Thursday, November 19, 2009

Robuchon Is Amazing

So this isn't so much about culinary school, but I just ate at Joel Robuchon and I need to post about it.

The amuse bouche was a caviar over a crab mixture, and it was delicious. I'm usually indifferent about caviar, but the crab put it over the top. I finished Devin's and my dad finished my mom's, since we both loved it but they aren't big seafood eaters.

A bread cart came through right after our amuse bouches came out, and was filled with probably twenty different artisan breads. We all had a bacon cheese roll, and I had a rosemary brioche, a cheese brioche, and a basil foccacia as well. It doesn't matter that I've been baking bread all week; apparently I don't get tired of bread.

I ordered the two course meal, which includes an appetizer and an entree, plus small desserts and coffee at the end of the meal. I chose the king crab appetizer with avocado, and it was delicious. I had the roasted duck entree, which originally included foie gras, but I requested it without (I'm sure that made the restaurant about $20 richer). It came with a roasted chestnut and some other seasonal fruits, tasted like a steak, and was cooked to perfection.

My dad had the salmon tartare appetizer, which he said was excellent. He loves salmon and pretty much gets it any chance he has. He then had the langouste entree, which is a spiny lobster, and it came with a sauce that contained sea urchin. It also looked delicious and creative. Both my mom and Devin had the steak entree and the chocolate dessert. The steak was perfectly cooked and delicious, and the restaurant was very accommodating to my mother, who doesn't like bell peppers, substituting hers for mushrooms. We each got a dollop of mashed potatoes on the side, which, I assure you, are the best mashed potatoes in the world. The chocolate dessert was topped with a little dark chocolate cup with Godiva white chocolate liqueur in it, which was really a nice touch. The dessert itself was a molten chocolate cake with coffee ice cream and was really nice as well.

The dessert cart was not your normal dessert cart. It was included with our coffee at the end of the meal and had about forty different one-bite desserts, mostly chocolates. The waiter made us two sample plates and put them on the table, and we finished them off. My favorite piece was one with hazelnut chocolate filling, which isn't surprising, since hazelnuts always please me. What a cool way to have dessert without even ordering it!

The actual place was very small, and very detached from the casino, which is really nice. Even at L'Atelier, which is also a Joel Robuchon restaurant, the casino is right there, outside the window. Robuchon is set back through a big double doorway. There were plush purple booths with pillows all over, and probably only seating for 50 people. The wine list was huge, and the beer list was small but respectable. I had two Chimay beers at $15 each, which isn't bad for that particular beer.

As we were about to leave, the waiter brought my mom and me a bag with a nice gift box in it. I guess just the women get this gift, but it's a little box of jelly candies. I haven't tried them yet, but I'm sure they're great.

I would go back. I will go back.

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