Opened in 1994, Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry remains one of the premier fine-dining destination in the Bay Area. The restaurant, specializes in classic French cuisine with American influences, has received numerous honors and accolades. It has been a three-star Michelin awarded restaurant since 2006, and a two-time winner of the title “Best Restaurant in the World” by The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants Academy.
Getting a weekend reservation at The French Laundry can be very difficult. Luckily with a friend’s help, we were able to secure a reservation for the Saturday night.
The French Laundry is housed in a rustic two-story stone house built in the 1990s. The structure was originally built as a saloon by a Scottish stonemason. The building later served as a residence, and during the 1920s operated as a French steam laundry, which the origin of the restaurant’s name. In 1978, the mayor of Yountville Don Schmitt and his wife Sally renovated the building into a restaurant, which Thomas Keller then purchased in 1994.
Our culinary journey started at The French Laundry Garden located directly across the street from the restaurant. This nearly 3-acre farm is planned, planted, and cultivated according to the season and the kitchen’s needs.
The garden is open to public, free to tour. Visitors can stroll through the garden using the grassy footpaths that run between the rows.
After the self-guided tour of the garden, we brushed the dirt off our shoes and headed to the restaurant.
The restaurant has 17 tables spread over two floors with the main dining room on the lower floor. The interior is classily simple, yet cozy and elegant.
Our table was on the second floor right next to the balcony that oversee the garden across the street.
The French Laundry serves two tasting menus daily: Chef’s Tasting Menu & Tasting of Vegetable, created using the finest quality ingredients and with no single ingredient is ever repeated throughout the meal. Both tasting menus are priced at $310 (service included), not including additional supplements such as foie gras and Japanese Wagyu.
I have to mention that the restaurant is no longer offering wine pairing by glass. Instead, ordering a couple half-bottles to pair with the tasting menu seems to be a common strategy. The French Laundry offers a collection of fine and rare wines from around the world, with a particularly strong half-bottle selection.
We started with the 2008 René Geoffroy, “Cuvée Empreinte,” Cumières, 1er Cru from France.
The meal opened with two amuse-bouche: gougère (cheese puffs) and salmon tartare with red onion crème fraîche in a cone.
The first course was a “sabayon” of pearl tapioca with island creek oysters and white sturgeon caviar. This is one of Thomas Keller’s signature dishes. The rich and buttery “sabayon” sauce worked well with the umami oysters and caviar.
The second course was walla walla sweet onions soup with hobbs’ bacon.
A bread basket with different varieties was served after the second course.
Recommended by the sommelier, we continued with the 2013 Senses Sonoma Coast Chardonnay to pair with the seafood courses.
Next came the first seafood course – sautéed John Dory fillet with satsuma “supremes”, Belgian endive, cilantro and Marcona almond butter. The fillet was nicely sautéed and lightly seasoned. It worked well with theMarcona almond buttery sauce.
Followed by the sweet butter poached lobster with globe artichokes, preserved Meyer lemon and Spanish caper-brown butter jus. The lobster was perfectly tender and flavorful. This was my favorite dish of the night and by far the best lobster dish I ever had.
We chose the 2012 Château Haut-Segottes Saint-Émilion Grand Cru from France to go with the meat courses.
The first meat course was Poularde (young fatty hen) with toasted grain “porridge”, cracked hen egg sauce, topped with ginger and crispy barley. The chicken was so moist and tender. Absolutely delicious!
There were a few supplement dishes on the menu and I opted-in for the Japanese Wagyu supplement – charcoal grilled Japanese Wagyu served with celery root “Remoulade” (traditional raw bistro salad), brisket stuffed celery branch and sauce périgourdine. The beef was cooked to a perfect medium rare, tender and juicy. I don’t know how much I liked the sauce périgourdine. When comes to steak, I do prefer only a light seasoning to allow me to appreciate the natural flavors of the meat.
Before dessert, a cheese course was served. The Ascutney Mountain cheese by Cobb Hill had a sweet, nutty and buttery flavor, which made a great transition to the dessert course.
Here they came – A LOT of desserts. Fruit, ice cream, chocolate, macarons, doughnut holes, candies, etc. They just kept on coming! I always believe that delicious desserts would make a great meal even better. The dessert course at The French Laundry definitely made a perfect ending to the meal!
The evening ended with a tour of their temporary kitchen and the newly renovated kitchen (no picture allowed, but it looked like the new kitchen is near completion).
We really enjoyed the evening at The French Laundry. The whole experience was absolutely fantastic. The service was one of the best we’ve experienced in the States. The staffs made us felt welcomed and relaxed throughout the evening. The food was good but properly not the best I’ve ever had. For me, The French Laundry is more about the experience than the food.
Visited: Dinner | Oct 29, 2016
The French Laundry
6640 Washington Street Yountville, CA 94599
Phone: (707) 944-2380
Hours: Mon-Sun 5:30pm-9:15pm; Lunch: Fri-Sun 11am-12:30pm
http://www.frenchlaundry.com/
Price: Chef’s Tasting Menu $310- Tasting of Vegetables $310- | Service Included (as of Oct 2016)
