1 post tagged “over priced”

Ever since I started hanging around with foodies I've dreamed of eating at a Thomas Keller restaurant. Like many, I dialed in to the French Laundry reservation line precisely 90 days to the day before I wanted to eat, only to be told at 10:05 am that they were already sold out. I get it, it's a cult and you need connections.

I had done the same dialing game for Gary Danko and been hugely disappointed by the actual dinner, so I should have known better, but too many of my respected peers had eaten there for me to pass Thomas Keller off as a fad.

After doing some research on Las Vegas restaurants, Xav asked me to try to get us in to Bouchon, Keller's Vegas "French Bistro."  They were able to get us in at 8:30 which surprised us both, but then we thought, hey it's Wednesday, mid-week is always easier.

We woke up early and pushed ourselves to get out early and make the eight hour drive in time. We didn't loiter at gas stops and ate lunch in the car. We arrived in time to dress up like young ladies (except for Xav, of course). I lectured the girls sternly about being on their best behavior and how little monkeys don't get to go to Cirque du Soleil the next day. We arrived at the restaurant a few minutes early. It was full, but not packed. They were able to give us a booth. And crayons.

Okay, modern brasseries in the US often give kids crayons to write on the paper table cloths, so I guess that's okay. It seems a bit strange for a french upscale restaurant in Vegas but no worries. I can be flexible.

The menu looked wonderful and we had a hard time making a selection. I ordered a martini to get more time. Okay and also to drink a martini because it's Vegas after all, baby.

After some negotiation we agreed on the melon salad with white anchovies and  salmon tartare  to start. Yes, I know that most of you are thinking "Melon WITH White Anchovies"? What are white anchovies? Are you pregnant?

Yes, I don't know and no. Good lord no. But I like little fish and I have declared this summer the summer of small fish. Smelt, anchovies, fried or fresh, with lemon or without. I love them. So was melon an unusual pairing choice? Yes, but it's Thomas Keller, remember. I trust him implicitly to figure it out.

Except no.

It was awful. For one thing there were no anchovies. They had been chopped up into bits and made into sauce. Which might make it technically qualify as a Caesar expect for the very odd choice of lettuce that arrived as a kind of loaf with hard bitter centers that were impossible to eat. The waiter assured us that "some people love it!" implying of course that we were just idiots. Then there was the Melon. Six small balls of melon the size of chick peas. Some other kind of fruit, unrecognizable and red (not cherries). All covered in the famous white anchovy SAUCE. Net net: it was bland and strange and pretty in it's own way. The waiter tried to make it up to us. He gave me anchovies on the side and then finally took the charge off our bill. He brought us an endive & fuji apple salad which was nice and safe.

For the main course the girls split a chicken rotis with fries, I had the mussels and Xav had a steak. All of which was totally edible if unremarkable and certainly not worth the (get ready) $300 bill. The $111 bottle of wine was tasty enough, and one of our only choices as the least expensive.

We were disappointed. And we had to ask ourselves, when was the last time Thomas Keller actually ate here?

Never before tonight did I think Mr. Keller was the kind of guy who would sell out. Put his incredible name and reputation on a restaurant and then walk away. And to be fair, maybe it was just a bad night. Maybe the chef called in sick and the rest of the staff had to make do. But as far as I know this is how they like it in Vegas.

On the way back to the hotel, the cabbie earned the last word on the whole evening: Xav said "I can go round trip around Manhattan for $20, why does it cost so much to take a cab down the strip in Las Vegas?" And the cabbie said, with a straight face, "Because we want your money."

Well you got it from us tonight, Mr. Keller, but quite possibly for the last time.

(Update is here.)