L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

[Bux]

Let me highly recommend mogsob's link to R.W. Apple Jr.'s Out of Retirement, Into the Fire in today's The New York Times Dining & Wine section. It's nice to see the Times pick the right man for the right job.

mogsob, why do you feel the place sounds Italian? My sense was that it almost sounded Spanish ("'Ibérico de Bellota,' gazpacho and gambas à la plancha" vs "vitello tonnato, spaghetti, and chicken and foie gras cannelloni"). I assume we're both bringing our own prejudices, or at least loves and experiences to this, and that the world, especially the culinary world, is a lot smaller than it's ever been and great chefs, even French chefs who eschew fusion, have a global vision. When Apple spoke of "sweet, tender, transparent disks of raw scampi, filmed with mild olive oil, probably from Provence,' I wanted to ask how he was sure it wasn't Spanish olive oil. But if it was Italian, it wouldn't change my view. We had a superb lunch at a little tasca in Madrid serving a combination of traditional Asturian cooking and contemporary food. There on the table for us to enjoy was an open bottle of extra virgin olive oil from Italy. It's a small world.

"In a sense, the Atelier is a first cousin of a tapas bar or a sushi bar, with small plates listed on the left side of the menu and more substantial dishes over on the right" is one of the key descriptions to the style of Robuchon's workshop (l'Atelier de Robuchon) restaurant. I've never seen a sushi bar that offered large and small plates, but the image works, at least for those plates that are quickly prepared and served at a counter. The tapas bar image is better in my mind. Although nothing eludes a precise definition than what a tapas bar is or should be, In Madrid and Andalucia, it can be a place where one can get a snack sized dish, a half order and a full portion of a large variety of prepared hot and cold foods. Often one can order the same dish in three different sized portions and more often than not, the counter is the preferred place to sit or stand even when there are tables.

The French may not be ready for haute cuisine cocktail parties (see fresh_a's party above). What Robuchon seems to have done is formalize the eating of haute cuisine on the run (grazing?) by providing stools. It's somewhat a disappointment not to know that I can't sit down at a table and enjoy his cooking at leisure, but I have to applaud Robuchon for providing what seems to be an excellent example of an alternative to the French. My first exposure to food in France, back in the sixties, turned my head so much that I quickly adopted an attitude that when it came to food and dining, the French did everything right and Americans did everything wrong. As for the Spaniards and Italians, well they did some things right, but had a lot to learn. In my defense, I can only say I was young, impressionable and at an age when many join a cult where they are not nearly fed as well. One of the first things we questioned was the paucity of options when one wasn't in the mood for three or more full courses. 'Atelier de Robuchon is too much of a destination restaurant to imagine having less than three course and my guess is that most of us will make a much longer meal of it than should be had sitting on stools, but after it's found it's niche in the neighborhood, my guess is that it's a place many will use the place very freely between its 7:00 PM opening time and 2:00 AM closing as a place to grab a fine snack on the way out on the town or on the way home late at night. That many will use it as a chance to eat good food without having to spend time at a table, is perhaps a sign of the times and one that doesn't please me as much, but I'll credit Robuchon for providing great food for that market and not blame him for creating it. It's also apparently a way for someone to try fantastic haute cuisine food without paying for the ceremony.

[mogsob]

mogsob, why do you feel the place sounds Italian? My sense was that it almost sounded Spanish ("'Ibérico de Bellota,' gazpacho and gambas à la plancha" vs "vitello tonnato, spaghetti, and chicken and foie gras cannelloni").

This was the quote that got me thinking "Italian": "

"None of this should suggest that Mr. Robuchon has embraced fusion cooking. Rather, his new approach is eclectic, rooted in ideas from many countries, using the finest ingredients prepared unpretentiously if inventively. He has reverted to fundamentals, rethinking, primping, but keeping it simple."

To me, that is the hallmark of a great Italian restaurant. The setting/service may be more influenced by the tapas and sushi bars of Spain and Japan, respectively, but if I had to define Italian cuisine, I couldn't do much better than "using the finest ingredients prepared unpretentiously if inventively" and "keeping it simple."

