286 replies to this topic

[Melonious Thunk]

How am I going to eat mashed potatoes in August?

I ate some (very little) at Craft last night.

[R Washburn]

The 9 course tasting at the Vegas L'Atelier ranges from $105-$115 depending on dishes included in the current menu.

Worth it.

That sounds pretty reasonable, unless the courses are "amuse" sized. I would assume that Robuchon has learned from Ducasse's experience and will start off with very fair pricing and then jack up the prices after the reviews are in, so maybe I should try this place sooner rather than later.

[Wilfrid1]

you really can't count, can you?

A dollar out, give me a break. (No, I can't.)

The full tasting menu at WD-50 is not much cheaper, and many of their courses are indeed amuse-sized - which makes that price sound reasonable for a big-name chef in The Four Seasons.

[nightscotsman]

The 9 course tasting at the Vegas L'Atelier ranges from $105-$115 depending on dishes included in the current menu.

Worth it.

That sounds pretty reasonable, unless the courses are "amuse" sized. I would assume that Robuchon has learned from Ducasse's experience and will start off with very fair pricing and then jack up the prices after the reviews are in, so maybe I should try this place sooner rather than later.

The dishes tend toward small tasting portions, but are larger than amuses. The menu also includes two desserts. I've left quite satisfied in the past. That said, I don't know if things will be different in the New York location.

[R Washburn]

The menu also includes two desserts. I've left quite satisfied in the past. That said, I don't know if things will be different in the New York location.

Do you still work in the Vegas location's pastry kitchen?

[nightscotsman]

The menu also includes two desserts. I've left quite satisfied in the past. That said, I don't know if things will be different in the New York location.

Do you still work in the Vegas location's pastry kitchen?

I'm actually at Guy Savoy now. Had a great time at Robuchon, but I had the chance to be part of the opening team at Savoy. Going well so far.

[Steven Dilley]

After sleeping in and missing prime greenmarket hours, I decided to try for a spot at Joel Robuchon's new restaurant in the Four Seasons instead. It was nice enough out that my backup plan, a stroll across the park to Bouchon, would have made the trip uptown worthwhile regardless.

We arrived at to a not-quite-full restaurant at 12:30 and were told that the remaining seats were reserved for a group of journalists and that it'd likely be 1:15 before they could seat us. So we walked across to the bar where I ordered a Bloody Mary and planned to kill some time people watching. Not 5 minutes later the hostess approached, said they were ready to seat us, and that we could have our choice of seats--at the bar or in the small dining area. The bar appeared the place to be, esp with Robuchon himself present.

The menu is quite a bit longer than I expected... around 20 small plates, almost the same number of larger plates (in many cases, larger portions of the former), and a daily set menu for around $60, I believe. There was a lot of buzz and conviviality at the bar, the champagne was flowing freely, and I didn't bother taking notes. Hence the lack of details.

We quickly narrowed the menu down to a handful of items:

Gazpacho
Avocado fondant
Foie and smoked eel
Lobster gelee with sea urchin and cauliflower puree
Frog's legs
Iberico ham with pan con tomate and butter
Sea bass with lemongrass
Langoustine
Quail with foie and potato puree
Veal sweetbreads

The restaurant was extremely generous and tossed in a few extra plates, including a vanilla-infused lemon gelee with olive tapenade, truffled mashed potatoes, a grand chocolate dessert, and something I'm blanking on. Our neighbor, though, hit the jackpot when chef presented her with an order of crispy poached egg with caviar. I'm not exaggerating when I say there must have been close to 3 oz of osetra on the plate. Yum.

The gazpacho was simple but killer. Bright, rich, wonderfully balanced. The least expensive item on the menu, I believe, at $12, and a great way to start.

The avocado fondant was our neighbor's favorite (Robuchon's business partner and a man who obviously loves to eat), though I was a bit disappointed with it. A very creamy avocado puree over some type of vegetable fondant. Topped with a bit of cumin oil that was too prevalent for my taste. Great texture, though.

Foie and smoked eel, basically a mille-feuille, had great texture, but the combination didn't especially work for me. In fact, I prefer the only other cold foie and seafood combination I can recall having, which was Wylie's version. Here the flavors were muddled and just kind of boring. I have a feeling this is going to be a love it or hate it dish, and I won't be surprised to find myself in the minority. In fact, we were of two minds about it at the table. Same went for the next dish.

Lobster gelee with sea urchin. Now we're talking. Essence of the sea. Plenty of sea urchin suspended in a lobster gelee with a thin layer of cauliflower puree. Heavenly texture.

The frog's leg dish was a beauty. Three perfectly fried legs with a garlic and parsley puree.

Iberico ham with pan con tomate was another winner. First time I've seen this ham in the States. Not as concentrated as the best versions I've had but great texture, balanced, slightly fruity, very addictive.

Sea bass with lemongrass was a bit one-dimensional. A decent piece of fish, well-cooked, but I didn't pick up on the chorizo and other elements listed on the menu.

The langoustine was delicious and reminded me of a version I had at Marius et Janette. A langoustine wrapped in rice paper and fried to a crisp. Nice quality, though I'm not sure where the beast was from.

