Molly Abraham: Restaurant review

Atlas lifts up community

Distinctive urban restaurant has improved with age

It's been five years since Atlas Global Bistro unveiled its chic urban setting of polished parquet floors, a curvy '40s bar and original artworks (some by proprietor/metal sculptor Nikki Barbour) in a neighborhood that didn't have a lot going for it.

What a difference those five years have made, both for the restaurant and the neighborhood. Lofts are going up, renovations in progress all around, including the stunning Art Deco look of the Crystal Lofts across the street, where a gourmet market is on the first floor.

Atlas has established itself as a destination not just for the Wayne State University / Cultural Center crowd that loved it from the start, but also for a citywide clientele that appreciates its low-key sophistication and high standards.

This is a place that is much better today than it was in its infancy -- and that's not often the case. There's a tendency to let down a bit after the initial excitement wears off.

Just the opposite has happened here. Executive chef Christian Borden has run the kitchen for three years now, and he has refined and focused the menu, while keeping enough of the international flavor to warrant the repeated décor element of world globes. Aside from Barbour, none of the original principals remain.

Both the lunch and dinner menus are marked by their conciseness, as well as the creativity involved. There are just 11 lunch entrees, including sandwiches such as griddled four cheeses with grilled onions on herb-buttered bread, and three variations of the burger, from prime ground beef and turkey to a vegetarian version including black and navy beans, corn and tomato which, like everything on the menu, is individually garnished.

Appetizers are the same at both lunch and dinner and include seared tuna sushi (explaining why some diners are using chopsticks), duck leg confit with pea shoots, and the almost obligatory crab cakes on menus everywhere these days but not accompanied, as they are here, with popcorn shoots, Belgian endive and lemon curd.

In the evening, an attractive three-course fixed-price selection at $38 starts off with a choice between a pine nut and crouton dappled green salad and the Et Tu? -- the tongue-in-cheek designation for the classic Caesar.

The four entrees are particularly appealing, ranging from a moist and tender chicken breast stuffed with finely chopped mushrooms and a touch of pancetta and paired with a disk of quinoa and a heap of wilted bitter greens, to a delicate Chilean sea bass poached in coconut milk, with baby bok choy and toasted coconut, a treatment that delivers robust flavor to what can be a bland style of preparation.

Dessert is a toss-up between Hungarian chocolate sponge cake (Rigo-Jancsi) embellished with chocolate mousse and ganache, lemon sorbet with berries and a topping of Limoncello, or vanilla bean brulee. Did I say toss-up? The chocolate confection wins every time.

Those who don't wish to have the three-course menu may order a la carte from a list that always includes a changing vegetarian dish as well a gorgeous lamb rack with hazelnut crust and a cherry and onion compote, at $32 the most expensive entree.

Like the menu, the international wine list is appropriately concise, with about 40 choices by the bottle and 15 by the glass. Most wines by the glass are $10 or more, with just two at $8, including a perfect summer drink, a rose from Chile -- just right for toasting the revival of the neighborhood.

You can reach Molly Abraham at (313) 222-1475 or abraham67@comcast.net.