add another 2 michelin stars to our belt. oh wait, i need to go buy a new belt, i've let this one out as far as it'll go but my waistline is still expanding! we had a friend eat at the las vegas location and he reported it was the best meal he'd ever eaten. so when we learned we were going to paris matt jumped at the chance to dine at the flagship restaurant.there was no real thinking about what to eat - we were going for the 'menu'. we also got a bottle of wine to go with. i don't remember if there was paired wine or not, but we were tired enough after being up essentially 24hrs we were afraid to have too much to drink.
a very nice red
l'amuse-bouche
a carrot and orange chilled soup spiced with a bit of chili pepper. that's not a potato, it's a poured batter crisp thing.
le caviar
sur une pomme de terre a l'anguille fumee, fleurette auraifort
sliced potato, smoked fish, horseradish creme, and caviar
i'm not sure what the fish was. it had a pretty tough tendon to cut through, but while i expected a grisly or chewy bite but it wasn't. it was very tender, not mushy, not chewy. and while not my favorite dish, it was pretty good. i can only guess that it was osetra caviar.
les tomates
anciennes relevees de sumac a l'huille provencale
heirloom tomato salad with sumac, shallots, chives, and edible flowers
there were 4 or 5 different tomatoes on this plate. it was quite tasty but knowing i had to pace i left about 1/2 of it.
le foie gras
de canard chaud, aux cerises et amandes fraiches
seared foie gras with cherries, almonds, apple and hibiscus leaf
matt and i order the seared foie gras on the menu of anyplace we go. it's kind of like our dip stick to rating the food. holly, if you're reading this, it takes a place like joel robuchon to equal your foie gras! it was divine. the almonds were raw and stuffed into the cherries.
l'oeuf
cocotte a la creme legere de girolles
this was a cream of mushroom soup, really. they were purcels (?) whatever they were matt says they were in the chanterelle family. not only were they mashed up for the soup, which i liked, but they were in the soup, whole. which i didn't like. what i didn't realize until too late for a pic was the fact that at the bottom of the glass was a whole coddled hunter's egg. matt enjoyed downing most of mine.
le rouget
aux aromates, releve d'une vierge a l'huille de pistache condimentee
(top view)
the next picture (side view) shows the layers much better.
that's a (thankfully) beheaded mullet with pistachio, capers, olives, tomatoes, greens and we weren't certain what that yellow potato-looking thing was.
i have to admit i wasn't sure about this one. that's really what i wrote. it wasn't awful, but i can't say i liked it. there was a lot of new things on that plate for me to take in. i don't think i'd order it off the menu in the future, but if included in a tasting menu i'd try it again. give it another chance to see if i could actually form an opinion on it.
there were actually 3 choices for the main entree. when we chose the 'menu' we had to select which one we wanted. between us we had 2 of the 3. the item we didn't choose we thought was interesting as a main:
le ris de veau
cloute de laurier frais a la feuille de romaine farcie
sweatbreads with romaine
you have to admit it takes balls to serve sweatbreads as a main course. (sorry!) we were curious but i think we chose wisely.
l'agneau de lait
en cotelettes a la fleur de thym
baby lambchops with mashed potatoes robuchon and thyme
this was matt's choice and it was pretty good.
la caille
farcie de foie gras et caramelisee avec une pomme puree a la truffle d'ete
caramelized quail stuffed with foie gras, and truffled potatoes (joel robuchon?)
but i was happy with my choice. wow. it was pretty darn good.
les fraises des bois
sur une gelee au limoncello et sorbet acidule au fromage blanc
strawberries, limoncello sorbetto and gelee, with a white cheese
the metalic-looking red drop is the acidule, i think. and while i know fromage is cheese, i'm not remembering where that fit into the dish - perhaps it was under the gelee...
le chocolat tendance
ganache onctueuse au chocolat Araguani, glace au grue de cacao, biscuit Oreo
creamy chocolate, icy chocolate and crunchy chocolate
in other words, chocolate 3 ways.
ok. wow. the meal on the whole was pretty great, and i enjoyed quite a lot of it. i tasted a bunch of new things, some
of which i'd never heard of. but i have
to say this was the 'big surprise' for me. the little ring was splatter-painted (or perhaps they used a spray gun?) with silver. what looks like chocolate crumbs are the icy bits, then the creamy bit was like the best pudding you've ever tried, and the crunchy was underneath."so you had a great meal, but what's all the deal" you might be asking. well, check out this article on Joel Robuchon to learn more about the man. tangent: we were watching [the original] iron chef and he was slated to be 1 of the 3 judges. they announced that the challenger had to back out for some reason and dr. hatori (sp?) was good enough to step in and challenge the iron chef so the show could go on. we think the challenger found out who the judges were and said 'forget this!' LOL back to the main thing here. so yes, joel robuchon is a big guy in the foodie world. and with 2 michelin stars one expects a certain level of service.
the place is extremely small. all of the seats are 'at the bar' and all but 4 of them face into the prep and cooking area. except for the fact that i'm short and the decor was tall, we could watch the chefs preparing various parts of dishes. each server had 4-6 chairs and while the set up of them and us having counter space separated but an elevated shelf/counter space looked awkward, it actually works to their advantage for keeping various stuff hidden. it was amusing watching them set down these elegant plates and pouring wines over the bar. we struck up a conversation with the american couple on our left, who was there for his birthday. they're from the PacNW but are living in paris right now. while the aura of the place exudes formality in the decor and style of service, one didn't feel like there was that invisible wall between them like we do when seated at tables. we were in a suit and dress, but there were guys there in slacks and golf shirt.
the one downer for me came when i needed the ladies and i wasn't seeing the door as described by our server. i wasn't alone in my quest and once the door was found she actually reached it 1st but tried the handle and it didn't turn. so we think because that door's locked it must not be the correct door. i went up to the maitre d' and asked her again and she said "it's the door in front of you". well that was a screen door that actually led to the street right in front of the hotel the restaurant was housed in. i even confirmed this with her and she said yes. ok. the 2 of us walk up to said door and are staring at it thinking 'there's no way this is right but it's what she said.' the maitre d' walks over, pushes the door we had originally tried with the handle that didn't move open, gestures inside and tells us in a pretty hoity-toity voice 'inside and down the stairs'. so the snooty-paris-attitude-towards-americans was pretty clear in this gal and i must say put a small downer on the experience. i don't care who you are, what your background is or anything else. if you're in a service-related field, which this was, you are at a level of quality which this is supposed to be (2 michelin stars remember) and are paying as much as one does for food and service at this place, there's absolutely no excuse for bad manners and being rude to clients.
overall i give it an A- grade. it was a pretty good meal, but we expected nothing less than that.
oh, and to top it off we had , unless someone can confirm and alibi the whereabouts of this person being elsewhere, a celebrity sighting. let's say that unless the guy stood up and was taller than me chuck norris was there. i swear. it looked just like him. i saw him several times throughout the meal. bu the never stood up so i don't know how tall this guy was. if he was taller than me ok, it's just a doppleganger. but if he wasn't...
p.s. i found the michelin posting for the restaurant:
1 fork, 2 stars, no tidbit about the place, just the price stats and a few specialties listed
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