The Atlantic on Dundas

Stumbling into the Atlantic in the Brockton village is like heading to a dimly lit fisherman's shack or cabin crew's hide out while your favourite indy bands play in the background.  It's a very laid back and casual atmosphere, and off the beaten path
This is a seafood tapas restaurant so if that's not what you're looking for, don't go!  They also change their menu daily or every few days so its hard to really know what to expect but they are creative with their food and that's what I appreciate.  Service was helpful and informative and not intrusive and the prices for the dishes are equally matched to the portion sizes.

My friends Aaron, Andrew and I order up the menu so we can sample all the unique dishes.  Here's a summary of our order:

-A pair of grilled sardines with the skin crispy but the flesh almost rare, a bit fishier than Aaron would have liked, served with hard boiled quails eggs
We ordered the 2 soups -
-Caramelized cauliflower soup - which had a heavy taste of cumin and curry powder
-Littleneck clam chowder & unicorn- this was the soup that we all fought for the last bites.  Creamy with the perfect mix of flavours with chunks of seafood available.
-Trout gravlax on wakame salad- this was a favourite amongst the table.  The trout was done perfectly and mixed well with the texture of the wakame salad

Grilled spicy rapini orzotto- reminded me of risotto and the rapini came brazed with hot pepperinchino  chillies which was a good mix of flavours
Chestnut flour pieroghi, choucroutte, kefir - this was also a highlight - these pieroghis were panned fried and sweet due to the chestnut flour.  Very unique flavour
Cambazola and walnut risotto Spinach & olive oil emulsion - the colour of the green spinach emusion made this dish pop.  The risotto was creamy and well paired
Grilled Ontario trout- we ordered 2 portions of the trout and it was perfectly cooked, flaky and tender and well flavoured. 

After we finished, we decided we were still hungry for more food so we ordered again: 
Honey- pepper grilled quail, Israeli couscous, porcini, almonds- the quail was very well flavoured and tender and was worth ordering
We also ordered spiced olives that had a anise flavouring to them - Our group is usually in love with olives but this was a bit disappointing and we didn't finish the plate.

Of course, even after our feast, we each ordered dessert:
Tobacco crème brûlée - which was my favourite amongst the 3 desserts.
I had an apple napolean - layers of dried apples between nuts and other good things

and the conversation piece of the evening was the dark chocolate risotto.  When it came out, it resembled pellets of rabbit poo but it was well received and we finished it off no problem. 

Overall, the prices for the dishes at the Atlantic were very reasonable.  The dimly lit restaurant had a undiscovered cool factor and my friends all thought that their iPod playlists were stolen and we loved the creativity in their dishes. The wine list was a bit on the pricier side and our dinner with the wine was more expensive that we would've liked.  However, we'll definitely be back to see what else we can discover on the menu!
*** 1/2 stars
Atlantic

1597 Dundas Street West
(416) 219-3819
http://www.yelp.com/biz_redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.atlanticondundas.com&src_bizid=6FBfKOQ2UDoorQMKKPMENw&cachebuster=1298306762