L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon- Las Vegas

Living in this fair city offers many advantages. On a whim, I can do pretty much anything imaginable, as long as I had the cash to pay for it.

Wanna drive a backhoe around the desert and throw dirt at things? We got that. Shoot fully automatic machine guns? Yup. Take a ride on other moon? (That's what it looks like from a distance at night) We've got that too, along with many more unsavory, hedonistic pleasures to quell your every chaotic and whimsical desire.

But Las Vegas is also a great American restaurant city, bulging at the seams with famous chefs and incredible ingredients. If you have the money, we can make it happen.

Las Vegas is second only to Paris itself for famous French chefs, we have Robuchon, Ducasse, Gagnaire, Savoy... and their contemporaries Thomas Keller, Hubert Keller, Batali, Flay, Feniger, Moonen, Vongerichten... I could go on. It's the epitome of "go big or go home" cuisine.

As such, it is imperative that I whet my palate at as many of these bastions of culinary supremacy as humanly possible, and slowly but surely, I've been doing just that. For tonight's lesson: L'Atelier de Robuchon.

L'Atelier is an amazing concept with locations in Paris, Hong Kong, and Japan as well as Las Vegas (and I think NY). It's an open kitchen, with sushi-bar style seating, so you watch the chefs prepare your food right in front of you.

Beautiful kitchen. I've dined at La Mansion (the er, more elaborate, 3 Michelin star Joel Robuchon restaurant next door to this one) before, a meal that replays vividly in my mind on occasion... L'Atelier is his more wallet-friendly eatery, but it still boasts a Michelin Star, which is nothing to shake a stick at.

An assortment of beautiful artisan breads to start with.

Sleek, contemporary place settings.

Our amuse-bouche. finely diced granny smith apple topped with silky smooth avocado puree, tiny grapefruit segments, grapefruit gelee, Hawaiian red salt, cilantro, and a beautifully herbaceous extra virgin olive oil. All the flavors played together so nicely, fresh, bright, balanced. Brilliant little dish, exploding with flavor, it accomplished its goal of making me very excited for what was to come.

Mom had Maine Lobster in a spicy broth, with baby corn and nepatella (the herb on top). The dish was dusted with Piment d'Espilette, a very special and complexly flavored French dried pepper. This had an intense, hypnotic aroma, pervasive and mouthwatering.

I had this amazing dish to start, Alaskan king crab salad, sandwiched between thin slices of braised turnip, with a minuscule brunoise of tart radish, and micro chives. This also was dusted with Piment d'Espilette, and had an espilette-infused oil brushed in a perfect stripe on the left side of the plate. I wish I could eat this daily, it was a revelatory balance of savory, sweet, spicy, and acidic elements. I loved watching them plate this, carefully arranging the tiny brunoise radish on top with tweezers.

My brother had this three-course special, halibut and tomato pasta with basil, salmon tartar with citrus mayonnaise, and a caramelized apple crisp.

My next course blew my mind as well. I'm a die hard fan of sweetbreads, I've had them prepared many ways, and these were done exceptionally well. Skewered onto fresh laurel (bay) leaves and charred on the teppanyaki grill, with brown butter (yuuummm!!) and a stuffed romaine leaf topped with bacon foam. Carmelly sweet on the outside, with a silky, unctuous creamy center. The bay pervaded but didn't overpower, and I liked how its aroma was a focal point of the dish, instead of a backdrop to other flavors as per its usual place.

Jamon Iberico from Spain, made of free-range, heritage Iberian black pigs that are fed an acorn diet. They had the whole leg on a stand on the garde manger station, and we watched as a chef deftly carved off thin slices with a long, thin blade. I haven't seen anyone carve ham like this since I was in Italy (it is really necessary in order to preserve the flavor and texture of these fantastic products) most places here slice the proscuitto or ham across the grain, which destroys the texture.

The Jamon Iberico was served with toasted bruscetta, topped with flavorful diced heirloom tomatoes and fresh basil.

I also had this foie-gras stuffed quail, served with truffled pommes de terre puree (mashed potatoes, but passed though a fine drum tamis to make them perfectly smooth). The herb salad in the background had chervil, tarragon, and dill, and was a perfect light and fresh foil to the caramelized richness and delicate nuance of the quail. The truffles were fresh and crisp, and were apparent, but didn't detract from the potato flavor, or the intense little pieces of quail. Very delicious.

Mom had "Le Citron", blueberry compote, lemon parfait with a light elderberry foam.

Alex and I had "La framboise", a white chocolate sphere filled with yuzu ice cream. This was beyond delicious, it had the most intense, fresh raspberry flavor I've experienced in a while. When I was growing up, we used to pick wild raspberries around the woods in Ohio, and this tasted just like those fresh little fruits mere seconds from the plant. Plus, it was a really, really entertaining dessert. After I ordered mine, Alex had to order a second one so that we could get this video...

Every course of this meal was perfect, every bite impressive. This kind of attention to detail, and obvious passion are evident in every morsel, and well worth the cost. L'Atelier is definitely an experience you should have in Las Vegas.

Je vais manger a L'Aterlier de Robuchon en Paris la semaine prochain. Demain, j'ecrit a Mix e Border Grill.

My French isn't perfect, (I'm still practicing, and I don't have the correct accent fonts on this computer) but there's some foreshadowing for you, to entice you to continue reading my blogs...

Ciao. (au revior)