I was alone in Las Vegas for two nights, and decided to visit another restaurant by myself. I made the reservation, knowing that if I did not, I would chicken out.

So for 7:30 pm on a Wednesday evening, I reserved dinner for one at Joël Robuchon at the Mansion at the MGM Hotel. I have walked by the doors and peeked at the menu so many times on other visits, I have lost count.

The restaurant is one of a select few in North America to receive three Michelin stars for 2009.

The doors opened, and I entered. I assume I was the only solo diner that night making me easy to recognize, and the hostess addressed me by name as I entered. She was so quick to do so, in fact, that I lamented not being able to take in the room and bar a bit more first.

JR @ the Mansion is located in the corner of the sprawling MGM casino. Look beyond the smoking slot machine players and the crowds gathering for the next showing of Cirque du Soleil’s “KA”, and you will see the peaceful entrance.

The room is intimate and cozy. A banquette divides the room, and a small side room holds a (live?) rose garden and living ivy wall. I believe the restaurant can hold 60 people, and on this night there were probably 20. So not very full, but still shockingly so considering the price of the average meal there.

I was seated on a the bench seat dividing the room, in between two couples. The room is done in rich, heavy fabrics in a deep royal purple colour, with silver accented Lalique vases and black furniture. It was designed to mimic a feeling of being in 1930s Paris and feels very luxurious and opulent.

From the photos I have seen of the room, the colour accents change with the season. For spring, coral red seemed to be favoured, and was featured in the fresh flowers, coral shaped accents and decor, bringing a pop of colour.

On the banquette, silver plate framed photographs line the top, highlighting celebrities that have dined at Joel Robuchon.

A large chandelier hangs above, and the entire dining room is bathed in warm, subdued lighting.

I asked for a glass of champagne when I sat down. Unlike Guy Savoy, they do not use a trolley to cart around the champagnes available by the glass, and I was limited to two varieties. I chose the Billecart rose. I will admit to being a bit nervous at dining alone, but knew the staff would take care of me. The champagne helped relax me even more.

However, within minutes of sitting down, the man in the couple dining to my left struck up a conversation.

“You must really love French food,” he said.

I replied to the positive, stating that I had also dined at Guy Savoy earlier in the week.

And so it began.

“Ohhhh, we were served by Guy Savoy himself!” he blurted out, as he poured more Cristal champagne for his wife. “We must have spent $10,000 that night there,” he went on.

They were Las Vegans, dining out in celebration of their 10th wedding anniversary. The husband spent more time talking to me than to his wife, and even sent over a course from the 16-course tasting menu they were having that night, claiming he was too stuffed.

I won’t say that it ruined my evening, but it did diminish some of the adult enjoyment I was hoping to gain from eating out on my own, with my own thoughts. He complained about being too full to enjoy the meal, then being too drunk.

I also found their name dropping and money discussion (and politics! imagine!) during dinner a bit distasteful. I was too timid to ask to be moved, however. In a dining room so small I did not want to risk offending anyone, or embarrassing the staff. I did find it odd the hostess chose to seat me next to a couple celebrating their wedding anniversary though. I would have been much happier next to the other fellow recent Bachelor of Science graduate out celebrating (awesome coincidence!) However, this was my own doing.

Robuchon is experimenting with lowered set prices on various meal configurations, from three courses up to six. I got the six-course option, which came with an amuse bouche, an appetizer, soup, seafood and meat course, cheese course and then dessert. I selected my own dishes for each course. My only regret was not being able to order the frog’s legs that Robuchon is so famous for.

A bread cart made a few rounds, but stopped after I refused bread with two courses. I suppose if I had asked, they might have brought some more. However, filling up on bread is a terrible idea, except when the bread is as good as it is here.

The amuse bouche took some time to arrive, but finally came to the table on a holographic platter. It reminded me of a figure skating outfit I once had, infact.