[Bux]

I don't have solid first hand experience with Italian cooking. I've been there three times--twice on a limited budget and even the last trip was long ago, but it seems as if Robuchon is too creative to be typically Italian. On the other hand, my personal opinion is that he's his own man these days and doesn't not fit easily in any particular niche. One might argue that he's not his own man since Apple describes his cooking as eclectic rather than fusion. I dislike the word "fusion" only because I associate it with flavors that didn't fuse on my plate, but eclectic is worse in a way in that it implies a certain lack of creativity. The gazpacho remains Spanish and vitello tonatto stays Italian. The twentieth century has valued creativity above all else. Certainly that's the heritage of art in the past 100 years and even accountants are admired and prized for their creativity--if they can stay out of jail. I've been a supporter of the concept of chef as a creative artist. Maybe Robuchon is telling us not to throw out the baby with the bathwater and that there are centuries of development behind those classics.

[hollywood]

Here's a link to Patricia Wells' review. http://www.iht.com/articles/97191.html

[Bux]

Time will tell if this will work. And, bravo, there is no smoking allowed in the restaurant. --P. Wells

I find that particularly thoughtful of Robuchon, especially at a counter where you will be next to strangers. André Daguin is no longer at the Hotel de France in Auch, but I have his, Regis Marcon and Michel Bras' tabel tents with polite requests that guests smoke in the lounges and not the dining room. Now if something can done about the perfume I have to endure at times ...

[Andy Lynes]

Hold the front page : Robuchon in glowing review from Patricia Wells shock

[hollywood]

Hold the front page : Robuchon in glowing review from Patricia Wells shock 

You're right. It's like Pauline Kael reviewing an Altman film.

[vserna]

A friend tried six times in three days to get a table last week. Thoroughly impossible.

[fresh_a]

My friend waited 15 minutes and got in...

[mogsob]

Got a two-fer on a weekend day trip on Eurostar. Thinking of taking in DaVinci at the Louvre and heading over to Robuchon for a late lunch/early supper before the trip back.

Can I safely assume that if I arrive somewhere between 4:30 and 6:00 that (a) the restaurant will be serving and (b) I'll be able to snag 2 stools pretty easily? I think I read somewhere that the restaurant would serve continuously, but just wanted to check before I hiked all the way over to the 7th.

Thanks!

[Bux]

Can I safely assume that if I arrive somewhere between 4:30 and 6:00 that (a) the restaurant will be serving and (b) I'll be able to snag 2 stools pretty easily?  I think I read somewhere that the restaurant would serve continuously, but just wanted to check before I hiked all the way over to the 7th.

From the Patricia Wells review on the IHT web site, " L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, 5 Rue de Montalembert, Paris 7; tel: 01-42-22-56-56. All major credit cards; à la carte, about E50 a person, including service but not wine. Open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 to midnight. Reservations are not accepted."

It would appear that the restaurant will not be serving continuously as I aslo read earlier, and will be taking a three hour break from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. You could call when you're in Paris.

[robert brown]

After reading a few reports about Atelier Robuchon in various formats, it eventually occurred to me that there is a potentially interesting linguistic aspect that everyone seems to have overlooked. As students of art know, a work of art attributed to an atelier is a step down from one attributed to the master whose atelier it was. One of the most vivid and relatively recent examples of this is encountered in the collecting of the posters of the legendary A.M. Cassandre, whose posters for the SS Normandie and the trains Etoile du Nord and Nord-Express are icons of Art Deco graphic design. From time to time, however, one encounters posters signed “At. Cassandre” (Atelier Cassandre) that are worth less than the great examples that are signed “A.M. Cassandre”. Because Cassandre did not execute these posters, which instead were designed by his hired hands, they lack various creative qualities that the master himself possessed, and are therefore valued at much less.

In a question that maybe only a native French speaker can answer, is Robuchon subtly implying that a customer at his restaurant (and future Atelier Robuchons) should not expect the food to be authentic Robuchon, but something by a hired hand and once-removed from the master? Admittedly this is a point that will certain slip by just about everyone. Yet, I have to believe that this is why Robuchon chose the name that he did instead of another one (Restaurant Joel Robuchon above all ). On one hand he would like us to believe that Restaurant Joel Robuchon has been reincarnated in a lower form of life, but on the other, should anyone question it, he can always say, “Why do you think I call it an atelier"?

And one more thing: What were the odds of Patricia Wells panning her collaborator’s restaurant? Did she have any business reviewing it? Is every restaurant reviewer employed by the New York Times Corporation obliged to refer to Robuchon’s original restaurant as “eponymous”?

