French Laundry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The French Laundry is a 62-person gourmet restaurant located in Yountville, California, in Napa Valley. The chef and owner of the French Laundry is Thomas Keller, who is also involved in the restaurants of Bouchon, in Napa Valley, and per se, in New York City.
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[edit] History of the building
The building was built as a saloon in the 1900s by a Scottish stonesman for Pierre Guillaume. A law was passed in 1906 prohibiting sale of alcohol within a mile of a veterans home. This caused Guillaume to sell the building.
In the 1920s the building was owned by John Lande who used it as a french steam laundry.
In 1978 the mayor of Yountville renovated the building into a restaurant. In 1994 Keller bought the building and named the restaurant to the French Laundry.
[edit] Food
There are three menus daily. Each is $210 (as of 2006) including service. One is a prix fixe menu; the second is a tasting menu, and the third is a vegetable tasting menu. Tasting menus consist of between five and eleven dishes, often with some optional courses (for example white truffles, foie gras or Wagyu beef) for about $30 more. Unadvertised but available by arrangement is a special tasting menu with approximately twenty courses at about $400. Thomas Keller's per se in New York shares a similar menu and pricing structure.
The food is mainly contemporary American with French influences, often based upon American food concepts and phrases but prepared according to high French culinary preparations, but draws upon the entire planet for inspiration. Most of the dishes are culinarily extravagant and dramatically presented. The dishes are served in either seven or nine courses. While ingredients such as 100-year-old balsamic vinegar are sourced world wide, Thomas Keller is also a champion of local family owned producers of exquisite quality produce, meats and other ingredients, including produce from the French Laundry's garden across the street. Thomas Keller's philosophy is a diversity and progression of small dishes with a variety of tastes and aesthetics (similar to kaiseki cuisine). An extended meal can stretch to as long as six hours, with a break suggested midway to relax in the French Laundry's garden.
Dishes are typically innovative and laborious to prepare, with many bearing whimsical names. Signatures dishes include Oysters and Pearls (oyster and caviar served on warm savory pearl tapioca custard), Surf and Turf (lobster tail with sauteed foie gras), Peas and Carrots (lobster knuckle meat wrapped in a pancake with carrot and butter emulsion sauce and pea shoots), Coffee and Doughnuts (miniature fried doughnuts with a small demitasse of espresso), and Yabba-Dabba-Doo (bone-in beef ribeye with crispy potatoes and prunes).
[edit] Awards and accolades
- 2006, three stars in the Michelin guide's first-ever ranking of the SF Bay Area
- 2005-2006, "Best Restaurant in the Americas," Restaurant (Magazine) Top 50.
- 2005-1999, Five-Star Award, Mobil Travel Guide
- 2004-2003, "Best Restaurant in the World," Restaurant (Magazine) Top 50.
- 2003, "Outstanding Service Award," James Beard Foundation
- 2003-1998, Voted #1 - Top Food, Zagat Guide to the Bay Area
- 2002 Awarded the top honor of World Master of Culinary Arts 2001, a 1st annual award given by Wedgwood
- 2001, "America's Best Chef," Time Magazine
- 2001, Outstanding Wine Service Award, James Beard Foundation
- 2000, "Favorite Restaurant in the U.S.," Food & Wine Restaurant Experts' Poll
- 2000, Inducted into "Who's Who in Food & Beverage," James Beard Foundation
