I’ve often felt that the true test of a restaurant’s design is not so much how the space looks but how you feel sitting in it. While a great meal these days still means good food and fine wine, today more than ever, it may be comfort food or fusion cuisine served in an environment filled with denim and sneakers. So the million-dollar question for the adventurous chef is, Can you create a high-end tour de force that will nonetheless be appealing in a casual world?
The very elegant and very French Joël Robuchon, at the MGM Grand, rises to this challenge. Here amid the Vegas bustle, French designer Pierre-Yves Rochon has channeled the élan of 1930s Paris. Once you step inside the restaurant’s five rooms, which are adorned with rich fabrics and crystal chandeliers, and its whimsical indoor garden, the clanging of the slot machines outside is silenced. Suddenly you’re in an apartment on Avenue Foch.
To soak up the full degustation menu, you’ll have to set aside several hours, but the time flies by. The service is impeccable, with waiters seamlessly orchestrating a parade of up to sixteen courses. And yet the verve of dining is not lost here; laughter is not frowned upon. Those hours give you the chance to sample signature dishes of the man dubbed the Chef of the Century by the Gault Millau restaurant guide, the guy who picked up Michelin stars in Paris as though he were plucking grapes off a vine and who has recently done the same in Las Vegas, overseeing the city’s only three-Michelin-starred restaurant. Among the classics Robuchon imported from the Continent to the American desert are gelée de caviar, raviolis de langoustines and pintade rôtie, the latter paired with his famous purée de pommes de terre. You’ll also have an opportunity to try his new dishes, which are influenced by Japan (grilled Kobe beef with watercress tempura) and by contemporary notions of simplicity. Even the plates themselves have been custom designed for the dishes they contain (like a conical glass bowl hovering above dry ice and carrying amuse-bouches).
If all this seems improbable for a casino eatery, remember that Joël Robuchon’s level of extravagance (1.5 staff members to every diner, two dozen kinds of bread made daily, products flown in from around the globe) could be possible only on a Sin City budget. And as is appropriate for this town, Joël Robuchon is not solemn and Sunday best; it’s joie de vivre in a party dress. 3799 Las Vegas Blvd. S.; 702-891-1111; mgmgrand.com/dining.
Originally published in Town & Country Travel Spring 2008
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