Quail with foie and potato puree. My first taste of the famous potatoes. Great, as expected. The quail was great as well. A quartered whole bird, the breast stuffed with foie, and the legs served bone-in. Delicious.

The veal sweetbreads were also delicious, though I'm blanking on the preparation. Wonderful texture.

They had a couple French cheeses on offer, but we opted for a macaron instead, which turned out to be two small, finger-shaped purple macarons with a few treats scattered about the plate. As mentioned above, the kitchen also brought out the chocolate dessert, which consisted of a small chocolate cake, milk ice cream, toasted almond foam, vanilla ice cream, and a couple other items. Both, esp the actual macarons, were good.

The wine list is small, well chosen, and relatively expensive, at least as far as Burgundy goes. The whites consist of top producers like Ramonet, Niellon, Roulot, Carillon, and Raveneau. Not bad. We ordered an '04 Drouhin Griottes Chambertin. At $145, it was one of better deals on a list that quickly escalates in price.

Service was great. Very knowledgeable, confident, friendly, at ease. Impressive considering this is day 5.

I asked about quality of ingredients in the States vs their other locations and was told that overall, sourcing wasn't too bad. But a few things, like foie, took awhile (they eventually settled on a Canadian producer). And when I asked about a whole duck on the rotisserie was told it was actually a test bird. They've yet to find a duck that meets their standards.

A fun afternoon, and while there are quite a few more dishes I'd like to try, I can already see popping in for some gazpacho and Iberico, assuming there isn't a long wait.

I found the prices relatively high and wonder what the press will make of them. It's pretty easy to make a meal of 5 small plates, which could easily reach $120+ without much effort. Quite a bit more if you go for the luxe items. Tack on some wine, tax, tip, etc. Desserts are $20 each. An espresso $9.

I'm not quite sure where this restaurant fits into the NY dining scene. It's the first restaurant I can think of in NY where the price structure is similar to that of certain restaurants in France, where you might find a 12 euro salad next to a 58 euro langoustine dish. Aside from caviar-based dishes, it's unusual to find such discrepancies in the States. Having only read about the other locations before today, the experience was pretty much what I expected. Casual, fun, one-star, a few highlights, relatively expensive.

For the next three weeks, the restaurant isn't accepting reservations. After that, reservations at tables will be available, along with first seatings at the bar.

[Evelyn]

Steven, although I have only dined at Robuchon (not L'Atelier) here in LV, your immediate impressions confirm what I have projected about the restaurant here. I think your idea of just stopping in for a couple of bites here and there to work through the menu is the way to go. Otherwise the wallet damage/pleasure ratio could be a bit unbalanced .

[cabrales]

I had a good meal (NY standards) at Atelier de JR recently. I suppose how good the meal was depended on what one's expectations might have been. By world standards, this is average or worse. But then Atelier was never intended to be an haute cuisine restaurant, and it isn't. What's so surprising about that?

I agree with Steven that this restaurant is expensive for what it is.

The meal began with a small shotglass of lemon-vanilla gelee with limited olive tastes. This was poor. Too much vanilla, and a strange resulting taste.

1) L'Oursin, dans un delicat gelee recouverte d'une oncteuse creme de chou-fleur. Sea urchin in a tender gelee, topped with a cauliflower cream.

This dish shows a negative aspect of Robuchon's cuisine presentation. On a black laquer plate that already had gold painted-on embellishments was placed a see-through egg-shaped container. The container had gold flecks on it. On the black plate was a small piece of silver paper for decoration. Why does there need to be such contrived presentation methods? A dish should speak for itself through its flavors. I also found this defect in the chef's cuisine at Joel Robuchon at the Mansion.

The cauliflower cream on top of this creation was quite luscious and subtle, but the bottom tiers of the creation were more aggressive. Pieces of urchin, and then a large amount of lobster gelee. I thought the lobster gelee didn't work too well with the urchin's flavors.

This dish obviously was patterned after one of Robuchon's historical signature dishes of cauliflower creme, which I hear is typically paired with oysters (and/or caviar -- somebody who has sampled it, please help me) and possibly langoustine stock (??) (which I have never sampled). I think the langoustine stock-based gelee in that sig dish was intended to be more neutral than the lobster stock. That said, I agree that langoustines stock would not have worked well with the assertivenss of sea urchin -- something stronger would be required. But just not lobster stock gelee (or at least not in this intensity).

Still, an appropriate dish (by NY standards).

2) La Langoustine, en papilotte croustillante au basilic. Crispy langoustine fritter with basil pesto.

This was a dish I had sampled at the Paris Atelier. Appropriate deep-frying using rice flour-based thin batter of a langoustine and a whole basil leaf. A bit of mascerated basil formed the centerpiece of the saucing for this. The use of non-Brittany langoustines obviously compromised this dish, but this dish was appropriate.

3) Les Huitres. De Kusyu pochees en coquille au beurre sale. Poached baby Kusyu oysters with French salted butter.

Three oysters that were not particularly good. Passable was the most one could say about the dish, but that is being generous. Melted Echirre butter with chives. They would be a lot better off if they used Bordier butter, as was the case at the Paris Atelier when I last visited some time ago.

