The sole looked less impressive than the one in Las Vegas, smaller, burnt-butter-brown rather than golden-brown in color, with shorter and consequently less impressive-looking bones sticking up. I thought the fish had a bit more flavor in Las Vegas, too. The next course was not lobster but a cube of perfectly roasted duck foie gras, seasoned with mustard seeds and luxuriating in a smooth, seductive sauce based on red cabbage; alongside it was a little sphere of cabbage, strewn with truffle threads, enclosing puréed Jerusalem artichoke lightly flavored with horseradish. The brioche with the truffled-artichoke soup that followed seemed more buttery in flavor than in Las Vegas; the sweetbreads and their chaussons were all but identical to their American cousins. Again came countless sweet things.
The verdict? While I prefer the more intimate feeling of the Paris dining room and find the wine list a touch more interesting and the service a little bit more knowledgeable there, I’m convinced that the food in Las Vegas is absolutely the equal of its French counterpart. Pricing is similar at both locations, although the prix-fixe Menu Prestige, $290 in Las Vegas, runs $340 in Paris (the euro’s exchange rate also contributes to the disparity).
Savoy must be pleased by how well things are working, because a third Guy Savoy is now under construction, in Moscow. It will be an elaborate affair—a serious restaurant on the Paris or Las Vegas level, as well as a bistro serving specialties both Russian and French and a cellar for cigars and premium alcohols. “It won’t be open for at least another year,” Savoy tells me. “Things are much more difficult in Russia than they are in America.”
Restaurant Guy Savoy 18 Rue Troyon, 17th, Paris (01-43-80-40-61)
Restaurant Guy Savoy Caesars Palace 3570 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas (877-346-4642)
Left Bank Guy
Guy Savoy was one of the first Michelin-starred Paris chefs (along with Michel Rostang) to open a casual bistro as a counterpoint to his more serious restaurant—in his case, the 20-seat Bistro de L’Étoile, which appeared in 1988 directly across the Rue Troyon from Restaurant Guy Savoy. “It was never really a commercial venture,” he says. “Just a place for friends.” Nonetheless, he went on to open two more L’Étoiles nearby. “But I wanted real restaurants, not bistros,” he says, so seven years ago he closed them all.
Today, in their place, are four restaurants “with Guy Savoy”: La Butte Chaillot, not far from the Rue Troyon; Le Chiberta, in the 8th arrondissement; and two places on the Left Bank. One is the venerable Atelier Maître Albert, which has been converted into a stylish place with black walls, slate tabletops crossed with orange paper place mats, and a bank of rotisseries at one end of the room. The food is hearty and generous—a heroic salad of seasonal leaves with sautéed chicken livers; artichoke soup enhanced not with truffles but with wild mushrooms and a swirl of gingerbread cream; perfect roast chicken with a potato purée that seems more like a butter purée with a bit of potato stirred in.
Les Bouquinistes (named for those Seine-side booksellers who operate out of dark-green wooden stalls) is the other. It is smaller, brighter, and a bit more pretentious, with a less tradition-bound menu. Very nice soy-marinated tuna comes with a superfluous lemon-ginger sorbet—but the snails and chanterelles with chive gnocchi and the oversize shrimp with mild saté spices and pea risotto are delicious.
Atelier Maître Albert 1 Rue Maître-Albert, 5th (01-56-81-30-01); three-course meal, about $75.
Les Bouquinistes 53 Quai des Grands-Augustins, 6th (01-43-25-45-94); tasting menu, $105.
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