L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon: Two Michelin Stars

L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon: Two Michelin Stars

About a month ago I took a day trip to New York City to try and eat at some exciting restaurants.  I woke up super early on a Friday morning and took a long four-hour bus drive to NYC.  When I got there I had an early lunch at NoMad, by Chef Daniel Humm, you can check out that review here.  Later that night after exploring the big city, I settled down at L'Atelier for a five-course fall menu.  Now, I do have to warn you this review will probably be a lot of "it was so good", as each course had the perfect balance of the 5 elements of taste; sweet, salty, bitter, acidity, and umami.  Many of the dishes had really complex elements that I either can't remember or just don't know what they were, as the menu is mostly in french, but I'll try my best to explain the dishes to you all.   

When I arrived at the restaurant they checked my coat and backpack and I patiently waited just a few moments before being seated.  I had an incredible experience of sitting at the bar top looking into the open kitchen.  This also meant that I had a more personal experience with my server, who was also a sommelier, so of course, I had to pose thousands of questions to him.  I'll also make a note here that he was very hospitable and knowledgeable about the food, kitchen, wines, and even the development of the restaurant.  This was a case where being a solo dinner was better than dining with someone.  It encouraged me to ask many questions and be fully immersed in the food and experience.  

With that being said, I was seated next to a super nice lady that I had the pleasure of getting to know.  She told me incredible stories of her traveling, and even that she met Joël Robuchon before he died in 2018!  She met him on her birthday at his restaurant in Las Vegas.  She also informed me of her experiences at every single one of his restaurants that she was blessed enough to dine at.  She told me about her travel to other countries, and showed me so many incredible photos!  I got to hear about her children and she was actually there to celebrate her divorce!  She had ordered the 11-course tasting menu, so we weren't exactly following each other, however, everything that I had she also had, just in addition to extra courses.  I only mention this because she and the sommelier were kind enough to allow me to snap a photo of her wine pairings, for the courses we had in common!  It's small moments like this where I get to know people, their lives and what brings them to that restaurant that I love so much!  Now that we're passed all the cute stuff, let's get to the food!

Le Panais

The name of this dish literally translates to "The Parsnip."  This dish was an amuse-bouche that consisted of a parsnip espuma and blood orange reduction.  The blood orange in this added the acidity of the dish.  I wish I had more information about how the espuma was made, as it didn't specifically taste like parsnips, it held much more flavor than that.  Also, for those of you who don't know- espuma is french for "foam" more simply.  The espuma was in the bowl with the spoon, and for the tall cylinder glass on the top left, a foie gras dish.  Foie gras is duck liver, and in this case, it was foie gras topped with parmesan foam.  The umami from the parmesan in the foam helped the richness of the foie without overpowering it. The last element of the dish was an emulsion of Maury "Vielles Vignes" which translates to old roots.  After doing my share of research of the french term I came to the conclusion that it simply refers to winemaking, in the sense that the grapes are from old vines.  So this is finished with an emulsion of an aged Maury wine.  Of course, this was delicious and I have no complaints, the foam was light just as it should be, and it was packed with flavors.  My last comment here is that I loved the way they put the bowls on the wooden background as this added the color that the dish lacked.  This was a super creative way to bring life to the white dish.  

L'hamchi

This course was a raw fish dish, that I can only describe as a deconstructed sushi.  Hamachi is sushi-grade yellowtail, they are raised in a stress-free environment to promote the fish to gain a high-fat content.  They do this to result in a buttery texture and a rich- high flavored fish.  This was spot on in the dish, the fish melted in your mouth and was accompanied by cilantro guacamole and yuzu sauce.  Yuzu is a citrus fruit from Japan, and is a cross between a grapefruit and lime, but looks like a squatty lemon.  The yuzu sauce added a citrus balance to the rich, fatty fish.  I thought the use of this product was very creative, in place of another citrus fruit.  It helped to keep the Japanese influence on this dish clear.  I got to see garde manger plate this dish, because of my incredible seat, and I noticed that the fish was topped with finishing salt which really brought the flavors together.  (Oh and for those of you wondering, the guacamole was underneath the fish.)

Champagne Lombard

This was the white wine paired with the Hamachi, and I believe was used for the following truffle dish as well.  This wine can be described as a full-bodied, fruity and citrus-flavored wine.  For more information, you can check it out here.

La Truffle Blanche

The title of this dish is french for "The White Truffle", so as you've figured out this was the truffle dish.  I love truffles as they have so much natural umami flavor! This dish was made of Parisian gnocchi, which just refers to gnocchi with a traditional recipe "relating to Paris."  It has a delicious medium-hard cows milk cheese, that traditionally is produced in Lille, France.  The cheese looks in despicably close to cantaloupe based on the outside texture and bright orange color on the inside.  The Mimolette cheese added a perfect sharpness and creaminess to the dish.  The gnocchi was cooked perfectly, not too soft but not still doughy.  The menu also listed pumpkin, which if I had to guess was in the sauce for the dish, but it didn't taste over pumpkiny.  I also really loved this bowl because of the texture of the rim.  

La Saint-Jacques

I would like to open with, I hate scallops.  I think maybe twice in my life I've actually enjoyed a scallop- but this was exquisite.  The title of this dish refers to a traditional scallop dish served with a creamy sauce, cheese, and breadcrumbs.  The scallop was cooked perfectly, so it melted in your mouth and wasn't chewy at all.  The yellow sauce underneath the scallop is a white wine sauce and a caramelized endive marmalade with black currant.  Endive can be really bitter but with this dish, it added a perfect balance.  The wine sauce was rich and buttery to add a creamy element to do the dish.  

