#JoelRoubouchonLasVegas

[jasmineway]

Joel Roubouchon, Las Vegas // 9-1-2023

Well, it is a special occasion.

After a turn of major life events, I recently had the opportunity to experience a fine dining opportunity I had only imagined in the back-pages, which was a chance to experience the arguably best restaurant in Las Vegas and generally flagship location of the titular Chef of the Century in the US. While the Michelin Guide has not covered Las Vegas since 2009 or so, this restaurant had earned 3 while it had, thus, I still grant it the weight of its earned title. With that being said, here is my express take on a dining experience.

Arrival:

I should preface that I did not have the smoothest arrival, as our day had been complicated by flight delays, monsoon storms, airport and road flooding and construction traffic that cut out much of our relaxation and prep time and even cut our pre-dinner show. It is one thing to prepare for a lifetime experience at a relaxed pace; another entirely to have to change in the ladies room to shed your rain-soaked sneakers.

JR LV used to be known to send out a gold-plated stretch limousine to retrieve its guests not staying at the MGM grand; as noted above, my arrival was by foot, given my friend and I were already heavily delayed via a 1.5h+ length Uber ride from just down the strip due to the aforementioned complications. The restaurant's face is gorgeous -- towering rounded windows reminiscent of both Beverly Hills and Harry Potter -- however it is smack dab in the edge of a casino floor, next to the Ka theatre. While we were offered a slot up from our late night reservation last minute, we declined (30m notice was not enough time to get there), however were seated promptly upon arrival 10 minutes prior to our new reservation time.

We were initially seated in a secluded Green Room filled with fake hedges, and daytime outdoor lighting; as someone who had dressed in rich jewel tones to match the famous amethyst dining room, I was grateful that the staff quickly reseated us to join the warmth of the main event. I think the satellite space is perfect for couples or business partners seeking privacy, but personally, the harsh lighting and intense quiet would have significantly compromised the ambiance.

Service:

Overall, spectacular. Aside from the somewhat curt hostess (who remained gracious yet seemed mildly frustrated that we declined the earlier seating yet still arrived ten minutes early, and even more so that our welcoming butler expressed our desire to be moved...) every single person we interacted with did such a stellar job at convincing you that you personally made their evening delightful that for a moment you'd start believing it. Every single staff member treated us with courtesy and grace. No subtle disappointment at our non-drinking; nothing but warm smiles when asking for translations; polite, prompt, and attentive service; an earnest commitment to making all guests feel special. These are the things abstractly promised by fine dining but rarely delivered with the ease given here; a warmth I have not felt at such a caliber since TFL. My needs were rarely unnoticed, nor did I feel studied. My friend may have requested slightly more attention to their water glass.

Ambiance:

Once in the main dining room, perfect. I felt like a doll that had found herself inside a magic jewelry box; rich, lush violets everywhere; warm, maintained velvets; glittering golds and chandeliers without feeling overbearing (note: given my background, my personal barometer of 'exactly enough chandelier' may be more lenient than most). I am rarely one for modern art as a first choice and yet every piece was moving. The main walls hosted one piece with a figure atop concrete; another, bold, gigantic, canvas painted textured black with streaks of gold breaking through the void. Truly, it embodied the dining experience itself, shining through an otherwise dark and pouring day. The best way I can describe it (with humor, as a SoCal native with limited exposure to any such square footage) is 'all the pomp of the formal living room, with all the comfort of the family room.'

Presentation:

As you'll come to see, JR would not earn recognition for abstract plates, which should be recognized. They have classic, bespoke dishes and silverware (and I mean truly silverware) that compliment the meal but allow the food itself to shine. The food appears like food (for the most part) and the artistry is more through flavor and texture than evocative shape, though some dishes would shine just through sheer difficulty of plating alone (let alone the spectacular taste!). There's some dry ice, but overall, you're getting real food, on real plates, with real cutlery, and there are no mind games.

Course 0: Bread Service

We got the Degustation menu, which is the largest tasting menu JR currently offers. Originally they capped at 16, but our dinner featured 11 listed courses and 2 additional carts-courses (Bread Service and Tea) not endorsed but offered. The Mignardise (dessert) cart was listed. I would come to learn that JR loves Carts.

Our first cart was bread service, aka. the moment I transcended earth and entered a heaven in which all varieties from Basil to Saffron to Rosemary Garlic to Puff Pastry and Croissant were wheeled by for our selection. These were served alongside a separate Butter Cart in which what looked like an actual frosted cake of butter (flown in from France daily) sat next to the tastiest olive oil (flown in from Spain, less than daily) before being dolloped generously onto some serving dishes. I selected many, and took many half-eaten bites (only spared due to the 11 dishes) home as a midnight snack. I neglected to catch the butter, but got a photo of only the top of 3 racks of bread.

