Atera: Like An IMAX 3D Arthouse Film (food)

The general feedback I got from friends and from reading reviews going into my dinner at Atera was that there was a lot of technique on display, but not everything was tasty. After my dinner there a few weeks ago, my verdict is exactly the same.

I liken the experience to paying for IMAX 3D to see an arthouse film. When people pay extra to go see a movie in IMAX 3D, they tend to want to see an entertaining blockbuster. Something that excites and entertains from start to finish Similarly, when people pay top dollar for high end dining, most are looking to be wowed by a meal where they can say, "This is one of the best ::whatever ingredient:: dishes I've ever had!"

Atera, however, is very much like an arthouse film. It's about the chef's unique vision and his journey that he wants to take you on. While they cater to allergies and dietary restrictions, they will not cater to dietary preferences. There's a lot of visual beauty and technique that one can geek out on, but you have to be really into the genre.

Overall, it feels like there is much less of an attempt to connect and relate the vision with the diner than at other high end restaurants around the city. If you're a foodie that can appreciate all that's going on at Atera, you might have a good meal. But if you're saving up to go out for one big delicious, celebratory night out, you could easily walk out of there disappointed and be like, "What just happened?"

Because my friend couldn't sit in the high barstool/chair arrangements in the main dining room, we ate in the library/private dining room. It's a nice, cozy space downstairs next to the prep kitchen. While this removed the interaction with the chefs that's a part of the experience, we did get dedicated servers and the service was excellent.

The chefs also tend to have their meetings here when brainstorming ideas for dishes.

Across the hall from the library room is a fairly sizable room filled with gym equipment that the staff can use. The owner of the restaurant is also owner of the entire building so I don't know if other building tenants share this as well.

There were 22 "courses" in total. Before the proper set of courses are a set of snacks. The first one of the night was a beer macaron with caviar. The beer flavor was not very strong, and the flavor combination with caviar was not particularly memorable. Not a strong first impression.

Up next were flax cookies. They're pretty much what you would expect flax cookies to taste like, being a bit more flavorful than cardboard.

Their version of a lobster roll involved using slightly toasted yeast meringue in place of the bread. An interesting idea, but the most noticeable thing was that the lobster mixture itself wasn't very good.

My friend couldn't have the lobster, so they gave him a fried sunchoke skin which he enjoyed.

The next three items were all variations of cracker or flatbread. Unfortunately, the menu they sent me afterward (by mail!) had no descriptions of the snacks so I don't recall what these were.

Next were quail eggs which we just popped into our mouths, only being told well after things were cleared that the egg whites were actually made of aioli while the yolk was a real quail egg yolk. The difference was lost on us, however.

Their play on razor clams was a sight to behold. The edible shell was made of french bread hollowed out to have just the crunchy crust remaining, and then hand painted with squid ink. The filling was a chantilly cream also flavored with razor clams. While it was visually stunning, I couldn't shake the fact that the flavors were mild while I'm so used to razor clams being intensely flavored.

Lichen. Not something made to look like it. This was pretty much it. It was moss that was cooked and reformed into this shape, and it pretty much tasted like wet grass.

Swordfish cured and prepared in the same way as ham, sprayed with ham essence. This gave the swordfish a more tender texture, but the fish and pork flavors didn't marry as well as say pork with shellfish.

GRILLED TOMATO ICE WITH SEA URCHIN
I've had tomato ice before, but the grilled flavor really comes through here and makes the dish unique.

This was one of the tastier dishes of the evening. The slightly smoky grilled tomato flavor enhanced the briny ocean flavors of the sea urchin underneath, while the sweetness and tartness of the overall dish was balanced well when blended together.

DIVER SCALLOPS WITH PICKLED GREEN TOMATOES AND SESAME
FEATURING SUMMER PURSLANE
The dish was well balanced across sweet, sour, nutty, and salty flavors.

While everything is featured to achieve said balance, it's hard to say it's a successful scallop dish when the scallop does not stand out in sweetness or meatiness.

PEEKY-TOE CRAB WITH COLD HERB INFUSION, STRAINED BUTTERMILK
FEATURING ARTICHOKE
The cold herb infusion combined with the buttermilk was light and refreshing. You would think those flavors would highlight the sweetness of the crab, but that wasn't the case here. Perhaps the crab just wasn't that sweet to begin with.

LAMB TARTARE
The lamb tartare was quite good. Topped with some lamb fat or oil, it tasted fresh and was not gamey at all.

BLACK MALT CRACKER
This came with the tartare to provide a crunchy texture, but I'm much more used to malt flavor in sweets.