The amuse was Os(s/c)etra caviar, over a hidden layer of three species of crab. I had a small saffron roll and a piece of carmelized onion bread from the bread cart. These were warmed before being brought to the table. The cart’s item stock was very similar to Guy Savoy’s. There were more rolls, however, and more softer items like milk breads. Again, a brick of butter imported from Brittany.

Soup: Lettuce velouté with nutmeg and sweet onion foam. If you have ever read “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by Roald Dahl, you surely remember all the times Charlie had to eat watered down, bland cabbage soup. Not far from it’s green cousin, lettuce soup has to sound like the stuff of nightmares, right?

It’s not.

There were lardons of ham sunk on the bottom, and the foam imparted an extraordinary texture to this surprisingly flavourful soup. The bowl arrived as a bowl of foam, which the veloute was then expertly poured into by the server. It was like a lettuce latte.

Unfortunately I did not take photos of the next course, which was the starter, which was sea scallop a la plancha with a sauce of kumquat and caviar. I remember the scallops being the star of the show, with little citrus added from the kumquat, and an abundance of caviar.

Seafood course: this dish arrived in a beautiful presentation. It had a sort of glass halo around it, which held the bits of the lobster carapace within. It was lifted off to reveal this inside: Spiny lobster in a sake broth, with turnip and shiso sprouts.

The sake broth was salty and slightly alcoholic, and a light addition to the lobster. The most adorable baby turnips with greens attached were hidden beneath and offered the bite and crunch needed.

Meat course: Braised veal cheeks with Thai herbs and green curry. Looking back, I had to make sure this was the course I got. I do not recall anything green curry-ish about it, but the lemongrass and strong memory of rich veal melting in my mouth tell another story. Small chunks of fine tofu accompanied the dish, which was the height of savoury. It was garnished with long stems of lemongrass which appeared to be taped to the serving dish beneath. Odd.

A side dish of pureed potatoes were lovingly spooned out by the server. They were not studded with black truffle as at Guy Savoy, however.

The diner next to me sent over his course of vegetables and couscous in Argan oil. Again, baby turnips and other vegetables were nestled in a delicious, if plain, couscous. Argan oil is supposedly an extremely rare oil…I remember it being smooth and faintly nutty, but not overwhelming.

Oh, jeez, cheese.

The cheese server was an expert recommender and my interactions with him were the highlight of my meal. When I said I couldn’t make my mind up on which brie I wanted to try, he gave me samples of both. (The triple cream was the best.) I also got a very alcoholic tasting (and smelly!) Époisses. It’s the runny one on the bottom, there.

Again, I had to summon the bread cart and was not offered anything unusual for the cheese course, unlike at Savoy. Cheese is delicious on its own, of course, but I wanted to see how a fruit bread or baguette changed it.

A perle of chou, Tahitian vanilla cream with fresh raspberry. The chou was quite awkward to eat in the bowl, and kept sliding all over the place.

The two couples celebrating were brought a special raspberry ice cream cake. I don’t know where they are finding ripe raspberries this time of year, but I would love a hook up.

A sorbet course. I chose the lemon, out of raspberry (again!) and chocolate.

The mignardises trolley. There were over 30 treats on this thing. They didn’t even tell me what everything was and didn’t seem interested in listing them, so I just requested the raspberry macaron, meringue, cocoa dusted truffle and a chocolate bombe.

I asked for an earl grey tea to end my evening, which came with no sugar or cream, forcing me to ask for it.

This was the small dark garden room to the side. It smelled like a forest after a short rain on a warm day, green and moist with the faint scent of roses. I popped in after my meal to check it out.

As a parting gift, I received this beautifully wrapped present. Inside…an entire banana loaf, topped with gold dusted chocolate pieces and drizzled honey and glaze. I have to admit, I found this odd for a mainly tourist frequented restaurant. Maybe others had better appointed rooms or were staying in Las Vegas a few more nights and could enjoy it.

