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| - I vowed sometime ago that it would take a truly magnificent culinary escapade to usher me back into the world of Yelp reviewing. Alas, that moment, and by moment I mean a 4+ hour marathon of immense anticipation, stupendous gluttony and hints of regret along the lines of "Was I suppose to take more than 4 seconds to enjoy that entire dish?", came to fruition just months ago. My girlfriend extraordinaire and I experienced (and yes, you don't just go and eat at, you experience) Joel Robuchon in all its grand outrageousness - classic French cuisine mastered by one of the greatest chefs alive and delivered in a manner that was impeccably French and Vegas at the same time.
Not many restaurants offer limo pick-up for its customers, but Joel Robuchon enlists the MGM Grand's fleet of limos to pick you up from your hotel. We were promptly picked up at 8:20 at the front door of Encore and ushered to the entrance of the Mansion (attached to the back of the MGM Grand). It's a whimsically elitist experience walking through the back entrance of the MGM, having every employee you walk by stand and greet you, but it builds toward that level of anticipation to a truly unique night.
We were seated in the back corner of the restaurant with the perfect view of the rest of the dining room. The gleaming chandelier in the middle of the room lowered itself from the seemingly 50 foot ceiling. The furniture here reminds me of a Prince album on crack.
We were greeted by the head waiter and given our menus. JR offers a variety of prix fixe options with you being able to choose a 2-4 meal prix fixe or diving head first into culinary oblivion with the 16 course menu degustation at $385pp. Needless to say, this was a "when in Vegas..." moment, and we opted to go with Joel's tour de cuisine themed after Autumn. Being Yelp has a pretty modest word limit, I won't go into too much detail for each of the 16 courses.
If you've read any of the other reviews for JR, you'll see mention of the bread and dessert carts in most of them. Having been to a good number Michelin restaurants in the past year, I can say these carts are truly one of a kind, and they are definitely worth indulging in as they're guaranteed to have something to fit your liking (assuming you don't hate bread and/or chocolate, in which case you might feel a little bad while watching every other patrons' face light up as they stuff their faces with these cart items).
The menu itself featured a wide array of proteins (sea urchin, filet, foie gras, lobster, duck breast, escargot, mushrooms, the list goes on) in a variety of preparations and styles. I consider myself to be a pretty adventurous eater, and eating through each of these plates was like going through a fantastic fiction novel. The pages of flavor unraveling with each bite as you feel this irresistible urge to continue reading, even when a part of your brain is yelling at you, "No more!"
Some people say that the more you pay for a meal, the more disappointment you're setting yourself up for, and to be honest, I walked into the meal with a reserved sense of fear - that all the hype and expectations would overpower our tastebuds. That no quality or amount of food could warrant the cost. Needless to say, Joel Robuchon lived up to its namesake and left us in unparalleled foodie comas. Having had a few months to digest and recoup, I'm definitely ready for a sequel...
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