The Atlantic dries up
After five years, and almost as many conceptual changes, The Atlantic has closed. When it opened on Dundas West in 2010, it offered a simplistic seafood-and-vegetable-focused menu—aside from the occasional hay-smoked cricket. But chef and owner Nathan Isberg slowly stripped away its parts: first he eliminated menus and set prices, then he ditched alcohol. Now he’s laying the restaurant to rest. “My discussion about restaurants has been against restaurants, so it doesn’t make sense to continue that discussion,” Isberg says. “It’s almost like being a troll. It’s become a spectacle instead of a meaningful engagement.”
The Atlantic served its last dinner at the end of July, and Isberg is preparing to pass the keys along to another restaurateur. He’s already got a few new projects on the go, though. For one, he’s been helping Timiskaming First Nations find ways to market foraged goods. He’s also working with Niagara’s Pearl Morissette winery to create a new on-site dining room in which all foods served are farm-raised and grown by Isberg himself (not unlike Singhampton’s Eigensinn Farm). This isn’t the end of the chef’s presence in Toronto, though. He’s looking for another space in which he can continue to cook—but it won’t be for a restaurant.
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