree with him. We want to play up our ethnicity, which is the reason Ambrose has become a unique place. … Although we’re playing with ingredients that are locally sourced in the New England area, we still want to portray that stamp of who we are. … It’s all about having fun with who we are and representing that on the dinner menu, and how cool [it is that] we have the whole world to play with.
What is something that everyone should try?
Lopez: I love seafood, and right now on the menu there is one specific item that I love to sell, and that is the smoked tuna carpaccio. It just has those umami flavors that you would expect of a smoked dish … and it’s presented with some soumi tsuyu, which is a Japanese sauce, and served with a jicama salsa.
Orantes: I think I would say either the pollo en chica, the ceviche, which is a new [dish] for the summertime, or the smoked tuna carpaccio.
What is an essential skill to running a restaurant?
Lopez: Having quality control and consistency … is [what] we go by every single day. But consistency is not easily attained unless you have, in my opinion, a clear vision of what you’re doing.
Orantes: It’s true, because you have to be consistent in your job … and be passionate in every area.
What is your favorite thing about being on the Seacoast?
Lopez: I love the history of the Seacoast and the [role] Exeter has played in its history. … I love how this building is still standing. It was built in 1809 as a private residence. It was going to be demolished before the Historical Society came to its rescue and raised funds to save it. Then, they sold it back into private hands, and look what we’re doing with it today.
— Matt Ingersoll
Courtesy photo.