SALTED RYE
The bread was quite good, and the extra salt on the crust was a nice touch.

BUTTER
The butter is brushed with the rind of a cheese, carrying a cheesy richness in its soft texture.

"RAMEN"
FEATURING ANISE HYSSOP
Not only did these noodles not look like ramen (they look more like udon noodles), I could immediately tell these were squid strips on first bite. I thought this was a complete fail. The dish was neither tasty nor creative nor successful in its attempt to be whimsical.

ESCABECHE VEGETABLES WITH COCO BEANS
FEATURING ANISE HYSSOP
Our friend who couldn't have the squid had this instead, which seemed more successful. Atera does very good things with a wide array of vegetables, but seems a bit weaker in coaxing concentrated flavor out of a main protein ingredient.

SEARED DUCK HEART WITH TENDER YOUNG VEGETABLES, PASTRAMI SPICES
FEATURING NASTURTIUM
This was one of the best dishes of the night. The duck heart was amazingly tender while the vegetables and spices filled the range of textural senses and sweet, sour, and bitter tastes in perfect harmony.

One of the more interesting things I found was that the balance in some of these dishes was extraordinary. While Thomas Keller's approach is to leave the diner "wanting one more bite", the approach here resulted in a feeling that every portion was exactly enough. While that is a marvelous feat, it does take away from some of the excitement of keeping the diners on their toes.

SOURDOUGH BASTED IN MANGALITSA PORK FAT
One of the best things of the night, just a gut bomb that puts even Momofuku's gut bombs to shame. Especially if you go for the overkill by putting some of that cheesy butter on it.

DRIED BEET "EMBER" WITH HAY ASH
FEATURING TROUT ROE
This was probably the only dish of the night where I thought, "This is one of the best ::whatever ingredient:: dishes I've ever had!". This was a brilliant preparation of beet, with the smoky charred exterior flavor matching well with the sweet vegetable, creamy crustacean sauce, and the salty roe.

The roe also played a role in providing a texture contrast to the soft flesh of the vegetable.

BRINED HAKE WITH WILDFLOWER HONEY AND YOGURT
FEATURING DAISY
I think I had fish with honey before at WD50, but I wasn't a fan of it either time. I also wasn't a fan of the fish's texture, which was more stringy like bacalao as opposed to something that resembled flesh.

BARBEQUED VEAL SWEETBREADS WITH HAZELNUT
FEATURING GARLIC CHIVE
It is rare to get barbecue sauce in a fine dining meal, but here it was. It wasn't bad, but was a bit overpowering. I thought the best part of the dish was the garlic chive.

My friend who couldn't have the sweetbreads had the same preparation with cauliflower. I didn't taste it, but I imagine that the flavor and texture of cauliflower probably stood up better to the sauce than the sweetbreads did.

BEEF STRIP LOIN WITH MARROW, SMOKED ONION, MATSUTAKE
FEATURING LOBSTER MUSHROOM
The beef is aged about a month, and everything in the description sounded amazing. And yet, while this tasted good, there was no wow factor. This should have been a wow dish, but ended up underwhelming amid the expectations.

WHITE ROSE WITH WILDFLOWER SHERBET
FEATURING SEA ROSE MALLOW
I thought this was too tart for my tastes, but my dining companions thought it was fine. Another example of elaborate preparation, with the rose water frozen and reformed to look like a rose.

DRIED FRUIT WITH RAW MILK ICE CREAM
FEATURING PARSLEY
Another guessing game where they asked what we thought the fruit was. I got it immediately that it was tomato. It's an interesting combination, as I kept thinking that it tasted good while having it feel weird in my mouth at the same time.

It had already been a long meal and I don't quite recall these end of dinner snacks. I believe one was a caramel truffle.

BOURBON CASK ICE CREAM SANDWICH WITH ALMOND, VANILLA
FEATURING OAK
It was nice at this point to have something that was more of a straightforward sweet treat. The bourbon, almond, and vanilla flavors worked well together.

CHURRO WITH SALSIFY AND CINNAMON
FEATURING WHITE CARDAMOM
This dish to me is the epitome of what I feel is wrong with Atera. I bit into this to discover it had kind of a tough, chewy texture. When I commented out loud about the texture, the server, who's in on the joke, quipped, "Oh I'm sorry, did we give you a stale one?" He then explains that it was not a regular churro as we know it, but rather it was made of salsify through some elaborate process. While that was cool, it was still tough and significantly worse than a real churro. Maybe they were hoping that I'd be sitting there pondering this salsify creation, but the only thing that popped into my mind was "WHY THE FCK WOULD YOU SERVE ME A STALE FCKING CHURRO?"