I ate a bit the next morning before checking out of the hotel. With no utensils in the room, I ate some of it with my bare hands. How crude. It was mostly just an average banana loaf, though.

So; was it worth it?

I remain undecided. Maybe I was tapped out on French food or high end restaurants. Maybe I set the bar too high. Perhaps if I had not been a solo diner my experience would have been different.

I won’t knock the cuisine, however. The food was great; imaginative, beautifully presented, well-executed and thoughtful. What I think fell short was the service.

It was all small things that sound absolutely ridiculous in hindsight so I won’t go into details. However, after experiencing service at Le Cirque and Savoy (click for my experiences at each), then having it at Joel Robuchon, I noticed the differences. Perhaps it is a difference of opinion. I know others enjoy that the service is non-intrusive, where you request things and the request is never denied, but I find I enjoy it when the staff anticipate my wants, sometimes before I even knew I had them. I’m a shy diner, what can I say?

I found the service mostly mechanical, lacking passion and excitement. Le Cirque and Guy Savoy made me want to go back to experience both the food and service again. They were both delightful, surprising and joyful to eat at, and I got the feeling that they wanted you to experience everything and try everything. Joel Robuchon left me wanting…it kind of felt soulless, actually.

In any case, I’m glad I went, for now I can share my experience, and know that I may never go again. There are too many restaurants in the world to return to one that charges that much and doesn’t leave me in a dreamlike trance thinking about every detail afterwards.

After our amazing meal at Bar Charlie in February we were reluctant to branch out into other high end eats in Vegas. I guess we just love Japanese cuisine that much! However, Chef Hiroo Nagahara mentioned his favourite restaurant happened to be Guy Savoy, so we thought we might give it a try, and did not feel so bad doing so.

Guy Savoy was rated two Michelin stars in the last Las Vegas guide. Although I would not describe myself as a Michelin tourist, I have been fortunate to have dined at a wide selection of one star restaurants. However, this was a first to be eaten at a ‘higher level.’ The Paris location has consistently received three stars, and some say Mr. Savoy was robbed of a third star at the Vegas outpost.

We set sail for the ten-course “menu prestige” deep in the Augustus Tower of Caesar’s Palace. Four hours later, we emerged. Here is what happened in between.

The dining room was half full, mostly older diners in couples, but some larger tables as well. It was minimal, almost austere, but still comfortable.

There is a small patio and private dining rooms. There are even large windows which fill the room with natural light which is odd for a Las Vegas restaurant. From our end you could see the Bellagio.

These tiny dishes held pepper, the flakiest, finest of sea salts and butter from France.

Our amusing amuse. In the left cup…zucchini soup…

…and hiding on the right, a surprise we were told to reveal after our soup was gone. A tiny pastry cup filled with salmon, topped with marinated zucchini with a basil reduction.

From the bread cart: A “delicate spices” and a bacon roll. The butter served was flown in from France, and available salted or not. They kept coming and coming with the bread cart.

The bread sommelier was an amazing young man with real energy and excitement. We even discussed UFC with him. Each course had a bread he suggested. Some were surprising, others perfect (if predictable) pairing. There were numerous kinds of bread: caramelized onion, lemon bread, black olive, Parmigiano Reggiano, house-cured bacon with sea salt and a few smaller “plainer” items like epi baguette and such.

Marinated lobster with salad and spring herb gelee.

“Colours of Caviar”, layered caviar in many different preparations. Eaten together, you are meant to scoop down with the mother of pearl spoon from each layer. It is no exaggeration that each bite was subtely or significantly different. The sabayon layer was a personal favourite.

There was no bread pairing, as the caviar was a stand alone deal, you could say.

Crispy sea bass with delicate spices in vanilla foam with mushrooms. The vanilla foam was “scented.” But, not in the cheap way a lower end place does it. This smelled, tasted and exuded vanilla. It was odd with the fish, but delicious. The bread was a nori seaweed bread.

