I know that I'm irregular, and difficult to track, and keep not posting. Don't judge me, I just want to live.
So I went to this wicked little new place in Ottawa, off of Preston St., in a distinguishably non restaurant-ey part of town. Perhaps it fits then, that this restaurant has no sign. It looks like it could be the headquarters of an architecture firm. Just plain clean lines and not much else. What tipped me off that I was at the right place was both the address, which thankfully I brought, and a table setting visible by cupping my hands to the window. I walked in, and was received as an expected guest. I had exchanged e-mails with Marc Lepine about the trip and a possibility of a stage. This is one of the more exciting restaurants to open since my absence.
The cuisine, I should point out before going into further detail, is "hypermolecular". Marc is studious about the food he makes, and both him and Jess, who insofar as I could tell was his sous, were well versed. They had both gone to two respective temples of gastronomy, Alinea in Chicago and WD-40 in New York, to check out the front lines of this inventive style of cooking. The basic principle boils down to the application of classically unused techniques in cooking. Things that have been used in other applications, or obscure food applications for years, and are now making their way into professional kitchens. Things like obscure chemical thickeners, gels and powders. Things like cotton candy machines and flat top grills that run at around -35 degrees Celsius. That is a cold piece of machinery. Now the reason this place is also of particular interest to me is not simply the cuisine, but also the style of establishment.
Unlike most restaurants, Atelier does not offer a menu. It also only has 22 seats. It also doesn't have a sign, which I know I mentioned already, but I think bears repeating. The reason for the sign becomes obvious when you understand there is no menu. They don't expect walk-in traffic, a classic source of income for restaurants. They simply want people who want to eat there. Its a delightful concept. A restaurant full of people who are actually interested in eating there. Not the only interesting thing on show at Atelier. When I say no menu, I don't mean they memorize everything and tell you about it, I don't mean they have some new fangled iPad menu on which to make your selection. They literally don't care. Your menu is planned in advance of them even knowing you exist. You need to sit down, be quiet, and eat a dozen courses of food that you likely won't understand and definitely won't recognize. Its a departure from traditional restauranting, to be sure, but not the first or last of its kind.
Upon being seated, you first get a chance for a drink and a spot of relaxation. Your server comes by and asks about food allergies, dislikes and such, before the kitchen opens fire on you.
The kitchen simply has lists of menu items, with a corresponding amount of chits to tables reserved. Every time a certain table gets a dish, it gets crossed off the chit. So it goes. In conjunction with the style of cooking, this means not only that the food is ready more promptly, but also that plates can be laid out ahead of time. A variety of the more molecular aspects of the menu can be put on plate well in advance of it being brought to table. This makes the kitchen interestingly different, the pace confusing, and the pass packed with ceramic. With most restaurants you experience something akin to "the rush". A sort of high pressure period where all the orders are in at once and it's tantamount to impossible to get everything done in acceptable time. We do the impossible everyday.
At atelier things are different. The first two dishes are generally plated by the time you get your bread and squeeze tube of butter. By the time you get your second course the bases for the following two are also down. It's a strange, totally practical but somehow almost hollow experience. I'd like the modify that statement, because I think it's just based on feeling. It's just different, and puts me on edge. It's actual likely the most sane kitchen I've ever been into, which makes me queasy, because the insanity is why I love this job so much. I've been told, however, that even there it gets extremely hairy on Saturdays, when they do two seatings.
In any case, the menu is really cool, I definitely wish to go in for dinner at some point, and I would recommend you do the same. Enjoy the food porn. The pictures are of:
1. pumpkin puree with lemongrass and coconut, kaffir lime leaf in the spoon for aromatics
2. Part of the beet, walnut and orange salad, specifically basil fluid jelly, orange juice sphere, beet jelly "carpet", and pop rocks. This dish also had orange styrofoam on it, which was awesome.
3.The two halves of the spherical mushroom dish. Underneath, sauteed mushrooms with prosciutto, dill custard and breadcrumb. On top, prosciutto dust which will be adorned with a little ball of hot mushroom soup that explodes in your mouth like an egg yolk.
4.Sous-vide bison with cauliflower, tarragon and brussel sprouts.
5. A soon to be complete dessert, composed of olive oil chocolate cake, but covered with a dome of passion fruit made by freezing it onto a ladle in liquid nitrogen before removing it to cover the dessert. Pretty tasty.
