Atari
297 Dalhousie St., 613-422-8877, atariottawa.com
Open: Monday to Thursday 11:30 a.m. to midnight, Friday and Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m., Sunday 12:30 p.m. to midnight
Prices: small plates and snacks $5 to $19; cocktails $8 to $14
Access: step to front door
With two Nintendo-loving pre-teens in tow, I thought it would be a good idea to have lunch last week at a place with video-game characters painted on floor.
I’m talking about Atari, a two-month-old venue in the ByWard Market that takes its name from the Japanese word meaning “to hit the target” or the pioneering U.S. video game company, defunct since 1984.
In fact, I wish there were Asteroids or Centipede video game consoles here. But Atari is no arcade. For that matter, it’s more about cocktails and nightlife than family-friendly lunches. Still, we didn’t do that badly there, better than expected even, after we moved past Atari’s main-floor black banquettes and high-top tables and climbed the stairs to the roof-top patio overlooking Dalhousie and Clarence streets.
Atari opened on Canada Day where Sopra, a higher-end Italian restaurant, had been for about three years. The new spot’s motto is “Play with food and drinks” and it means to attract imbibers and snackers with a menu of about a dozen small, simple items and a cocktail list that’s twice as long.
The kids and I passed on novel, sweet-skewing drinks such as the Atartini, the Text Me Maybe and the #B.A.E., some of which included freshly snipped herbs from the roof-top planters.
We were pleased most of all by Atari’s lobster rolls ($6), even if they would have been better described as mini-lobster rolls. Call them what you will, they packed two or three delicious bites of claw meat into their tiny toasted buns.
Lobster roll at Atari
The top of Atari’s menu highlights “tartar” combinations (I would have spelled that “tartare) that invite guests to pick a raw, minced protein (tuna, salmon, beer or duck) and pair it with a style of seasoning (Asian, Mexican, French or Italian). Of course, some pairings, such as Asian tuna and French beef, are more natural than others.
We went for Italian duck tartare ($13 for 75 g, $18 for a shareable 150 g). While the chop of the duck was rough, and it could have been brightened with more salt and acid, the duck meat’s savoury, umami pop thanks to parmesan and truffle oil was undeniable. The pre-teens polished it off. They even played with their food, drawing happy faces on the tartare with the proffered strawberry hot sauce.
Italian duck tartare at Atari
In the bowl of mac and cheese ($9), longer, undulating noodles had some character, the sauce tasted of real cheese and was not overly truffled. Meatballs ($11) were not bad, but were less interesting, even for pre-teen palates, than the other options.
Mac and cheese at Atari
Meatballs at Atari
If the cocktail thing doesn’t work for Atari, it could pivot to desserts, based on the kids’ enthusiasm for its only sweet meal-ender, which was a plate of double-stacked, deep-fried Oreos with a small vanilla shake for dipping ($9).
Deep-fried oreos at Atari
The most notable downside of lunch was the frisée that completed most plates, which was tired and disposable. There was also a wee bit of shell in one lobster roll. Also, the discriminating young palates recognized their ginger ales were off, but upon raising it, they received improved replacements.
A few days later, I returned to Atari with two adults for more tartare and to see if the frisée had perked up.
“French” beef tartare struck me as bland in terms of both its meat and its seasoning — there’s definitely better classic beef tartare to be had in Ottawa. Asian tuna, with its pronounced sesame and soy sauce notes, made more of an impression, even if its gingeriness was muted.
Beef tartare and tuna tartare at Atari
Frisée, wherever it appeared, still seemed like it would have been better a few days earlier. Better greens were to be found in the passable kale salad ($12), amply portioned and packed with candied pecans.
Kale Salad at Atari
Atari’s burger ($11) was big on smokiness thanks to triple-smoked bacon. Pulled pork poutine ($9) was surprisingly crafted and superior to nearby fast-food fare, with crisp shoestring fries and a gravy that was light rather than sludgy.
Atari burger at Atari
Pulled pork poutine at Atari
In all, there seemed to be enough above-average bar snacks at Atari to merit the advice: come for the cocktails, stay for the lobster rolls, poutine, mac-and-cheese and deep-fried Oreos.
phum@ottawacitizen.com
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