Course 1: Le Caviar Imperial

"Ossetra caviar served atop of lobster in a crustacean gelée dotted with cauliflower purée"

This is the only spoiler I had before dinner (as it was seeing a video of Executive Chef Christophe de Lille plating this that convinced me to experience JR in the first place) which is a travesty as I did not know of the existence of the JR chocolate souffle (guess I will have to return). It lived up to the hype. The visual presentation was stunning. The caviar, delicious. The gelee took me back to private parties in Russian restaurants with my high school bestie's family, yet this meat Jell-o was the first I've actually enjoyed. The lobster base slightly overpowered the caviar, though, which I feel was a missed opportunity to split them into two bites - with caviar so delicious and flavorful on its own, it felt like the seafood equivalent of serving wagyu with a thick peppercorn rub -- both of these go well together, but why drown a star ingredient? 9/10.

Course 2: La Tomate

"Tomato candies invigorated with gazpacho and lemon virgin olive oil"

I am a picky eater. I do not generally gravitate towards raw tomato. I generally find competing explosions of vegetable flavours overwhelming. And yet, I took delight in this vegetable course. Every single structure, filling and garnish was made of tomato. On the left, a clean slice, candied unto itself and glazed as if a creme brulee of pure flora welcomed the steak knife and fork. On the right, bonbons made of hallowed tomato filled with more tomato and gazpacho and topped with a crisp made of, you guessed it, tomato sat atop tomato puree adored with tomato accompaniments and tomato plant blossoms. And yet, I was not seeing red. Biting into the bonbons felt like mega-sized popping boba jellies; my brain was confused at the textures and flavors but impressed at the execution. 7/10 mainly due to my flavor prejudices.

Course 3: Le Poireaux

Grilled leeks, shaved foie gras, curls of Parmesan and wasabi whipped cream

This dish is 'a salad,' though I guess salad in the most metaphysical way in that there were greens but the star of the show really was the fois gras. You may be familiar with my conflicting feelings on the delicacy, but I can say one thing I was not in doubt of was the masterful execution in what was the greatest fois gras of my life. This course was to goose liver what wagyu is to regular steak. I have no notes. The serving was just right; the flavors, all in harmony. 10/10.

Course 4: La Langoustine

Seared a la plancha, zucchini, turmeric emulsion

Our server described this fish(?) as a hybrid between a prawn and a lobster, but what it was was delicious. I'm not sure the meat was the tastiest thing I've ever had, but the turmeric foam, carved nutty topping (was this zuchinni? it tasted like a nut?), and texture profile made it excellent and delightful if not slightly over-served. This was the first course in which I felt like my utensil options might have been slightly sub-optimal for the dish served, but still, overall delightful. 8/10.

Course 5: Le Homard

Poached Maine lobster, sugar snap peas, creamy polenta, spicy shellfish and ginger jus

Ah, the actual lobster. Also served impressively in yet another foam. I want to recognize the chefs for taking what has become a meme of the fine dining world and actually creating emulsions and foams that push the boundaries of what a soup or au jus could be. The sugar peas were delightful; the ginger notes, excellent. The lobster itself was ever the slightest bit chewy for me, but I am not a fan of lobster on its best day. 6/10 by fine dining standards only in an otherwise great meal.

Course 6: "Le Saumon*"

I am not sure we actually got this dish, as our server mentioned something about the dashi flakes typically served with it as containing an allergen and the words "sea bass" came out with our supposed replacement. My souvenier menu will still cite salmon, so, alas. This dish was delicious, inoffensive, and unmemorable. 8/10.

Course 7: La Canette

Spit-roasted duck with five spices and sour cherries

Ah, the duck. How do I count the ways...? I have had many birds, from chicken to geese to pheasant and quail; and generally find myself least excited to see a duck menu outside of Thai cuisine. That being said, I moseyed right into one of the tastiest single tasting courses of my life. The meat was excellent. It was duck, but it wasn't Duck, as its gamey companions of finer meals past had led me to anticipate. It was duck of the highest order, both Red Meat and Bird in one fell... flutter? The dark cherry compote and bites delivered a surprising yet immediately ah-ha pairing the likes of which I haven't experienced since throwing some pomegranate onto pumpkin pancakes during grad school. This duck joins Providence's wagyu bite as a just-as-surprising pinnacle of tasting menu execution, a true 10/10.

(side note, they did, in fact, give me the right utensils for this one)

Course 8: Le Joue de Boeuf Wagyu

Braised beef cheeks with red miso and eggplant caviar

Listen, I know that they sourced genuine likely Japanese high grade Wagyu beef. I know they painstakingly cooked the beef cheeks to perfection. I admired the root vegetables that seemingly crowned the dish. However, be it a combination of exhaustion from some other slightly excessively generous preceding portions, or my own recollection of certain enemies from The Last of Us, I could not get behind the beef mousse that was served to me for this one.

I just couldn't do it. The texture was that of a cafeteria mashed potato, which is distinctive, as it was served with the actual famous Joel Roubouchon Mashed Potato, a dish that had the consistency of the fluffiest cream-of-wheat and is notably 50:50 potato and butter. I'm not sure if if it was just too much, or it felt like foraging a wooden fungi, or even the bleeding appearance, but I had to leave half behind in anticipation of dessert, and I have no regrets.

I think it suffered from the same thing as the caviar earlier, in which a sublime ingredient was lost in a sea of equally impressive and yet somehow lesser-than-its-parts competing flavor profiles.

