L'Atelier [2]

Tuna tartare with orange and crispy potato "leafs"


Lobster ravioli


Salami carpaccio with capers and baby greens


Mussels in a lobster-tomato fumet


Living bibb and mozzarella salad with a balsamic reduction


Intermezzo: Mango sorbet


Pan-roasted snapper with caramelized onions, fingerling potato coins, and artichoke-picholine olive "barigoule"


Roasted lamb chops with chickpea fritter, caramelized onions, roasted red peppers and lamb jus


Opera cake: Joconde layers with chocolate ganache and coffee buttercream


Cheese plate: Fourme d'Ambert and Quadrello di Bufala with candied walnuts, blackberries, aged balsamic, chestnut honey and toast points

Hey L'Atelier, It's me again and I'm ready for some food. Give me the tasting menu. How would I like my lamb, medium rare please. After my last experiance at L'Atelier, I wanted more. After cooking a large dinner for 20 people I decided it was time to give myself a treat, and what better way than to go to L'Atelier. I sat down and began to look over the menu, lets see, Ribeye, foie gras, veal, hey a tasting menu, lets do that. The first item of this extraordinary meal was an all time french classic, tuna tartare. Chef Radek took tuna tartare to whole new level. The tarter itself was laced with capers and onions and herbs. Then on the plate there was the orange, daikon, herb oil, curry oil, diced jalapeno the crispy potato. There were so many little things going on but they all complemented each other, they worked in perfect harmony. The buttery tuna, the sweet orange and the crispy potato all were a perfect contrast in flavors and textures that created one perfect bite. Our next item was a lobster ravioli. Now this lobster ravioli was nothing like the one I had at my last visit to L'Atelier, this one was in a light, acidic sauce and was much better. The acidity from the sauce was perfect with the rich, sweet, meaty lobster and carrots that were stuffed into the paper-thin pasta shell. Next we enjoyed a fantastic carpaccio of salami. I love charcuterie and salumi so this was great. The salami was very fatty and salty and was great with the earthy sprouts. The perfect was to get some salami some sprouts and some of the tomato garnish all on a toast point, amazing. Next was mussels in a lobster-tomato fumet. the mussels themselves were perfectly cooked but the really good part was sopping up all that sauce with lots of bread. Next was a fantastic salad of bibb lettuce and mozzarella cheese. There were three main parts to this dish:
1. the lettuce
2. the cheese
3. the tomato garnish
Seems pretty simple but it was amazing. The vegetables were so fresh you could taste the life in them. The cheese was house made and was the best cheese I have ever had in my life. Mozzarella normally does not have a lot of flavor but this one did. It was very tender and salty, ugh it was so good. The lettuce was dressed with a champagne vinaigrette and the whole thing was drizzled with some reduced balsamic. Next was the intermezzo, a small palate cleanser of mango sorbet. I also had lychee sorbet but it had melted by the time I got around to taking the picture. Now time for the main courses. The first one was snapper. A beautiful bowl was presented to me with a lovly piece of fish over some great looking vegetables. The fish was perfectly cooked. It was very moist and tender and the top was very crisp. The vegetables on the bottom were amazing as well. They were prepared in the style of a barigoule. A traditional barigoule is cooked with white whine, but Chef Radek cooks it with a light tomato broth. Every vegetable was cooked perfectly and the olives added a great blast of sourness. Next was the lamb, lamb chops to be exact. The lamb was beautifully cooked. I asked for it medium rare and they gave me medium rare. It was served with a chickpea fritter and a lamb jus. The chickpea fritter was very good. It was as if dahl and hummus hooked up in a deep fryer and had a baby. The jus was meaty and rich and pared well with the other components. Now its time for dessert, but not just any dessert, and opera cake. The cake was moist and rich but was light at the same time. The cake was joconde, joconde is a french almond sponge cake. The almond added a punch of earthiness to a very rich cake. The chocolate ganache gave the richness and the coffee buttercream rounded every thing out. On the plate there were swirls of creme anglaise and strawberry coulis. Just a side not: I could drink an entire bottle of that coulis it is so good. Next was the cheese. I am sorry I did not get a very good picture of the cheese. It was hard to edit properly. The photo may be bad but the cheese was not. The cheese was great. Every little accompaniment on the plate worked great with the different cheeses. Thank you again L'Atelier for on of the best meals of my life!!!