L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

On the same weekend that I went to Sage, I also visited Joel Robuchon’s L’Atelier in the MGM Grand. The pricing of the food is slightly cheaper than the main Joel Robuchon restaurant next door. He also has a dozen of L’Atelier locations spread across the world. I heard this one was suppose to be pretty good, and after dining here, this hands down is the best Las Vegas restaurant I have been to so far.

Note for 2022 migration: this is an old post from my other defunct blog. This restaurant is still open, and it used to have 1 Michelin Star. I vividly remember this restaurant being pretty amazing even by today’s standards.

Ambiance

As you walk in, there’s a counter top that the hosts sit you at which overlooks the kitchen. You can see the various chefs running around making food which is kind of cool. There was this huge cured leg of ham that I wanted to gnaw on right in front of us every time the chefs came to slice a thin piece of it off. The host was very courteous and attentive and even chatted with us about how the restaurant came into be as well as Joel Robuchon’s role in this restaurant. He said most of the staff has been around since this location’s inception.

The seasonal menu was $159 and consists of 9 courses, 1 which you can choose what protein you’d like. I’ll cover the protein below.

Food

First course was the L’Amuse-Bouche. This was a foie gras parfait with port wine and parmesan foam. This was simply delicious. Unlike Sage, the foie gras mixture was not super rich or creamy. The foam complemented the heavy fat from the foie gras very well in that it was surprisingly light but flavorful.

Second course was Le Celeri. This was celery mousse with wasabi, beef stew gelee (jelly), and foie gras. If you’ve ever made beef stew and after you refrigerate the broth, it sometimes turns into a jelly like texture. The foie gras was infused into the jelly, and the mouse provided a good counterbalance to the saltiness of the stew.

Third course was La Saint-Jacques. This is sea scallop cooked in the shell with chive oil. The base of the scallop is basically garlic butter. The scallop was super tender and perfectly seasoned along with the chive oil.

Fourth course was Les Langoustines. These are langoustines cooked in their shells with green curry and coconut milk. The green curry and coconut milk wasn’t particularly strong as expected which is good. I didn’t want that to override the taste of the langoustines. The langoustines were very tender and very good. It was amusing to watch other parties take the langoustine out of the shell. Some were a bloody mess, and others took the langoustine out like they were doctors. The langoustine was plump, tender, and sweet. So far through 4 courses, not one of the dishes were bad. Everything has been good so far.

Fifth course was La Cebette. This is white onion tart with smoked bacon, quail egg “mirror”, and green asparagus. This was interesting because it looks like breakfast food, and it even tasted like breakfast food. Imagine eating an English muffin with an egg and some bacon on it. This was not too far off except for one major distinct difference: there were no processed ingredients in this. The “English muffin” which is basically the white onion tart was delicious. It was crunchy almost like a very crispy hash brown.

Sixth course was Le Saumon. This is lightly smoked salmon with fingerling in a buttery shellfish sauce with curry and baby leeks. The salmon was pink throughout, but it was so tender and delicious. The salmon tasted like it was almost poached in a way as the actual texture was slightly spongy. The smoky flavor on this was very light, so it wasn’t that heavy which is good.

Seventh a.k.a. meat course was an option course, meaning you can choose La Caille or Le Beuf. I actually had the first option which was foie gras stuffed free-range quail with mashed potatoes. I love quail, and I have absolutely no guilt in eating foie gras stuffed quail. The quail was very crispy on the outside. The stuffing inside was basically smashed foie gras blended up. You would think this would be heavy, but it surprisingly wasn’t. The greens on the plate seemed to have some sort of yuzu citrus flavoring in it. The mashed potatoes was very buttery but delicious. I felt portion size for all 3 was good.

The Le Beuf was basically a cap of beef ribeye with roasted shallots. I didn’t order this, but my buddy said his was very good. The only reason he didn’t go with the quail was because he already foie gras’d out this trip.

There were 2 dessert courses. The eight course was La Mangue, which was mango mousse atop an almond cake with toasted coconut ice cream. This dessert took a while for them to serve us but for good reason. This was a really complex dish. The mousse on top was mango flavored. There are chunks of mango in the sauce around it as well. The almond cake actually sits on top of the toasted coconut ice cream. In between these two, there was some sort of jam. I’m not that fond of desserts in general, but again this things blows my brains out of the water.

The ninth course was Le Chocolat which was a warm chocolate cake with creme de menthe sorbet and chocolate mint crunch. Yep, it looks pretty fancy and complicated. The chocolate cake is actually at the bottom of the bowl and is surrounded by a minty sorbet of some sort. I don’t even know how to really described this since there was a lot going on in this.

Final Verdict

It’s something to be said when I felt the 2 worst dishes were the desserts which both were excellent. Momofuku Ko is still by far my favorite “fine dining” restaurant, but I would have to say L’Atelier De Robuchon is the best Las Vegas fine dining establishment I have been to thus far.

Revisions

1. Nov 27, 2022 - Migrated post from other blog.
2. Nov 7, 2012 - Initial revision.