Valdespino Fino Inocente

This wine is dry sherry from the Spain vineyard Macharnudo Alto that was paired with the scallop dish.  Only 600 bottles of this wine were bottled in 2016, which does make it a "rare" wine.  It follows the traditional aging processes using wood which helps to bring out all aromatics.  For more information on this wine, click here.

La Canette

La canette is french for the female duckling; this main course consisted of spiced long duck that was rich and full of flavor.  It was cooked perfectly so no complaints there.  It was paired with quince and chestnut flavors, the quince added a touch of fresh sweetness to the rich duck, which was a match made in heaven.  The sauce underneath the duck is referred to as an "aigre-doux" which translates to sweet and sour from french.  The sauce naturally paired super well with the rest of the elements in the course.  

This second picture you see here was of mashed potatoes, but not just any.  These potatoes are pretty much world-famous.  If you eat at any Joel Robuchon restaurant you'll most likely find these somewhere on the menu.  There are tons of people that think they've found out the recipe and tried recreating them!  On the internet they have literally been titled "the best mashed potatoes in the world", and I have to acknowledge that they were perfectly creamy and buttery, along with the desired amount of saltiness.  I definitely feel like this is a must-have if you dine at any Robuchon restaurant! 

Camille Giroud Volnay 2016

This wine is a Pinot Noir, from Burgundy France.  This wine is described as "elegant and cool dark berry fruit"  with earth infused aromas.  This Pinot Noir was paired with the duck dish, as red meat is typically paired with a glass of red wine.  Follow the link to find out more about this Pinot Noir.   On a side note at first, I was upset that the reflection of the plate was blocking the glass of wine, but from another perspective, can we talk about how perfectly polished that glass needed to be in order to be able to have a crisp clear reflection in the glass?!

Le Chocolat Sensation

I mean how can you even go wrong with a dish named this?  The chocolate sensation.  That's exactly what it was; guanaja chocolate cremeux, white chocolate ice cream, topped with an oreo cookie crumble.  Guanaja is an island in Honduras so of course, I needed to find out what this chocolate actually was.  It appears to be a 70% dark chocolate cacao, which was outstanding and made the dish incredibly chocolatey, but not overly sweet.  The white chocolate ice cream was creamy and delicious and with the oreo crumble, topped with the milk chocolate disk this dish was both texturally and flavorly brilliant.  The red and yellow gel dots on top of the disk I was led to believe were raspberry and possibly orange?  They both added a touch of acidity and tartness to provide the course with balance.  Another note to notice in this photo is the JR (Joel Robuchon) imprint on the left side of the placemat.  I didn't realize I had captured this in any of my photos but I noticed from the moment I sat down that everything was intentional and I thought this was a great detailed touch to the seating.  

Macaron and Truffle

I have no description of what flavor this macaron or truffle was, but as I dined here on November 1st, these were a Halloween special that I got.  The macaron was hard on the outside but chewy and sticky on the inside just as they should be.  With this I got my coffee, which was served table side and so good I drank it black!  It was smooth and not overly bitter, and I believe they told me it had been percolated. 

Mushroom Desert

Unfortunately, I didn't have the pleasure of eating this marvelous desert, but it was actually the lady that dined next to me's desert, and she allowed me to snap a picture before she dove in.  I missed the food runner's description of this desert, and because all of the elements of this dish are masked so well by the mushroom creation I couldn't decipher what it was on the menu.  I found online some pictures of this exact dish that had labeled it as black forest cake and chocolate mousse.  That dessert description would actually make tons of sense for visual reasons.  Mushrooms are typically found in the forest and if that is the case for this desert, I have to applaud them for creativity, because that is simply genius.  

After I had my spectacular dinner I had an astonishing experience because while I was chatting with the sommelier/ my server he asked me where I was coming from, and we got on the topic of me being in culinary school, and he offered me a brief tour of the kitchen and an opportunity to meet the chef. So as I was finishing up my last few sips of coffee the general manager I believe he was, met me at my seat and guided me to a new view of the open kitchen.  He explained to me the way the kitchen was set up, where each station was, and what the chefs were doing at that moment.  The coolest thing I think he gave me insight too, is that the million-dollar roaster, that is truly over an open fire- it roasts a whole chicken every night during the entire service.  Get this- that million-dollar roaster doesn't make anything that is served to guests!  It is 100% for visual effect as well as to fill the restaurant with that strong aroma.  Every night after service the chicken is eaten by the staff for family meal. 

Another super interesting thing for me was that the roaster is also the only thing heating up the kitchen.  All of their burners are induction, which if you don't know about, to sum it up there are no open flames from gas ranges, only electronic heating elements that are cool to the touch.  This is great from an employee standpoint because being on an excruciatingly hot hotline for a six-hour service- especially in an open kitchen- is the worst. Ever.  

Lastly, when I met the chef, of course, he was incredibly busy doing expo for the restaurant, but he asked me where I went to school what my major was and how my dining experience was before we snapped a quick photo.  It was really appreciated that he took a few moments out of his busy service to speak with me, and it made my experience that much more personal!  

I had such an astounding experience at L'Atelier in New York City!  I would love to go back again to try different seasonal menus.  As always thank you so much for reading, please subscribe, like me on Facebook, follow @MallaryMade on Instagram, and lastly, share this post with a fellow foodie.

From my kitchen to yours,
MallaryMade