We were encouraged to add the additional delicate spices laid out on top of the serving platter. They added so much! The arrangement of the spices is also seems to be a nod to the logo for Guy Savoy, three columns.

The delicate spices were the same as in the bread: Szechuan pepper, black pepper, fennel, coriander and two kinds of mustard.

This…this was amazing.

As our sea bass course wrapped up, two gentlemen came walking briskly out of the kitchen. They approach our table, holding a platter. In my head, I’m thinking “What? I just finished this course! How rude! What timing!”

But: they were just there to show us our next course as it cooked.

The course was foie gras “en Papillotte” with radish bouillon. The foie gras was in a parchment bag, resting on rocks which were cooking it. The server burst the bag with a flourish. The smell of the foie that emerged was intense and earthy. I was dying to smell more…and just as I thought that he said “Here! SMELL!” and brought it to my face to waft.

Now THAT is service.

It was served with the greens which perfectly balanced the richness of the foie gras. Radish soup is amazingly flavourful, by the way.

Here, a Savoy signature soup. Artichoke and black truffle. I recalled to Mike that I read a review that claimed this soup was tasteless. We laughed as we inhaled the earthy, rich broth.

That little out of focus morsel on the bottom? It’s a mushroom brioche, topped with truffle butter. We were encouraged to dunk it in our soup as we ate.

At this point, my bread plate was becoming a wasteland of crusts as I could no longer finish the breads being brought. I felt shame when the bread sommelier came by, but he continued to pile on the bread.
And so we pushed on. I think we were just over two hours in at this point.

This GORGEOUS hot pink knife was brought out. What was next..?

Poussin (young poultry) a la Broche, with impossibly smooth black truffle-flecked potato puree. There were truffles shoved under the skin of the chicken.

This was another dish that was presented to us as it cooked. They brought it out on a carving board, then brought it back to the kitchen to be carved. I’m told this is all part of Mr. Savoy’s love of the dramatic.

The puree looks like ice cream, and it damn near had the same texture.

Then…the cheese cart.

This cart sailed in like a ship made of blue cheese. I don’t recall how many cheeses there were, but over 10. We could have any of them, again with two kinds of bread. Époisses, brie, blue, guyere, goat.

I wish I had more room, but had to limit myself to three cheeses (herbed goat, brie and aged guyere), with apricot walnut bread.

A pre-dessert pannacotta with apricots and almonds and an edible pansy.

Strawberry rhubarb granité served in the most adorable of miniature Bodum-style cups.

This was the chocolate sphere, with raspberry. It came out as a perfect white chocolate ball, which the maître d’ then poured hot raspberry sauce over. “To smile at you,” he said, as the “mouth” opened and indeed, smiled at me.

It reminded me of the little Canadians from South Park.

Low brow, I know. That’s the kind of lady I am.

I couldn’t help noticing the steak knife from earlier matched the rather modern art work in the room. I sat admiring the room, art and other diners.

Then…dear lord. The rumblings of another cart.

Not the bread cart, surely. The cheese cart? Put away, I hope.

This was the sweet cart.

HOW? How could we have room?

Well, the world’s most adorable and persuasive man was working it. And he SOLD his items. Just want one truffle? “Non, then zee others will be jealous,” he claimed, as he piled the set of three on your plate.

There were fruit gelees, mousses, eclairs, hand twirled lollies, TWO KINDS of rice pudding, sorbets, flans, ice creams, macadamia nut balls, and, lord help me, … MINIATURE macarons.

All I really has room for and wanted was the truffles and macarons. How I got sucked in to getting this much was beyond me. Passionfruit sorbet, and a rich chocolate mousse sit in the middle and right.

At least I wasn’t as badly off as Mike. He ended up with TWO plates. The guy at the cart was relentless and a real petit fours pusher.

One of the items: brown butter ice cream. Wow.

The macarons were fennel and lemon.

This one reminded me of a tiny hot dog.

