Critic's Review
Trina is closed. The new restaurant is the East End Brasserie.
Trina is the restaurant in the Atlantic Resort & Spa. Local high profile chef Mark Militello took over the restaurant in July and on Sept 20 released a new menu. There have been rumors that the restaurant name will be changed, but so far they've only changed the menu.
Once major change is that they now serve "Brunch on the Beach" 7 days a week. Its a combined Breakfast and Lunch menu thats available through both the breakfast and lunch hours. And as expected from a Militello restaurant in a hotel; its both fancy and expensive.
Its starting to get to a time of year when you can eat lunch outside, so I decided to try the brunch. If there's one thing you can say; the view is fantastic.
I wanted to eat outside and as they don't seem to have a hostess outside its a bit spotty. I flagged down a waiter and he said to just sit anywhere. I chose a high top that didn't have a setup, so I had to grab one from an unoccupied table. A waiter came by shortly and I ordered coffee while I pondered the menu. It took him a while to return; he came back with a small cup of Illy coffee and a sweetener setup. Ah Illy. A good start. I ordered the baked eggs florentine, which the menu says includes spinach cream, parmesan and prosciutto. I had asked the waiter previously if the egg dishes included toast (potatoes are listed as a side), and he said they did. But he didn't give me any choices. A short while later, the food arrived.
I found the prosciutto under the bread after taking the picture. The eggs were accompanied by some unexpected items. Thin-sliced toasted bread soaked in olive oil, kalamata olives, cherry tomatoes and arugula leaves. This sort of thing is to be expected with these "creative" chefs; but frankly I like to know what I'm getting before I order. The olives didn't really work with the dish, and the arugula was simply unnecessary. Basically what you have is creamed spinach with an egg baked in. Yes just one egg. I at the whole thing but I can't say that it all worked together. I would have been happy with the spinach, prosciutto, 2 eggs and some toast. But a chef has to show off a bit for $16 I suppose. With the Coffee at $4, figure on dropping $25 for eggs here.
Trina's new menus have many more interesting choices than before and in that way Militello has scored some serious points in making Trina a destination for those who don't care how much their meals cost. But he's also priced them out of much of the locals market, as not many are going to pay $25. for breakfast no matter how fancy the omelets are.