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| - Volumes has already been written about Joel Robuchon's place in MGM Vegas. I figure instead of going over the dishes again in minutae, I would just do a few "color commentary" things. (I think I'm decent at being colorful!) But to get it out of the way: this is most definitively one of the very few places where the first taste of every dish makes my eyes water (in a good way, that is). Every taste, every experience (the service, the variety of breads, the variety on the petit-fours cart, etc.) reminds us of how much we're paying for the experience, and how worthy that experience is of the cost. And as Jennifer H. mentioned, the orange pound cake "parting gift" is simply amazing for such a deceptively simple fare. Before we went, my wife kept harping about how Joel Robuchon won Guide Gault Millau's "Chef of The Century" title. Well, I have to say that it's not even slightly arrogant or presumptuous of Le Guide to give Robuchon that award; the man *WAY* deserves it!!
OK, here are the color comments:
The variety on the bread cart borders on tackiness: there are twenty-something, thirty-something variations, but many are merely the same bread made in different shapes. For example, French bread is available as regular and thin baguette, as a "wheat sheaves" loaf, as a roll. Our waiter said Robuchon has three "master bakers" baking the bread. The bread certainly are outstanding: wonderful taste, beautiful crumb, the crust always having appropriate texture, but TWENTY PLUS variations?
Ditto the variety of the petit-fours carts: there must have been a few hundred different types! OK, so maybe it was only about thirty or forty, but it was as bewildering as the bread cart.
Oh yeah, our waiter has a delightful combination of self-effacing humor ("I'm French, but please don't hold that against me!") and the usual French haughtiness (but only to his colleagues, and only kiddingly!).
We were there for our twentieth anniversary dinner, so we asked for a copy of the menu. We were presented with one each, neatly rolled up and tied with a lovely ribbon.
Though we're from Texas, our appetites are not Texas-sized, so we went for the six-course tasting menu and not the sixteen-course tasting menu. I can't *FATHOM* eating sixteen of anything and enjoying everything to the very last bite.
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