4) Les Ravioles. De froie gras dans un bouillon de poule et une fleurette pimente. Foie gras ravioli in a warm chicken broth, zesty whipped cream

This was quite good, although the elaborate egg-shaped large presentation bowl was unnecessary. The bouillon lacked refinement, although it was appropriate as the base for some nicely onctuous-interior foie gras flat dumplings. Thinly julienned herbs added an element of interest to the bouillon.

I found unnecessary the mound of whipped cream-type material that had something like Piment d'Esplette on it. It was too much cream (even when melted by the bouillon) given the foie.

5) La Sardine
Sur une tarte fine aux copeaux de parmesan et olives
Fresh sardines on a thin tart with parmesan shavings and olives

This was a very good dish, and my preferred dish of the meal. A thin circular tuile-like base supported tomates concasses, and then sardines placed in circular patterns on this base. Small basil leaves, and a bit of parmesan were nice, as was the taste of olives in this dish. A very good way to present fresh sardines, which I like alot.

5) Les Cerises
Facon jubilee avec un soufle et une glace a l'amande amere
Cherries served with a souffle and bitter almond ice cream

Appropriate, but not the flambeed cherries I specifically was told would be there when I asked. The cherries were peripheral to the almond in this dish. This dish should be entitled almonds. Nice almond souffle, though, even though the almond ice cream lacked creaminess and seemed weak. Use of roasted slices of almonds and crumbled roasted pistachios was appropriate.

I also emphasize that this restaurant is expensive, for the food it offers. It's a restaurant I would visit again only because of the limited quality of other restauarants in NYC. Total cost for two people before tips, 260. I accounted for 200 of that. Restaurant was not gracious in charging me $26 for a Mersault, which was not on the wine by the glass list and presented to me as a substitute for the white Burgundy (around $13-17) without the restaurant's indication of the doubling of the price. My 200 only included one other glass of wine.

I should note that Robuchon has once again used dishes copied from Chef Passard (L'Arpege ***) and his disciple Chef Barbot (L'Astrance **)!

What's worse, these are imitations of these chef's sig dishes -- Passsard's lobster with turnip, rosemary in a sweet/sour sauce (made using Acacia honey and sherry vinegar) (one of the chef's two lobster sig dishes) and Barbot's avocado/crab dish. What a shame for Robuchon, who has so many sig dishes of his own -- to be copying other chefs. Of course, this was a problem when Atelier opened in Paris, but I once again note his blatant copying of others.

For example, the Barbot copy is called:

Le Crabe
En rouelles d'avocats a l'huile d'amandes douces
Avocado slices, seasoned crabmeat and a mild spicy oil

My dining companion had this, although I didn't. Why sample a mediocre copy if I have taken in the original over a dozen times and have sampled the Robuchon copy in Paris? Here, Robuchon has added some sprinkles of something that looks like Piment d'Esplette on the plate, besides the two pieces of avocado creations. That's not in the Barbot version, but that is ancillary to the Robuchon dish and there more for presentation than for substance. Even the almond oil is taken from Barbot, of course.

Each of Passard and Barbot has a lyrical cuisine, and obviously they have related cuisines because Passard trained Barbot. I don't therefore fault Robuchon for copying them, but diners should at least know the chefs that came up with the original recipes.

I don't doubt that Robuchon acknowledges the culinary talent of Chefs Passard and Barbot (that, in my mind, exceed Robuchon's), but he should not be presenting their sig dishes as implicitly his own. It is also potentially slightly insulting to diners, if Robuchon assumes that diners who visit Atelier (and NY food critics) do not have the capability to see what he has done. That Robuchon had copied Barbot was one of the main topics in a French magazine's article on chefs copying other chef's creations, when Atelier first opened in Paris. It ought to be equally prominent in the discussion in NY on Robuchon's Atelier branch here.

Note I've dined at Atelier Paris twice, and at Joel Robuchon at the Mansion once. I've never dined at any other Robuchon restaurant. So I do need to educate myself more on Robuchon's cuisine. But I don't need to educate myself when Robuchon copies chefs whose cuisines I have sampled much more --- to identify the copying. :

[mitchells]

Nice to be able to read your reviews again.

[Lippy]

Cabby or Steve, or anyone else who may have eaten at the Aterlier in NY: are the famous pommes puree available?

[Steven Dilley]

Thanks, Cabby. I was unaware of the Barbot dish.

I wanted to try the sardines but ran out of room.

Lippy, the potatoes are available with the quail.

[cabrales]

I think the pommes purees are stated on the menu to be available with at least one dish -- the quail (see Steve's dish title noted above).

However, I asked whether the potatoes used in NY are the ratte potatoes utilized by Robuchon in France and also whether the butter used in NY is the Jean-Yves Bordier butter (St Malo) utilized in France. The answer was no to both questions. Therefore, while some form of pommes purees is available at Atelier NY, I doubt it would be the same.

I also asked the maitre d' at Joel Robuchon at the Mansion whether they import Bordier butter, and the answer there was also no.

[SamanthaF]

Thank you Cabby.

[Lippy]

I think I'll wait until my next trip to Paris.