[pirate]

Thank you for your perceptive and intelligent comment. As usual, I should add.

[Bux]

An interesting take Robert. I'm not sure I agree with it. I think Robuchon chose a name that means studio or workshop in English, not because it was his attempt to back away from personal responsibility, but because of it's association with honest work and creative work. In France, both an auto mechanic and a fine artist would have an "atelier." It also seems to be the vogue for Spanish chefs to use words like that. Doesn't Adria call his winter kitchen a laboratory--which in Spanish has much the same meaning as workshop--and isn't there a similar name used for a pastry shop in Barcelona. I think it's part of a trend. Of course with the open kitchen, everyone will know he is, or isn't, there at any time.

There has been speculation that the Atelier de Joël Robuchon is ripe for franchising. Perhaps that supports your contention. Perhaps future culinary historians will refer to the food of Robuchon, l'Atelier de Joël Robuchon and that of his disciples as "school of Robuchon."

"Epnonymous," in this day when chefs annoint their restaurants with their given or family names, must be the most overused word in restaurant reviews. Has anyone ever spoken of the Yankees' eponymous stadium? Maybe sports writers never studied for the SATs.

As for the IHT and Patricia Wells, she is their only food journalist and Paris is her beat. Surely the IHT could have carried the NY Times article by R.W. Apple, but one could easily argue that no one is better qualified to explain what Robuchon is trying to do than the journalist who has worked closely with him. It's not a review as in the NY Times where the restaurant is scored and measured against the competition and Patricia Wells' report seems as fair and professional as R.W. Apple's. The restaurant is open to public scrutiny, Ms. Wells writes openly under her own name and her professional relationship with Robuchon is certainly widespread public knowledge.

[Bux]

Let me add that "Atelier" also infers that the restaurant may be a work in progress and that the food may be expected to change. I think it also implies an informality as opposed to "restaurant."

[Jon Tseng]

Let me add that "Atelier" also infers that the restaurant may be a work in progress and that the food may be expected to change. I think it also implies an informality as opposed to "restaurant."

It there connection to that series of books which came out a few years ago - "Atelier de Joel Robuchon", "Atelier d'Alain Ducasse" &tc? From what I remember they were quite big, expensive had lots of pictures and a lot of of recipes by the disciple of the chef rather than the chef himself

cheerio

J

[robert brown]

What may be the most interesting recent phenomenon in high-profile chefdom and restaurant-going is this bandying-about of the word "atelier". Bux puts forth two variations: a workplace structure and a laboratory for experimentation. I evoked the apprentice or worker/master concept, and, if memory serves me correctly, Jon Tseng's mentioning of the Robuchon book recalls to me that Robuchon used "atelier" to mean "groomed by Robuchon" chefs who have gone out on their own to varying amounts of glory or recognition. So what is "atelier" and what does it mean? Is it a recognition that preparing high-quality food is somehow comparable to what goes on in a painter's studio? Is it some obfuscation to mask the down-sizing and democratization of what was once "haute cuisine?" Or is Atelier Robuchon, as I half-jokingly said to my wife, a half-way station between his former three-star establishment and the return of the self-service restaurant?

[mogsob]

Robert, a very interesting and perhaps correct prognostication/interpretation. I initially took this as Robuchon's co-opting of the term atelier as it is used in the fashion world -- an atelier is where a designer creates haute couture (original and unique) designs to order. In all, I hope I am correct and you are wrong on this one!

[hollywood]

This is like Macy's telling Gimbel's. Here's a detailed commentary by Joe H. from Chowhound's International Board. Don't know if he's right or wrong, but he's definitely got an opinion. http://www.chowhound.com/boards/intl/messa...ages/19460.html

[Matthew Grant]

A friend tried six times in three days to get a table last week. Thoroughly impossible.

Au Contraire, you just need patience. This restaurant is the great leveller when it comes to geting a table, have your car parked by the valet for a mere 8 euros and then join the back of the queue

If you are prepared to join that queue you will get in, however thye arrangements are quite bizarre and they wil have to start taking reservations very soon in my opinion.

Now, what do you want first Robuchon or El Bulli?

