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| - Julia Childs would be proud of Thomas Keller's (of French Laundry [Napa] Fame) Bouchon. Bouchon has long been known as one of the top places for a fine high-end lunch in Las Vegas. It's Ironic how the Venetian Hotel tries to mimic the Italian and streets of Venice style, but yet they host a top-of-the-line French restaurant. Whatever sells right? The Palazzo seemingly has 10 Fine Italian restaurants to make up for it.
The staff was extremely friendly as they seated us, though the wait times were long (French style cuisine always seems to be relaxed and not rushed).
While waiting, we read many Yelp reviews and photos to help us make a decision. We were going to get the famous spiced beignets (I love French and Creole beignets), but the chef reminded us the special of the day was a rasberry beignet, so we decided to try it out. It came with two warm, sugar coated beignets (different than Louisiana's creole powdered ones) oozing with rasberry sauce. The sauce was great and had fresh fruit, and it was very good, but it was basically a high-end krispy kreme donut. I'm not sure it was a beignet at all. Though I enjoyed it.
I ordered the croque madame after passing on the sourhdough waffles and french toast (which both had great reviews - next time!), and it was 3 star worthy. $19 for a French sandwhich which had a poached/fried (half/half it seemed) egg on top with hamm and a sweet French sauce. I enjoyed it, though it came with way too many fries (unlimited said the waiter) and I wish instead of all that fries, maybe a small waffle or something else instead would make it better. The bread was half fried, half soft - so it had a great texture to it. Wasn't worth the money and wasn't amazing, but definitely good.
My friend ordered the famous Bouchon Chicken and Waffles. If you like Roscoe's or Grand Luxe's Chicken & Waffles, you'll enjoy Bouchon's. If you don't care for chicken & waffles, skip this - it's just an improved version of it. The chicken is French rotisserie style (not fried) and is extremely juicy and you can tell it's been marinated for a while. I loved the chicken. The waffle is fluffy and comes with two sauces - a regular maple syrup and a famous salty bacon broth which ad a salsa-like consistency with whole premium bacon strips. I loved the bacon salsa with the waffle. A mixture of salty and sweet.
Total damage. $60 for a lunch. If you enjoy French food and want a non-buffet fine meal option, check out Bouchon.
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