Asian in a Strange Land

Atlantica

When you’re as old as I am, birthdays just aren’t that exciting anymore.  Parties, cakes, balloons, presents–kids’ stuff.  Ok, maybe I still get excited about presents.  But the whole concept loses some lustre as the years roll on.  Thankful for another year of life, sure.  Excited that I’m a year older?  Not so much.  But one Pamudji family birthday tradition perks me up–having a nice celebratory dinner.  My parents always took us to eat out for their birthdays, which were only a week and a half apart so we usually combined them, and I’m happy to say our little family continues that dining out tradition for my and Denise’s birthdays.

This time it was my birthday so I got to pick.  I picked Candela’s Seafood Grill in Ridgeland, but when we got there it was deserted and there was a hand-written sign on the front door informing people who to call if they needed to get in.  Ruh roh.  I met these guys while photographing the Taste of Mississippi event earlier this year and was really looking forward to having a real meal there, but it looks like they might be out of business.  If anybody from Candela’s stumbles across this and you’re still in business please let me know so I can set the record straight.  Terribly disappointing, so it was on to Plan B.

I racked my brain for a backup option, and I remembered also meeting folks from Atlantica Seafood Grill at the same Taste of Mississippi event.  They had some killer tuna tataki (lightly seared tuna) at the event, so I figured they were worth a shot.  So we drove a bit out of our normal stomping grounds radius to Madison to dine at Atlantica.

Bottles, bottles on the wall

As we walked in the door we were greeted by this wall o’ wine bottles.  It might be a little hard to tell from the pic, but this is actually a wine room with a table in the middle of it.  All 4 walls of the room are adorned in wine bottles.  If I knew anything about wine I would’ve taken a closer look, but I’m assuming the wine bottles aren’t for show and that they have a pretty decent selection.  Their wine menu seemed extensive enough, and they have a monthly wine tasting event.  Denise perused the drink menu and settled on a drink called the Raisin Cookie instead.

Apologies ahead of time for the pictures being a bit wonky this time.  They take the concept of mood lighting to the next level and make it very dim in the dining room.  It was “wicked dahk” as the story-telling crab from Finding Nemo would say–so dark that the camera could barely focus and gave up on calculating the proper exposure.  Mere mortals would’ve put their cameras away, but your fearless blogger plowed through the darkness and snapped away anyway.

Seared Ahi Tuna

We started out with a couple appetizers.  I spotted the Seared Ahi Tuna on the menu and guessed correctly that it was what they were serving at Taste of Mississippi, so I ordered it just so Denise could try it, although I had some too.  The sauce was a mango and smoked tomato salsa and was as good as it sounded.  Definitely wished we could’ve had more of this dish.

Calamari

Knowing that they’d skimp on the amount of tuna, I also ordered us some calamari, which they decidedly did not skimp on.  The calamari was well-executed: good flavored batter and sauce, and the calamari wasn’t overcooked.  Maybe just a tiny bit chewier than I would like, but could’ve just been chewy to begin with I suppose.

We then moved on to salads, which are boring and also “That’s How They Get Ya” (Dr. Katz episode–look it up.).  No pics.

French rolls and pumpernickel bread

Regular and pesto butter

Before the entree arrived, our waiter brought out some bread and butter.  True to the restaurant’s swank setting, they couldn’t just bring out any old bread and butter.  No!  They brought out two kinds of bread (French rolls and pumpernickel bread) and two kinds of butter (regular and pesto butter).  Denise and I both went for the pumpernickel, and I think we both used the pesto butter.  Quite nice.

Swordfish Special

Denise ordered the swordfish special.  It came with the same mango and smoked salsa that accompanied the tuna appetizer, some vegetables, and some of the best saffron rice ever.  Really, that rice was terrific, and we both wished they would’ve served up more with her dish.  Can’t complain about the size of the swordfish portion though.  It was rather generous for such a fine dining establishment, so I at least was pleasantly surprised.  Denise polished off the swordfish and rice but left behind some of the vegetable medley.

Colorado Lamb Chops

So I’m the idiot who goes to a place named Atlantica Seafood Grill and orders something that isn’t seafood.  I couldn’t help it.  The lamb chops just sounded so good, and we already had two seafood appetizers, so I went for it.  The lamb chops were served with roasted potatoes, half of a roasted tomato, and some kind of fruity reduction sauce as is the traditional style.  Wow, very fine dish.  The chops were cooked beautifully (although they were closer to medium than the medium well I asked for), the sauce was perfect for the meat, and it was a healthy portion.  It’s hard to tell from this pic, but there are 5 chops on the plate.  Granted each one is small and is about 2-3 bites worth of meat, but 5 lamb chops is at the upper end of the norm.  I think lamb chop dishes I’ve had in the past have featured 3-4 chops.  So not a humongous portion, but quite a healthy amount, and with appetizers, salad, and bread made for a satisfying meal.  I don’t know if this is ok at such a restaurant, but I went in with my hands, picking up the bones to gnaw off as much meat as I could, not because what I got with a fork and knife wasn’t enough but because it would’ve been such a waste not to.  Whatever they thought of that I didn’t much care.  I paid for that meat, so I was sure as shootin’ gonna eat it!

Berry Tiramisu

So we’re pretty full and ready to go, so… oh look–dessert!  We opted to share this Berry Tiramisu with various wild berries cooked into the tiramisu.  We were expecting whole berries, so we were a bit disappointed that they were mashed up and cooked into the tiramisu instead, but no big deal.  The berry flavors still came through and balanced the sweetness of the cake, sugar, and chocolate hazelnut sauce nicely.

Sharing dessert

Even with Sofia’s help we ended up leaving a sliver on the plate, but we enjoyed every bit that we ate and didn’t feel like forcing the last bit in.  Sofia would’ve kept on eating, but Denise diagnosed her with extreme stomach fullness based on the hardness of her distended midriff.

So it wasn’t a cheap dinner, but considering we got 2 appetizers, a mixed drink, and a dessert it really wasn’t that bad.  For our budget level it’s definitely something to be savored as a special event type of dinner, but within that context it was well worth it and worthy of a repeat visit in the future.  Thanks to Denise, Sofia, and the staff at Atlantica Seafood Grill for a great birthday!

Atlantica Seafood Grill
121 Colony Crossing
Suite A
Madison, MS 39110

Tues-Thur: 5:00-9:30 pm
Fri & Sat: 5:00-10:00pm

(Now that I look at their website, it looks like they’ve dropped the “Seafood” from their name?  The website address still has it, but their logo and pictures of their signage don’t.  Whatever–you won’t confuse them with any other “Atlantica” place in town.)