[Joe H]

There is no valet. In fact parking spaces were at a premium in this rather out of the way neighborhood. On Sunday at 5:00PM (It opened at 6:30) there were people constantly milling about the front of the restaurant, reading the posted menu, peering inside, even knocking on the door. At 6:10 three people "positioned" themselves directly in front of the door and within 5 minutes a line formed and immediatly swelled to 40 or so. At 6:15 anyone who joined the line knew they would not be in the first service.

As I noted in my Chowhound post I don't think Parisians are going to promote this restaurant. This past Sunday the 42 or so in line were at least two thirds American. Certainly two thirds of the language that I had heard was English with virtually none of this English accented. To go a step further I believe there were actually few French in the line. My analogy to K-Paul's in 1981 I sincerely believe is an appropriate one. Locals will not support this restaurant. It will succeed on the basis of tourists, especially Americans.

[Matthew Grant]

There was a valet on Thursday! I agree with you Joe, the restaurant was full of Americans and there was very little evidence of Parisians. Our waiter was happy to speak French and the food was good, especially the milk fed lamb (it must of been taken from its mother moments after birth) and the 'Canneloni' of poulet Bresse and Foie Gras. The Chartreuse Souffle was superb. Highlight of the evening was two couples who had obviously made friends in Paris. My French is poor but one of the girls seemed determined to speak french to the waiters despite not appearing to speak any French. She questioned every dish and just nodded, ahh'd and ummed at the waiters before announcincg that the "Boeuf Entrecote" was "a take on Entrecote steak" and thinking that Vin Blanc was red wine (this made her blush heavily). The husband of the other couple then announced that the cup of Lobster boullion was "obviously prepared by a master chef" and then looked longingly at his wife's parmesan, asparagus and morel salad and saying "Look at all those whole truffles, fantastic" at which point the other 3 didn't correct him but nodded in agreement" Hilarious, I could have sat there all night listening to them but had to leave as we were having to stifle our laughs and it was quite clear we weren't laughing at our own witty repartee.

50 Euros a head is unlikely unless you stick to the 'tapas' style tasters ranging between 6 and approximately 20 Euros. 'Plates' were more expensive ranging anything up to 45 Euros. Our bill was a whopping 260 Euros including 5 of the smaller dishes, 2 plates, 3 desserts, 2 glasses of champagne and a 55 Euro bottle of wine. A pleasurable experience although the queuing/reservation sysytem is ridiculous. e.g. the queue is very long, the people at the front were a group of 3. A single diner left and the lady on the door chose to take the single diner at the back of the queue rather than wait for the seats either side to become available. In theory this could go on all night long. Towards the end of the night we were asked to shift along a seat to allow a group of four to squeeze in and when we arrived people were dwelling over thei wine for over an hour, as is their right, however, in this setting they will have to introduce time limits and a reservation system. The girl trying to allocate seating looked increasingly distressed as the night wore on.

He may not be looking for stars and the venue may be too casual for them but my food was definitely at the one star level already. Incidentally, the open kitchen seemed only to preparing the meat and fish grills, a lot of dishes were actually being passed into the kitchen from chefs in traditional whites hidden somewhere out back.

[Felice]

Joe,

I'm just curious if maybe the reason that most of the clientel were American was because you were there so early. Most people in Paris don't even think about eating until at least 8 or 8:30 and in the summer it is even later. Any restaurant (if you can find one open) would be full of Americans at 6pm.

Also, L'Atelier is getting a lot of attention in Paris and has been written up in all of the French press.

[Matthew Grant]

I think I cqn answer this. If you wanted to eat at 20:30 you would have to be there around 19:00. As Joe said the restaurant is filling up immediately and the only way to get in is to join the queue. Even the people arriving at 23:00 were mainly American when I was there. The queuing situation is ridiculous and once the initial fuss dies down I am sure they will change the 'no reservation' policy. The weather has been kind to them so far, it was a warm week in paris while I wa there. What happens when it is cold and rainnig. Its not like you can even get put on a list, have a drink and come back later.

[Bux]

Queuing up for a dinner table, excuse me I mean a seat at the bar, seems so un French and so un Parisian. I mean this is a city where a reservation at a good restaurant means you have the table for the night. I applaud Robuchon for introducing a new dimension or at least new options for hungry Parisians, but I wonder if Parisians will take to standing in line for dinner. The French idolize chefs, but not in the way Americans do and I may have to agree with Joe about the way this place will fit into the Paris dining scene.