L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, New York: Le Plat

In this, the second in a series of three installments focusing on L’Atelier (part 1 is here ; part 3 is here ), we’ll survey the dishes that skew more toward main courses rather than the tapas-sized portions that otherwise permeate the menu. The dishes you’ll see below represent countless visits over the course of several months, but you can be assured of a great meal whatever time of year you happen to drop by. Enjoy! Getting into the main fish courses, part of our very first meal included Le Bar, a sea bass filet with crispy baby leeks, tomato, and a lemongrass foam. Adam did not much care for this dish. He found the lemongrass foam to be a bit too strong. Also, the fried baby leeks on top were a bit dry, adding too stark a textural contrast to the warm and moist fish. Third, and perhaps most importantly, the portioning of the fish was significant enough that it actually caused palate fatigue for him after about the third bite. I should point out, though, th...