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Expensive Taste

World-famous French Chef Joël Robuchon continues his legacy at the luxurious Joël Robuchon at The Mansion.

By Max Jacobson • Photo by Peter Harasty
Joël Robuchon at the Mansion

Location: Inside the MGM Grand. 891-1111.

Hours: 5:30-10:30 p.m. nightly.

Price: Very expensive: Entrees $75-$160.

Credit Cards: All major.

Reservations: Essential.

Joël Robuchon was, for the majority of the '80s, the most famous chef in the world. His Paris restaurants were nearly impossible to book because his perfection in the kitchen was unmatched. At one point the restaurant Robuchon employed 26 chefs to service 40 guests, who came for his caviar topped with cauliflower cream, truffled langoustine ravioli with green cabbage, and Brittany lobster. When he retired in 1996, the food world mourned the loss of a true champion.

Enter Gamal Aziz, the forward-thinking president of the MGM Grand. Aziz, who is French educated, knew the chef casually and dreamed of bringing him to Las Vegas. He negotiated repeatedly for his prize, eventually convincing him to come. The result, I am happy to report, is more than anyone, even Aziz, had a right to expect.

Robuchon's colleague Alain Ducasse—who owns Mix in Las Vegas at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay and an unprecedented three restaurants with the coveted three-star Michelin rank—once famously said that the cuisine of southern France was impossible to replicate, even in Paris.

In that context, it seems remarkable that Robuchon and his team have been able to do just that at Joël Robuchon at The Mansion in the MGM Grand. He has, in fact, gone Ducasse one better, in the sense that his stupefyingly lavish dining room, with sculptures by Rodin, crystal by Swarovski and cooking to rival any ever presented in this country, surpasses many three-star restaurants here and in Europe.

New York City has four three-star restaurants: Le Bernadin, Jean-Georges, Per Se and Alain Ducasse at Essex House. Having eaten in three of them (so far, I haven't gotten to Thomas Keller's Per Se), I can state with impunity that this effort tops those others with ease. Every aspect of a meal at Robuchon, from the bread cart to the petit fours that come at the finish, is carefully and flawlessly executed under the direction of rigorously correct General Manager Loic Launay and Executive Chef Claude Le Tohic.

Just the experience of walking in from the main casino floor has a zen quality rarely found anywhere on the Strip. There is a sedate calm to this restaurant, especially for those who procure a table in the Garden Room, a chic area where tables are cloistered amid a wall of ivy, framed by fresh flowers.

This is a magnificent space. It's the handiwork of Pierre Yves Rochon, whose designs at the Four Seasons' Georges V in Paris and the St. James in London have received considerable acclaim. Appointments include luxurious black and purple fabrics and exquisite Lalique vases. The staff wear high-necked brown jackets, buttoned in the front, a trademark of Robuchon himself.

When the restaurant opened earlier this year, the only options were a pair of tasting menus, but today, it is also possible to order a la carte. This is a worthwhile but staggeringly expensive proposition. Caviar with cauliflower cream, for instance, is $150, and Brittany lobster is $120. Ironically, as with a gallon of gasoline, you'd pay more in France.

The meal begins when amazing artisan breads are proffered from a rolling cart—epi stuffed with bacon, saffron focaccia and long, thin baguettes with twisty ends that remind you of Dali's moustache. Then everyone gets something called le citron, a vanilla-infused lemon gelée topped with anisette cream in a tiny glass. It is, at once, a delicate and sensual pleasure, and a harbinger of what is to come.

Go the tasting menu route and you can expect to pay $165 and $325 for the nine-course and 15-course menus, respectively, and plan to spend at least three hours at your table. I prefer to go a la carte so that the best dishes can be picked over and then personally selected.

The velvety cauliflower cream is pure heaven, and so are langoustine ravioli, which look suspiciously Chinese until you taste the lobster stock underneath them and the finely chopped, bright-green cabbage accompanying them. Mélé de truffe et pomme ratte are shaved truffles and sliced potatoes infused with olive oil and served with foie gras carpaccio. It's wonderful.

Among entrées, try the American lamb, foie gras-stuffed pintade, and turbot roasted on the bone, even though none can match the lobster en cocotte, which is, to my taste, this kitchen's true superstar.

The lobster is from Brittany, on France's Atlantic coast, because the chef insists it is more flavorful than Maine lobster. It is served in a glass dish sealed with a pastry crust, lobster meat torn from the shell mingling with girolle mushrooms, green asparagus and whole chestnuts, a vivid metaphor to the glories of Gallic innovation and technique.

For dessert, le chocolat is transcendent, melting Aragani chocolate that is enrobed in cooling peppermint sorbet, and surrounded by a moat of soft meringue.

Yes, the slogan in the lobby is accurate: "Everything you've ever eaten has been in preparation for this meal." It might also be prudent to say everything you've ever earned, but it's certainly worth it.






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