| rev:text
| - L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon
2/7/2012
It's taken me a while to review this restaurant, because I was undecided about how to rate it. It has been said that this format was Chef Robuchon's vision of a diner, where guests could sit at the counter and watch their dishes being composed.
Yup. That was a $550 diner meal for two.
While it wasn't as expensive as our previous trip's visit to the flagship Joël Robuchon, this was still a pricey dinner. But we were treated to immense flavor and creativity packed into small presentations.
There was something else that I really enjoyed, but I'll get to that later.
Ok. Here's how it went down.
The GF had the $95 "Menu Club" menu with a side of "Les Anchois" - Fresh marinated anchovies with eggplant confit. She goes bonkers over anchovies, and we still have the pictures of her eating them.
She said she enjoyed her meal immensely, and I have no choice but to believe her.
I had the $155 "Menu Decouverte de Saison" prix fixe menu that offered a great deal of food, but here's where my subjective opinion comes in. And it's probably unfair to the hard workers of L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon for a silly reason.
The problem is that the large looming shadow of the flagship Joël Robuchon restaurant was still fresh in my mind. I was blown away last September with our nearly $1000 dinner, and I couldn't help but compare the dishes at L'Atelier to its Big Brother.
Muhammad Ali's younger brother probably understands.
To be fair, the dishes were tasty and imaginative. The GF and I had a great time, and our hosts were wonderful and informative. We had a great time with no complaints at all.
Try the "La Cebette" dish, which was a white onion tart with smoked bacon, quail egg on top and green asparagus. You *MUST* get the shaved black truffle, but you will pay for it since it's optional.
The Veal dish accompanied with Robuchon's mashed potatoes were fantastic.
But here's the great thing about this place, and I highly suggest you consider this. Sit yourself at the counter and watch them work. If you are any type of fan of Top Chef, you will appreciate the view of the kitchen and all of the work involved in prepping, composing and plating of your dishes.
Put simply, you get to see the magic and intensity.
You also get to see a little more too. We got to see the Sous Chef lose his temper several times and rescue a few plates with contempt. He also got to send back a couple of dishes, and all of the chefs scrambled to refire their courses. We could see them sweating, yet there was no yelling or scolding. Quiet intensity... and we loved it.
When the Sous Chef gave the "clean up" order at the end of the night, all of the chefs breathed a sigh of relief.
I got a few videos on my iPhone and I still enjoy watching them hustle almost two months later.
The GF and I are contemplating whether to return in a few months, since we'll be visiting the MGM Grand for VH in concert. I'm leaning towards revisiting them, while the GF is neutral to the idea - understandable when you think of all of the alternate restaurants in Vegas.
This would be a five-star rating based on the experience we had but unfairly, I have to give it a four and a half star rating instead. This was not anything due to anything that the staff did, but it was a purely subjective opinion based on the fact that I didn't experience the same dinner as I did at the flagship restaurant.
If you want to have a great experience at a fantastic French restaurant, go to L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon because you will enjoy the meal. It is also half the price of the flagship Joël Robuchon, with a different approach that works.
Flagship, Flagship, Flagship.
Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.
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