Million-dollar chef more creative now than ever
The Atlantic restaurant focuses on subtlety after Times of London review
Toronto chef Nathan Isberg was anointed earlier this year with a Million Dollar Review by a hotshot Times of London restaurant critic.
Has it swelled his head? Made him change his ethos? A resounding no. But Isberg, known for his experimental ingredients, and the unorthodox remuneration system at the Atlantic, his Dundas St. W. restaurant, has started taking more risks. So to speak. If you know Isberg, that doesn’t mean getting aggressive with ingredients, too kicky with flavours or creating food for the sake of art (he’s been lauded for using exotic ingredients, such as cricket, appropriately and to sublime results).
This “Philosopher Chef,” as named by critic Giles Coren, is taking his dishes to an even more cerebral level. A subtler level.
“It’s about doing things differently but doing it very delicately,” he says. “The idea is almost sort of like ghost flavours.”
You’ll sense and taste the sturgeon marrow and cedar oils in what Isberg sets on your plate, but, he says, you probably won’t be able to pinpoint the object of your pleasure. That’s exactly what he’s going for. With customers and high-profile clients practically banging down his doors with requests for tables, Isberg has been nervous customers would be expecting more of a show.
Instead, the international acclaim has given him freedom, he says “to be more creative” — his way.
“Before, there was a certain sense of ‘this is a restaurant,’ a place where people expect something in particular,” he says. “But I’ve started to see people coming in who are into an experience that’s not typical. That does give me a lot of licence.”