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| - Bouchon is a beautiful bistro, decked out in handsome dark wood decor and a buzzing atmosphere to match. The service is fairly formal but friendly. Dinner at Bouchon is a casual affair but rich with a vibrant Vegas feel and some excellent food.
My dinner at Bouchon was with my family of five, and we indulged in a manner befitting a meal in Sin City. We started by ripping into the epic epi bread placed directly on our table along with good butter and a little jar of mustard. The bread looked like a well-sprouted branch, and the little yeasted knobs that came off of it were delicious with a satisfying crust.
We ordered an array of appetizers and passed them around like a good Asian family. The table favorite was the salmon rillettes, which were presented in a sealed mason jar opened at our table. The rillettes were superb, with plenty of salmon character along with lots of fat and moisture. We spread them on crunchy baguettes. We also got the small assortment of shellfish, which came with a few varieties of oysters along with shrimp and lobster. Everything was great - the oysters were fresh and briny, the shrimp sweet and snappy, and the lobster plump and meaty. The assortment came with cocktail sauce, dijonnaise, and a shallot sauce, all of which were put to good use. For something green, we ordered an heirloom tomato salad with pesto. This was simple and lovely with bright, refreshing flavors and some gorgeous tomatoes. The only appetizer I didn't especially care for was the escargot. I don't mind eating snails, but these snails were a little bit boring. They were served with little puff pastries and garlic butter, but somehow the result was unexciting.
The main courses were on the whole less impressive than the appetizers, but they were still very solid. I ordered the braised beef short ribs special, which came with sweet carrots, potato confit, roasted bone marrow, and sauce bordelaise. The beef was very good, tender and tasty, and I loved the softened carrots as well. The bone marrow was fantastic smeared on everything, adding smooth velvet to each bite. The sauce, though, was kind of overwhelming, deep but rather sweet. The steak frites was a great, simple dish. My brother ordered his steak medium and it was a nice even pink, with plenty of juice, and garlic butter on top. The fries were spectacular, thin cut and crispy on the outside. My other brother's croque madame and mom's mussels also came with these fries. The croque madame was delicious but very decadent and hard to eat more than a couple bites of. This was a fried egg and ham and cheese on toasted brioche, and would have been just right but for a smothering dose of mornay sauce. The fried egg was a thing of beauty. The mussels were the only item that I actively disliked. The broth was fine but the mussels themselves tasted like that overwhelming garbage-like smell that mussels can sometimes have. My dad's roasted chicken was a high point. It was moist and juicy, served with caramelized figs, chanterelle mushrooms, pickled ramps, and chicken jus.
For dessert we split the vanilla creme brulee and the "bouchon," which was three little brownies with coconut sorbet, butter pecan, and peanut butter chip ice cream. The creme brulee was decent, though fairly standard, with a pleasant crackly sugar crust. The "bouchon" was also straightforward but had a lot more sparkle. The brownies were delicious, with a little bit of crumble but nice dark chocolate density. The accompanying sorbet and ice creams were also great.
When the meal was over, we were stuffed, with plenty of good food as well as a nice bottle of wine in our systems. Overall I would say that I wasn't blown away by Bouchon, but I enjoyed our meal and might go back again. The food wasn't fancy or innovative especially given the price point, but almost everything was precisely executed. There's a Bouchon where I live and if I'm craving a classic bistro meal, I'll probably check it out.
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