Marc Lepine is the owner and chef of Atelier, a Little Italy restaurant, which was named one of Canada’s top 10 new restaurants by enRoute magazine.
Marc Lepine’s day job requires a creative mind and constant innovation.
A typical workday involves liquid nitrogen and something called molecular gastronomy.
A scientist?
Nope.
Lepine is the owner and chef of Atelier, one of the newest and most buzz-worthy restaurants in Ottawa.
Since it first opened last year, Atelier’s unique approach to the dining experience has received critical acclaim. Most recently, the restaurant ranked fourth in enRoute magazine’s prestigious list of the top 10 new restaurants in Canada.
For Lepine, the acknowledgement left him “thrilled.”
“We’ve been working hard at it for the past year and it’s nice to have that recognized.”
The modest exterior of the restaurant is misleading, because once inside, it’s clear Atelier isn’t your grandfather’s diner.
Customers lucky enough to reserve a spot in the 22-seat dining room get to experience a diverse, 12-course meal. The kicker is that no one knows what’s on the menu.
“People don’t know what they’re going to be eating when they sit down,” Lepine says.“They generally enjoy the surprise factor.”
Atelier is the French word for “workshop,” a fitting name for the restaurant’s constant experimentation with new dishes.
“The menu keeps evolving all the time,” Lepine says. “We have a team of three or four of us who brainstorm and work our way through dishes and new ideas.”
These brainstorming sessions have allowed for the birth of some wild creations. Although the menu is constantly changing, customers can expect to enjoy a variety of foods.
Past favourites include appetizers such as the white beet soup with crabapple nitro spaetzle, which is frozen by liquid nitrogen rather than the traditional method of being cooked in boiling water.
Diners might then move on to the pulled duck confit with goat cheese gnocchi followed by several other entrées, before finishing off the night with the “Elvis Truffle” or “Virtual Chocolate Cake,” which is smoked in a pipe rather than eaten.
For those on a budget, there’s no need to panic.
As enRoute points out, “The $85 tab is a giveaway. Get there while you can.”
In an attempt to be both economically and environmentally conscious, the restaurant doesn’t have a traditional kitchen with large appliances.
Instead, Lepine says the food is prepared differently, for example by using liquid nitrogen, or on smaller, high-tech pieces of equipment that can accomplish more than their conventional counterparts.
The term “molecular gastronomy” refers to this scientific, experimental approach to cooking but Lepine maintains his customers don’t come for a chemistry lesson.
“We do have a scientific approach to our food but our food is also a lot of fun.”
Murray Street in the Byward Market also made enRoute’s top 10.
Murray Street chef and owner Steve Mitton says that this is a testament to Ottawa’s blossoming culinary scene.
“I can’t say enough about all the other restaurants that have been opening up,” Mitton says. “This past year has been huge and I think that the rest of Canada is finally taking Ottawa a little more seriously.”
Heather Hossie, of Savour Ottawa, a group dedicated to promoting Ottawa as a premier dining destination, agrees the city is making a name for itself.
For Lepine, however, it’s the imaginative approach to food that keeps customers coming back for more.
“There’s a lot of creative energy in the kitchen that comes out in the food. That’s what’s important.”