Located in a bustling corner next to MGM’s giant casino, this crowded, yet elegant restaurant sports red and black colors, as well as a modern design, with an enormous shelf of vegetables and a French-style bar. We were given the privilege to sit at the bar, and had a more hands-on experience with our dining at L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon.
We were first presented with our bread course. It consisted of three varieties: mini baguettes, cube brioches, and croissants. All tasted very fresh, as if they had just come out of the oven. The brioches are my favorite, since they were soft and fluffy, with a light, chewy texture.
Amuse Bouche: La “Chataigne”: Our snack looked rather like a small soup. Our server said it was a chestnut cappuccino with celery cream and confit chestnuts. We were instructed to mix it and then eat it with a small spoon. At first bite, it tastes sweet and creamy, almost like a mushroom soup; then, the nutty taste hits and you can clearly tell the flavor of the chestnuts, especially with the actual confit chestnuts underneath the cream. I would’ve liked to have more of the celery taste though. *The restaurant has great drinks too!
1: Le Crab Royal: Our first actual course had three king crab and daikon “raviolis” with sweet and sour vinaigrettes dotted around. The crab meat had the exact meaty flavor you would expect, balancing with the flavors of the daikon and pasta dough. The sauce seemed slightly flavorless because of the strong flavors of the ravioli, but I thought I tasted some flavors from black garlic, which I presume is the dark colored sauce.
Supplemental Course ($18): Les Gambas:
The supplemental course we ordered was blue rock shrimps “a la plancha” in a salad with tomatoes and fresh mozzarella cheese. This course was absolutely delightful with the shrimp and tomatoes, but I felt that the salad was a bit bland, even with the flavors of the mozzarella cheese. Overall, this course was ok.
2: Les Champignon
Next, we had a single gyoza of ham and seasonal mushrooms with prosciutto and parmesan. There was a soy sauce-like dressing and a mushroom purée as well. I loved this Asian-style course, with the crispy gyoza, and the juicy and savory contents inside. I could’ve eaten a whole plate of these. Excellent.
3: Le Homard: Our first seafood course boasts a Maine Lobster roasted in salted butter with a spicy lobster bisque. Although this course was very savory, I
thought that the bisque and salted butter was too overpowering in the dish, so much so that you cannot taste the lobster, which was very delicious and snappy on its own.
4: Le Saint Pierre: What was interesting about this course was that the fish was a John Dory, a edible relative to the lionfish. It was cooked a la plancha on a “sambol” of tomato, with confit lime zest and cilantro. For a change, this course had Thai-style flavors, with sourness of the zest and cilantro perfecting paring with the delicate and melting flavors of the fish. The sambol also played a key role, since it delivered the tangy sweetness and spiciness of the dish. Great course, though I would’ve liked a bigger piece.
5: La Caille: Our final course was also very inventive, as it is the signature course of this restaurant. Caramelized Quail filled with foie gras was served with black truffle potato purée. There were two components of the bird. One was a juicy and tender leg, perfectly seasoned; the other was a piece of breast stuffed with foie gras. Both were awesome and well cooked, especially with those earthy flavors of the potato purée and black truffle. I also wanted to add that they added their signature mashed potatoes in another small bowl with our quail. This small bowl captivated my taste buds, and it was rich, flavorful, and delightfully creamy. Epic.
6: La Citronelle: At first we thought these little gray pebble-like things were small stones. But then, our server whipped out a bottle of ginger dry ice chantilly and started to infuse it with our final dessert course. Once we bit in, we discovered that the stones were chocolate casings with sweet ice cream inside. The flavors are as follows for each piece: lemongrass, coconut, and sesame. Also with it were a small pile of crispy oats, which pairs great with ice cream. Tastes kind of like a decadent style of granola. Great ending for our tasting menu
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