And then, it was finally over.

Four hours later, we were in a food daze. The dishes themselves were amazing, but what made the meal memorable were the small touches, service and thoughtfulness. The purse stool that was brought. How the maître d’ noticed I was trying to write down notes, so he brought a printed menu for me.

I was also fortunate to receive a peek in at the not-yet-opened private Krug room. On my way to the rest room, I spied the word “KRUG” on the wall of a back room and inquired with the server who accompanied me to the rest room. Turns out that is the first Krug room in North America. The server pointed out the beautiful picnic trunk made for carting champagne around and said it made every picnic better.

Savoy is known for champagne so it did not surprise me they had a dedicated room. According to VegasChatter, the room will feature champagne pairings with meals and offers the entire Krug catalogue. It’s one of my favourite champagnes so I got a buzz of glee about seeing the room.

As we left, we were forced to take some candies. I did not sample mine until days later when I boarded my plane to Minneapolis, but was surprised at the flavour. It was chartreuse, a kind of liquor.

Very, how you say, french!

So stuffed, I asked to have my remaining truffles wrapped up to go and they came in this charming bag.

A purse stool hiding in waiting.

I couldn’t resist. Even the lighting in the bathroom was fantastic.

The cover and insides of the menu I received.

This meal was pure indulgence, and a perfect way to celebrate a birthday and graduation. (Atleast that’s what I tell myself.)

The service is passionate, warm, thoughtful and seamless. Perhaps a little over the top at times, as with one server’s very french accent, but this is Vegas, after all. There’s a bit of showman in everyone.

While we got the 10-course tasting menu, they do offer a la carte menus, of course. You can check them out at FoodNut. The people beside us received wonderful attention with their a la carte meals, and were in and out in around two hours. There is also a $98 pre-theatre meal.

In addition, there is also the Bubble Bar where you can have small bites of each of Savoy’s signature dishes and a glass of bubbly. It’s a more affordable and quick way to visit the property. The menus for all of these options are available on the right of the Caesar’s Palace website.

After dining at a two star, I wondered what the differences were between two and three Michelin stars. I’ve been told the differences are negligible between the levels, the top two tiers offering similar cuisine quality but the difference being in service.

Of course, the only way to really judge was to go and dine at the only three Michelin star restaurant in Las Vegas…that’s to come.

When I realized my trip to Las Vegas would bloom into a five night stay from two, I busily set out to find new things to do. Things I had long wanted to do, but hadn’t had the time to get to. One of these was to visit a Las Vegas farmers market.

There are several in the Vegas area, mostly in the suburbs. (Although I did see that the Palazzo hotel on the Strip had a “Farmers Market” recently. The event featured seven local farmers selling items like local quail, chicken and duck eggs, apricots, figs, desert honey inside the hotel, and had a few cooking demonstrations and special menus at Palazzo restaurants. There is also a new market downtown in the old Strip area at Fremont.)

The market I originally had my eye on was at Bruce Trent Park, but my visit there fell through, so I went to another market I had heard about on the local morning news that day: Roadhouse Farmers Market (Thursdays, 4-8pm, corner of Sunset and the Boulder Highway in east Vegas). There was a local chef demonstrating vegan cooking and it sounded interesting.

When I got there, I was a bit disheartened to see how small the market was. However, it was their grand opening night. As hot as it was in Vegas already, I had to remember it is still only spring there as well.

There were probably 12 stalls, selling mostly produce from nearby California. It was cooking hot, even at 6pm, and I wasn’t in the mood to eat much, but enjoyed the music, sights and smells.

(The “Made in Boulder City” sign referred to an oil of some kind I believe)

(Haas avocados, $2 for a larger, $1.50 for a small)

The last photos are of Chef Mayra, who specializes in organic and vegan cuisine in Caribbean styles. She had quite a crowd of onlookers and her food was delicious. I definitely enjoyed my brief foray into Nevada farmers markets.