Royally Flushed

Bouchon Las Vegas at The Venetian serves French bistro favorites with quality and precision.

Our favorite restaurant reviewer visits Bouchon at The Venetian –

Bouchon is an odd but worthy bird. Perched far away from the hubbub of The Venetian’s casino and shops, this brain-child of chef Thomas Keller is a shining example of “The Disneyland Effect”. That phenomenon is the re-working of a familiar entity, like New Orleans’s French Quarter, which ends up far grander, glossier and more polished than the real thing ever was.

In this case, the restaurant designer has taken the notion of a Parisian bistro and blown it up into an idealized, sanitized, over-sized and utterly beguiling stage set. Minus the nicotine stained walls and crusty old waiters, Bouchon is all the right stuff writ large — zinc countertops at the raw bar, gleaming tiled floors, chalkboard menus, an old-fashioned wall clock, artless floral arrangements and mega-yards of crisp white bistro aprons. Those aprons wrap a crew that is, for the most part, highly professional.

The food, too, is a gorgeous idealization of the real thing. Sorry Francophiles, but rare is the bistro in France that produces dishes of this quality and precision.

Starting with the crusty, yeasty, braided loaves of bread and super-rich butter — it’s dreamy stuff. The ultimate starter is the fabulously silky-smooth foie gras, cunningly served in a sealed jar.  At $49 it easily satisfies four. Raw oysters taste as if they’d just been harvested off the Breton coast and chubby escargot nestled in butter-soaked little pastry rounds are plenty garlicky.

Classic dark woods, traditional tile floors and servers in crisp white aprons give Bouchon an authentic Parisian feel.

Salads are inventive, utilizing contrasting ingredients for greatest taste appeal. The onion soup is perfectly balanced and draped with lip-blistering melted cheese.

Looking around the room it’s easy to see that moules rule - the big cast iron serving pot takes pride of place on many tables. Those mussels are plump and briny and the accompanying cone of golden fries (served properly with mayonnaise) are faultless. 

Whoever butchers the lamb legs extracts just the single most clean, dense part of the leg and it is always strictly done to order. Pork ribs aren’t the usual skinny, skimpy jobbers but instead big bones packed with lean, meltingly tender meat. And, anytime sausage is mentioned on the menu, go for it - the links are invariably deeply flavorful and surprisingly lean.

It’s tempting just to gorge on the sides starting with hedonistic macaroni gratin with the hauntingly smoky taste of Comte cheese. Potato puree is pure luxury personified.

Keep an eye on the chalkboard for specials like monkfish with a lobster-like texture and taste. Though, one night, a $14 squid salad, while amazingly delicious was also embarrassingly skimpy by Bouchon’s usual generous standards.

And desserts don’t exactly thrill — ice cream-filled profiteroles and lemon tart are okay but a selection of great cheeses with a glass of Armagnac is ever so much better.

Lift that glass to a restaurant concept that truly transcends its genre.

Tags: bistro, Bouchon, celebrity chef, cuisine, Dining, French food, Las Vegas, restaurant, review, Thomas Keller, top restaurant, Venetian