RESTAURANTS > Joël Robuchon Strides In

JOËL ROBUCHON’S flight from Paris to New York last Wednesday landed at 5 p.m., two hours late. Without even checking in at the Four Seasons hotel, he went directly to its new restaurant, L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, which is scheduled to open to the public today.

With only a week to go before the restaurant’s debut, any stress he was feeling did not show. He was ready to get to work.

Mr. Robuchon, a Michelin three-star chef whose creativity and perfectionism have kept him at the pinnacle of the culinary world, has become conspicuously active since he “retired” 10 years ago, expanding the number of restaurants that bear his name and changing his approach so that it’s more casual. He made his first foray into the particularities of the American palate last year in Las Vegas. He describes that venture these days as a warm-up for the scary, tough crowd in New York.

Last week, he was finally seeing his latest restaurant in its completed state — clearly he knew the clock was ticking. His first reaction was general approval.

Then he took a closer look.

The woven black vinyl Chilewich placemats were redundant on black pebbled leather tabletops and had to go. Ditto the red water tumblers with rims that were too thick. The ice cream in a cherry dessert wasn’t working to his taste either.

The next morning, back in the restaurant, he was still obsessed with details. His slightly hooded, piercing blue eyes seemed to miss nothing.

From a few of the seats at the dining counter, the signature feature of the Atelier de Joël Robuchon format, he noticed that it was possible to glimpse the fluorescent-lighted back kitchen. That was wrong: the show kitchen in front was all he wanted seen. Doors would have to be installed. In addition, some of the messy working parts of the black granite front kitchen were ruining its looks and would also have to be concealed.

His entourage, including a group of managers from Paris, responded to each request with a crisp “Oui, Chef.”

After warmly greeting the pastry chef, Kazutoshi Narita, who had been in the Tokyo and Las Vegas versions of the restaurant, and for whom he is full of praise, he segued into the ice cream. “The dessert had that perfect combination of crunch and unctuousness, but the ice cream should not be made in a Pacojet,” he said, a convenient extra-fast, $3,500 Swiss appliance that is used in many high-end restaurant kitchens. “It never melts. Ice cream has to be creamy, like velvet. Pacojet may be easier to use, but easy does not mean best.”

Then, addressing the waiters in their black mandarin-collar suits, he asked if they were too warm. Most of them assured him that they were just fine.

All but a few of the waiters, who represent about a dozen countries — France, incidentally, not among them — are longtime employees of the hotel who have spent a month training to work in the new restaurant. They even learned some basic French. About two-thirds of the kitchen staff is new to the Four Seasons, including the chef, Yosuke Suga; the sous-chef, Gregory Pugin; the pastry chef; and his assistant, Satomi Kanai. These four have worked with Mr. Robuchon for years.

By mid-afternoon on Thursday (T-minus-6 and counting), Mr. Robuchon had reorganized some of the work stations in the kitchen, decided to change the dinnerware and insisted that spaghetti be added to the menu as a plat du jour. “You have to have spaghetti,” he said. “People love it, especially when they only want one dish, and when they bring their kids.”

Even though L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon is by now a formula, in concept, design and menu, each one he has opened has required similar tweaking. “It’s normal,” he said.

New York is his fourth, with London to follow in about a month. Offers have been made for him to open in Chicago and Singapore.

“The interest I’ve had in this concept has convinced me that its informality and conviviality, where you can have just one dish or a whole dinner, is the way people want to eat today,” he said. “In addition, you have the theatrical aspect, of being able to watch the food prepared.”

Formula or not, Mr. Robuchon has qualms about New York. “New York is difficult,” he said. “It’s hypercritical and unforgiving. Look what happened to Ducasse.” He was referring to the devastating reception that Alain Ducasse, another Michelin three-star chef, received in June 2001, when Alain Ducasse at the Essex House made its much-anticipated debut.