Atlas, located in St. Regis, is an upscale, swanky restaurant that has a very popular tasting menu. (They have an a-la-carte menu too but when I looked around, it seemed everyone was doing the tasting menu!) The service was very personal and the food tasted great with great presentation. It's pricy, as expected from anything in St. Regis. We went in October and this was the tasting menu we received:
Course 0: Amuse Bouche
The amuse bouche here was some small bites provided from the kitchen - a foie gras cookie with jam, some homemade chip with homemade dipping, a soft and crispy cracker with some beet powder salt and a small ball of deliciousness I can't remember exactly what it was. Everything was amazing and made me so excited of what's to come next.
Course 1: Kristal Caviar
It does seem like if you want a Michelin star, then some form of caviar must be on the menu. I love caviar, so I'm not complaining. This is served with otoro (the under-belly inside the tuna), and ponzu creme. The ponzu creme is in the middle there. The flowers tasted like chocolate. The caviar was below the first flower, and tuna was below the second flower. I'm not sure how I was supposed to eat this whole thing but it was delicious.
Course 2: A Waldorf Salad of Sorts
This was a deconstructed Waldorf salad, and they poured liquid nitrogen on top to create a beautiful white smoke. Everything in this salad was heavenly and I loved the presentation.
Course 3: Squash
They called this course Squash, but clearly there's more lobster than squash here, but who's complaining? There was also sea buckthorns in here and some kind of emulsion. Delicious.
Course 4: Hen's Egg
This course was a hen's egg, served with parsley, morels, and a pastry made with truffles. The two funny looking things towards the back of the photo is the pastry. The hen's egg had the colors of a century egg, sitting in a gravy type of sauce. The inside of the egg was soft. I dipped the bread in the gravy. My mouth is currently watering as I'm typing this because it was SO good. This was one of my favorite dishes of the night.
Course 5: Poached Halibut
When I first saw the halibut presented in a biscuit shape, I wasn't sure what to think of it, but once I took a stab at it, I realized it was actually very soft and tender. This came with beets three ways - pickled, fresh, and powdered. There was also some finger lime and regular lime in it. I never knew what finger lime was until I started dining at these restaurants recently. They call it the poor man's caviar, and it is so fitting. If you ever get your hands on some finger lime, try it. I loved this course.
Course 6: Westholme Wagyu
Westholme Wagyu is from Australia and turned out to be the only dish I was disappointed in in the night. The beef was very tender as expected but it was also very fatty. I've enjoyed Wagyu beef from Japan and Georgia and they've never been so greasy. I'm glad this beef wasn't too large because I could barely finish it without feeling nauseous. This was served with pickled watermelon, pickled onion, and a few other condiments. We were instructed to cut up the beef and eat each bite with an accompaniment which did help cut down how greasy the meat was.
Cheese Course
Now we were presented with an optional cheese course. I don't eat cheese so I was not interested in it. I did enjoy the presentation and the server was very knowledgeable about the cheese that was on display.
Course 7: Lime, Vanilla, Pineapple
This was our first dessert of the night and it came in a wine glass. This was delicious and not too sweet or too strong of any flavor. I loved the combination of everything in here.
Course 8: FM Rocher
Similar to a Ferrero Rocher, the FM Rocher is named after the culinary director and chef, Freddie Money. Taste like a Ferrero Rocher with vanilla, hazelnut and chocolate, this was absolutely amazing. When you crack open the ball, the inside spills onto the delicious crunches below, covers them in a chocolate and hazelnut glaze. Very good.
Mignardise
Last course was an assortment of mignardises such as gummy bears, mini ice cream cone, and some chocolates. We were pretty full at this point and didn't finish all the little candies but what we did try were great!
Congratulations to Atlas on earing a Michelin star and I think it's well deserved. read more