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| - Is it possible to improve on a nearly perfect dinner at L'Atelier? Absolutely in the case of our dinner yesterday night to celebrate dad's belated birthday! The Discovery Tasting Menu had many new dishes that were even better then the one we had 6 months ago. Its actually funner and more relaxing to dine at a table as opposed to the bar. Our dinner lasted a good 3 hours or so, so excellent pacing and time to savor and contemplate each awesome dish. We did have some glitches in service near the end with our waiter disappearing for a while. Plus there was no post-dessert shortbread cookies! Still, the mind-blowing food and presentation warrants a solid 5 stars. I applaud how they change the entire menu frequently so each dinner you have here is completely different, yet you will still get a 5-star experience.
My favorite dishes (though all were nearly perfect)
1. Halibut with truffle and celeriac scales. Halibut is easy to overcook but they nailed it here. Flaky crust, soft texture, and seasoned well. The "scales" added nice color, texture, and umami!
2. Sea scallop with seaweed butter was the favorite of the rest of my party, and its indeed up there for me too.
3. I took a few bites of the Wagyu beef and it was also perfect - melt-in-your mouth tender.
4. Whipped potato side dishes, a signature dish of Joel Robuchon. So incredibly smooth and decadent it was like eating butter.
5. Desserts reign supreme as usual. The meringue was balanced with an outside that was sweet and soft, with the inside tart and hard. Putting them together and you get a harmonious marriage of a dessert and palate cleanser. Hot chocolate over ginger ice cream will make a chocolate fan out of anyone. Here, the dessert was balanced between sweet and bitter from the chocolate. But what stood out was how the ginger flavors gave a nice spicy kick. That sponge cake near the bottom of the glass absorbed the ice cream well and gave some nice, granular texture to the dessert.
Conclusion: L'Atelier is definitely in our top 5 restaurants anywhere, not just Vegas. Love how in a matter of months they mix up the Tasting Menu. Dinner is a bargain at $200 to $250/pp and I still believe better than many 3-Michelin places I've been to.
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