Absolutely Phenominal.
Those two words encapsulated my experience at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon.
I work in the food industry, so I like to think I know what I'm talking about. From the Knowledgeable waiter Eddie, to the gorgeous dishes, every part of the meal was perfect.
I went with my parents to celebrate my 28th birthday, and they were very interested to try the food; they've never had french fine dining and although I would've loved to eat at Joel Robuchon's namesake restaurant, I figured to start with L'atelier first.
We reserved dinner for 3 at 6pm and were seated without a moment's wait. The decor was fantastic and very modern. Our waiter introduced himself, Eddie and handed us 3 menus, the main menu, the 9 course seasonal discovery menu, and the wine list. I suggested to my parents to go with the prix fixe menu of 79$ which included an amuse bouche, appetizer, main course, and desert. I went with the 9 course menu, being the birthday kid and all.
This review will be only about my 9 course meal.
And so the experience begins.
L'Amuse Bouche: Foie gras pargait with port wine and parmesan foam
It arrived in a shot glass/egg dish looking bowl, and it was a great intro to the meal, very light and flavorful.
Les Tomates: Heirloom tomato salad, basil oil, and fleur de sel
Gorgeous presentation, exquisite art piece, flavor was great, top not tomato salad.
La Saint-Jacques: Sea scallop cooked in the shell with chive oil.
ABSOLUTELY amazing, it was light, full of flavor, expertly and perfectly cooked.
Les Langoustines: Langoustines cooked in their shells with green curry and coconut milk.
by FAR my favorite dish of the night. The mini lobsters were delicious, fresh, and perfect balance of flavors, the meat slid right off the shell and I loved it.
Le Cebette: White onion tart with smoked bacon, quail egg "mirror" and green asparagus.
My mother commented "It looks so cute with the tiny egg" It was aesthetically beautiful, with a beautifully and perfectly cooked quail egg resting a top the onion tart. The flavors were there, but I feel a bit guilty in saying I wasn't TOO impressed with this dish. It was still delicious nevertheless.
Le Saumon: Lightly smoked salmon with fingerling in a buttery shellfish sauce with curry and baby leeks.
My second Favorite dish. The salmon was so delicious, perfect balance of smokiness and salmon taste, delightful. the star of this dish by far though was the buttery shellfish sauce, it was so good that I even took the house made baguettes offered at the start of the meal and soaked up all the sauce.
La Caille: Foie gras stuffed free-range quail with mashed potatoes.
This dish I had been waiting for, I wanted to see the execution of the stuffed quail and couldn't wait to try their much talked about mashed potatoes. The foie stuffed quail was very tasty and the only heavy seeming dish of the night and it fit perfectly with the other dishes, the star of course were the mashed potatoes, ohmygod is all I can say, I hate putting down homemade mashed, but It was hands down THE BEST mashed potatoes I've ever had. Airy, light, and so delicious.
ON TO DESSERT.
La Margharita: Yogurt Ice Cream wit tequila gelee, fresh blackberries and pop rocks.
It almost seemed like a deconstructed margharita, which isn't a bad thing. It was an interesting dish, but delicious. I very much like the tequila jelly, not too strong, but flavorful and complimented the ice cream well.
La Framboise: Raspberry Medley and earl grey puffed rice krispies.
When I saw rice krispies, I definitely had to take a second look, I was a bit "huh?" but it worked and was delicious.
Throughout the meal Eddie, our server, was fantastic when explaining the dishes to us, asking us how our meal was, and even went more in depth with any questions I had for him. They caught me off guard when they even brought out a birthday dessert which was unexpected and appreciated. A mixture of 5 different mini cakes. A tiramisu like cake, raspberry cake, strawberry lemon tart, chocolate cake, and what taste like a pumpkin pie.
My mom is a seafood fanatic and when I would give her bites of my langoustine and scallop she absolutely loved it. My step-dad ordered their wagyu hanger steak and he said it may be the best piece of beef he's ever had, and that man loves steak.
I've never dined at any Joel Robuchon establishments, but this set the bar high for me, and makes me understand why he's the "chef of century".
Bravo.