Beyond Banchan

Atomix redeems the often-stale notion of the chef s-counter tasting menuwith Korean flavors and seasonal flair.

- Adam Platt

FOR THOSE WEARY of the familiar clichés and tropes that have grown up around New York’s great oma­ kase tasting-room boom in recent years, the early, predinner portion of Junghyun Park’s elaborate venture Atomix will bring little relief. There’s the ritual online reservation experience, which can involve a fair amount of wait time and, inevitably, the plunking down of a sizable, nonrefundable chunk of cash ($175 in this case). There’s the discreetly difficult-to-find entrance, behind a battered black door at the bottom of a slightly dilapidated townhouse on 30th Street in Nomad. There’s the posh little limbo of the bar area, where you’re greeted in hushed tones by the waitstaff, like ushers welcoming congregants into church, before being led in whispering silence to the dining counter, which is arrayed around the kitchen like seats around a tiny stage.