Vegas, Baby, Vegas - Day 2, Part 3, Joel Rubichon - Saturday, August 21st

Omg! Joel Rubichon time! We had been looking forward to this for over a year and a half! When we went to Vegas in March 2009, we were supposed to go here for dinner, but had to cancel because I was pregnant and wasn't feeling up to it. Then, my mom and Ray told us it was their favorite restaurant. Ever. We had to try it!
http://www.mgmgrand.com/restaurants/joel-robuchon-french-restaurant.aspx

Joel Rubichon is next to the Ka Theatre at the MGM Grand. It's the only 3 Star Michelin Guide Winner in Las Vegas. And, Joel Rubichon was named Chef of the Century. I'm not sure who decided this or what it means, but it sounds like a big deal. When you walk in, it's like you've completely left the Vegas scene and are in a fancy schmancy restaurant. The noise and hub-bub from the casino disappears. When we were seated, I was slightly concerned because the tables were close together and there were couples on either side of us. This ended up not mattering at all. In fact, even though we were close, we couldn't hear their conversations.

The decor was unexpected. It was kinda like an underwater scene with a gold gauze-like table runner and gold shells and starfish (see below for a partial picture of our table). There were blue coral in flower pots around the restaurant. I thought maybe it was a French fish restaurant, but it wasn't. It's just French. There were large purple curtains separating the dining rooms. Around the restaurant, there were framed pictures of "famous" people, including Jeff Gordon, Alan Thicke, and Emeril Lagasse. Pretty random. It was hard to get a feel of what they were going for.

Once we were seated, the server asked if we would like Brut or Rose Champagne. Yes, please. Don't mind if I do :)  We both chose Brut. It was delicious. I didn't care what the decor was anymore. I was happy.

The server explained the menu. There were five menus to choose from: two two-course menus, a four-course menu, a six-course menu, and and sixteen-course tasting menu. With the two, four, and six course menus, you were able to choose what you'd like from different parts of the a la carte menu. For example, four courses - an appetizer, a soup, an entree, and a dessert. Surprise, surprise, we decided on the sixteen-course tasting menu. Looking back, I would make the same choice again.

While we purused the menu, a guy came around with a bread cart. Huh? I'd never seen this before. He had at least 15 types of breads to choose from. Jeff asked for Bacon Bread and Milk Bread. I had Gruyere Bread and Puff Pastry Bread. Once we chose the types we wanted, he told us, "I'm going to go heat these up, and I'll bring them back to you." Wow! And when he brought them back, he had a huge block of butter that was ancient French churned butter (or something like that), and he delicately shaved off a chunk for us. It was delicious.

Course 1 - Le Cavier - Cavier on a fennel cream served as a surprise. This was a little jar of crab and gelee with cavier on top. A great way to start off the meal.

Courses 2, 3, 4 - Palette aux Saveurs Estivales - Tomato mozzarella gelee, basil and olive oil, almond blancmange with vegetable medley, chilled cilantro gazpacho. This was three separate dishes on one plate. All small. All yummy. The gazpacho was done in one quick shot.

Course 5 - L'Oeuf - Egg yolk and herb ravioli with spinach sprouts and chanterelles. One of my favorite dishes of the night. Beautiful presentation with a robin's egg (decoration) and a ravioli. Perfectly prepared.

Course 6 - La Grenouille - Crispy frog leg, garlic and parsley puree. This was a frog leg lollipop. Just one bite, and it came clean off the bone. Nice and crispy.

Courses 7, 8, 9 - Les Crustaces - Roasted lobster on cauliflower with green curry, herb flavored coral broth, delicate flan of sea urchin with mocha foam. The lobster was pretty good. The coral broth was different and fun. I couldn't eat the sea urchin. I had one bite and didn't like it. I tried it again and liked it even less. Of the whole meal, this was one of two dishes I didn't finish.

Course 10 - Les Petits Pois - Light green pea cream with a hint of peppermint, sweet onion cloud. A yummy soup.

Course 11 - Le Foie Gras - Duck foie gras in cabbage, bacon and spicy jus. I'd never had foie gras with cabbage before and was surprised I hadn't because the flavors went together so well. Mmm... Foie gras... Delicious.

Course 12 - Le Turbot - Pan-fried turbot with a lemon grass emulsion and stewed baby leeks. Yum.

Course 13 - Le Veau - Sauteed veal chop with natural jus and vegetable taglierinis flavored with pesto. As some of you know, I don't eat veal... unless it is part of the tasting menu at a fancy restaurant... Omg! This was absolutely amazingly delicious! Why don't I eat veal?!?!?! It's fantastic!!! This was my favorite dish of the evening.

Course 14 - Les Racines et Pousses d'lci - Spring root and sprout vegetables with Argan oil. When we initially saw the tasting menu, Jeff immediately pointed out there was not a cheese course. He was willing to make a deal with our server to get one. The deal was to give up this course and the next course and to replace them with the cheese course. The server said he would just add on the cheese course, and we wouldn't have to give up anything. Wow, I'm glad that's the way it worked out! These vegetables were amazing! If veggies always tasted this good, I would eat them everyday!!! There were baby carrots, baby radishes, brussel sprouts, and a few others. They tasted like they had been bathing in butter for days. Fantastic!!!

Cheese Course!!! Wow, do they know how to do a cheese course! I don't remember what any of the cheeses were, but there were approximately 20 to choose from. The guy put together a plate of 6 different cheeses we chose (I had done most of the talking about the kinds I like). We were shocked at the quantity, it was more than enough for the two of us. He put the plate in front of me and then asked Jeff what he wanted. There was no skimping on cheese. My favorite!!!

Course 15 - La Framboise - Pistachio cream, raspberries infused with Lillet and rose sabayon. The other dish we would have given up for cheese. I'm glad we didn't have to. It was good.

Course 16 - Le Caramel - Caramel parfait, chocolate poppy sable, light coffee mousse. This was the other dish I didn't finish. It was good, but just didn't excite me enough. By this time, I had seen the trolley of dessert treats go by numerous times and knew I wanted to try at least 10 different items.

Jeff's ice cream birthday cake course!!! Totally unexpected! It was a pitachio and strawberry ice cream cake with a hard meringue crust and a soft meringue top. It was big enough to serve 8 people. They brought it out and served us 2 pieces. I'm guessing they ate the rest in the back. It was unexpected, fun, and yummy.

Le Moka - Le The - Assortment of sweets and teas. We did it! The final course!!! I contained myself, I only chose 7 items off the trolley. They had chocolate mixed with everything imaginable. Starting in the back left of the picture, chocolate hazelnut ball (my favorite), crunchy chocolate dipped in gold leaf (yum), chocolate truffle (rich), hard chocolate macaroon dipped in chocolate with a chocolate crust (my second favorite), chocolate cream puff (also my second favorite), tropical soft macaroon, (my third favorite), and a passionfruit marshmellow (yum). It was all delicious. My mouth is watering as I type this because I want more.

After the dessert trolley, we thought we were finished, and we were. At least, at the restaurant we were. With our check, they also gave us a loaf of pistachio raspberry bread. In case we needed a midnight snack after our four hour dining experience. I ended up eating it for breakfast for the next 3 days. Shockingly, it was also yummy.

Joel Rubichon is officially on my Top 5 Favorite Restaurants list. I'm already trying to figure out when we can go back.