Course 9: La Fraise

Harry’s Berries sorbet with basil granita

There is nothing quite like welcoming the fall season with the last bastion of summer confusingly yet amusingly plated atop a bed of dry ice, giving your summertime ice cream finale the conflicted evocation of a Halloween cauldron. This dessert was fine. I was overall impressed with the delightful flavor and texture, and was tickled to see the 'grass' underneath was shaved ice, seemingly also made of both strawberry and basil. I LOVED the candied (possibly freeze-dried?) berry bits underneath. The flowing smoke was a cute touch. I love double-walled glass bowls. But were the textures all they could be? This dish could be improved with a crumble, or a pillowy textured something underneath. 7/10 because the simple yet nearly flawless sorbet had its texture challenged by a less than pleasant bed of ice.

Course 10: Le Papillon

Smooth hazelnut milk chocolate crémeux and praliné ice cream

My friend was obsessed with this one, and I was ambivalent. The cremeux was tasty, yet homogenous; the hazelnut flavor rich, fresh, yet lost in once-again what I felt (in the desserts) was a lack of commitment to texture. The candy lace was made with such perfection it almost felt fake, stamped, and less like the painstaking golden-pearl-dust monstrosity my inner baking enthusiast knows it to be. This was a perfectly serviceable and pretty dessert. But it reminded me too much of neon beta aquariums, and I felt it would have been dramatically enhanced with the offering of tea or coffee before its delivery (this would follow, and I certainly could have asked). 6/10 but I want to give it bonus points for the gorgeously sculpted bonsai tree branch in the edible biosphere. For creativity and visual, much higher.

I will note my own bias for both these desserts that I am usually a fan of the hot / cold contrast, thus love my hot crumbles a la mode and my sorbets with a side of biscuit or cake. Maybe these bites were just too pure for my tasting in that moment (also a side effect of aforementioned slightly too generous portions from the 'savory' categories).

Course 11: Tea, Surprise Birthday 'Cake,' and Chariot de Mignardises

At some point after Papillion we were offered our choice of tea (from a listing of Black, Green, and notably White) via verbal description and soon came delivered a perfect delicate tea steeped exactly right that was almost a Silver Needle in profile but nearly certainly a steeped Jasmine (+/- actual tea). I will say I noticed an herb cart up front that others cited as the source of teas usually snipped and steeped at tableside, and we seemed to be moving through our dinner at a faster pace than most other diners. We don't drink, and while we likely could have asked for longer pauses between courses, I did feel ever so slightly rushed in that tastings were not given room to breathe... as quickly as a plate would be retrieved, another soon replaced it, arriving via silver platter, staged nearby and served meticulously in unison with a team of suited waiters.

Not to say anyone actively rushed us... but, I envied slightly the laid back gossip of the tables surrounding us--our plates came so quick we barely had a chance to speak and enjoy (though we of course, very much, enjoyed!). Just upon leaving and realizing we'd breezed through a meal most describe as taking 3-4 hours in just two and a half, we felt it.

We had a quick kitchen tour in which I gushed over Chef de Lille himself and the pastry team before saying goodbye to one of our many spectacular hosts of the night, Andrew (the expert charge on 'make us feel like he's actually delighted to have us'). After which, upon returning to our table, one of the gigantic silver platters came by bearing a gorgeous gigantic chocolate sculpture next to which was a sparkly decoration and a small and beautifully decorated birthday cake. The cake, they told us, was for me; the sculpture, for show. What we were served was a perfectly tiny bite of said cake (we laughed, yes, The Cake in its entirely would be absurd) made of guava, passionfruit, and the unique choice to replace buttercream with perfectly baked hard crusted meringues.

Finally, the famous Dessert Cart. I did not know of this much before friends told me of social media reels boasting its offerings. We made strategic selections as to not seem too greedy but later would see the diners around us held no such reservations and appropriately piled their platter to their hearts content given that every petit four, eclair, bonbon and cake was made fresh daily and thus, would have gone to waste otherwise. This was one of the most visually striking and undeniably tasty aspects of the meal and I am still sad I did not have the courage to call back and request an addition perusal for the ample room my dessert stomach had managed to conjure. 9/10 only because this stage too felt ever the tiniest bit truncated.

Conclusion:

Joel Roubouchon is an old school, yet not in any way outdated, tenement to classical French fine dining. Each dish is executed with love and care for both the ingredients, the guest, and the art of cooking itself--no envelope-pushing of molecular gastronomy was missed in a mealtime so generously adorned with delicious, perfectly flavored cooking. I would assume today, the reviewers at Michelin may dare to suggest 2* only perhaps due to the current trend in favor of US restaurants posing more difficult questions to its diners, with a greater emphasis on geometry than classic, simple foods made extraordinary, but from me, it's a 3-star, with perfection from nearly every front except for perhaps our pacing. I don't doubt a return visit would shine even brighter, as I now know of the existence of a souffle, and of my own preference for a longer pause between bites. The hospitality, kindness and warmth went a long way to elevate an already spectacular selection of foods. Until next time.