{"id":1355,"date":"2019-08-31T19:56:09","date_gmt":"2019-08-31T19:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1355"},"modified":"2019-08-31T19:56:09","modified_gmt":"2019-08-31T19:56:09","slug":"dining-at-the-french-laundry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1355","title":{"rendered":"Dining at The French Laundry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Power Tasting<\/em> is not in the business of reviewing restaurants and we won\u2019t be starting to do so now.\u00a0 But it is not saying much to state that The French Laundry, Thomas Keller\u2019s flagship restaurant, with its three Michelin stars, is the best eatery in Yountville.\u00a0 Maybe in all of California.\u00a0 Possibly the United States.\u00a0 We\u2019ll leave it to others to say where it stands in the world\u2019s gastronomic pantheon.\u00a0 In this edition of Power Tasting<\/em>, focused on Yountville, we would be remiss if we didn\u2019t talk about our experiences there.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve dined at The French Laundry a few times.\u00a0 The first was just a short while after it opened in 1978, prior to Mr. Keller\u2019s involvement. We were on a wine tasting trip with friends, passed by on a Saturday afternoon and walked in, asking if we could still get lunch.\u00a0 Try doing that today!\u00a0 The contents of that meal are lost in the fog of time, but not the overall experience.\u00a0 We were seated upstairs by a window, looking out on the farms \u2013 not vineyards \u2013 of Yountville, including one just across the street.\u00a0 The fare on the menu included chicken from this farm and lamb from that one\u2026and the farms were in walking distance.<\/p>\n

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The French Laundry today.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of thomaskeller.com<\/em><\/p>\n

Today, The French Laundry is on a section of Washington Street that is largely residential, but shopping, hotels and tasting rooms are not far away.\u00a0 The only remnant of yesteryears\u2019 farms is the French Laundry\u2019s private garden just opposite the restaurant.\u00a0 Last year, Thomas Keller has completely renovated the restaurant, spending $10 million to make it very modern.<\/p>\n

In 1998, we dined there after Mr. Keller had taken over.\u00a0 The highlight was that we were invited into the kitchen to meet Chef Keller.\u00a0 The stainless steel surfaces gleamed and a small army of cooks scurried around making last minute dishes and making sure that all was in good order.<\/p>\n

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The French Laundry\u2019s kitchen.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of thomaskeller.com<\/em><\/p>\n

In 2014, we were riding on the New York subway when we saw Mr. Keller across the car, on his way to Per Se, his East Coast equivalent of The French Laundry.\u00a0 A few weeks before, the New York Times had published an article about Mr. Keller and a favorite recipe he used to make for his father.\u00a0 We tried it at home and loved it. We all got out at the same station and we took a few minutes to speak with the chef, extol his restaurants and cookbooks and say how much we enjoyed the recipe of his that had appeared in the newspaper. He was very friendly and talkative.\u00a0 On the basis of that \u201cdeep, personal relationship\u201d we wrote Mr. Keller requesting a table at French Laundry for a wine tasting trip we were planning several months hence.\u00a0 It worked.<\/p>\n

As it happened, the dinner coincided with Lucie\u2019s birthday that year.\u00a0 When we arrived, the staff wished her a happy birthday, and that wish was repeated on the custom-printed menu we were given.\u00a0 Again the meal was astonishingly good, but then something totally unexpected occurred.\u00a0 The power went out in Yountville and the restaurant was shrouded in darkness, but only for a few minutes.\u00a0 The staff brought out stout candles and placed them all around the restaurant and along the stairs.\u00a0 French Laundry is beautiful as it is; by candlelight it\u2019s extraordinary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Power Tasting is not in the business of reviewing restaurants and we won\u2019t be starting to do so now.\u00a0 But it is not saying much to state that The French Laundry, Thomas Keller\u2019s flagship restaurant, with its three Michelin stars, is the best eatery in Yountville.\u00a0 Maybe in all of California.\u00a0 Possibly the United States.\u00a0 … Continue reading Dining at The French Laundry<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1355"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1358,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355\/revisions\/1358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}