A French Laundry virgin

A satisfying first time leaves a "French Laundry virgin" hungry for more

Accolades for The French Laundry restaurant in Yountville have been stacking up for years. The New York Times called chef Thomas Keller’s Napa Valley restaurant “the most exciting place to eat in the United States.” Esquire, Gourmet, Bon Appetit, USA Today, Wine Spectator and Zagat Survey concur: The French Laundry is one of, if not the best restaurant in the country, and it’s right here in our own backyard. I’ve read countless articles about Keller’s whimsical genius and his search for perfection. For me, dining there would be a “once-in-a-lifetime” experience. I had to have it. I finally booked a lunch reservation for two.
    If you miss the brass plaque on the building, you can easily overlook this restaurant. Built of river rock and timber in 1900, the two-story structure fits right into the architectural mix of Yountville’s main drag, Washington Street. The day my friend Margaret and I arrived, it was hot, but the restaurant’s small rooms were cool as we were led to one of six tables for two (the restaurant seats 62 on two floors). Skirted in tapestry and topped with white linen, our table was set with white china chargers and The French Laundry’s signature pleated napkins, each cinched with a wooden clothespin bearing the restaurant’s name in navy blue. We were given menus, a glass of Champagne and a little plate of two gougères–puff pastries made with Gruyère cheese. There are three menus—a chef’s tasting menu of nine courses, a tasting of vegetables (also nine courses), and a lunch menu of seven courses—all of them prix fixe ($175, not including wine). The menus contained so many French phrases, I wished I’d brought along my Food Lover’s Companion, the mega-dictionary of culinary terms.
    Margaret and I both opted for the chef’s tasting menu so we could talk about the food while we ate. Menus were removed and out came a pair of Keller’s famous salmon tartare cornets, looking like tiny pink ice cream cones, set in a Lucite server. Finely minced raw salmon, sweet red onion and crème fraîche melded into a palate-pleasing texture. Our waiter brought chilled soups (one avocado and one mizuna, a bitter Japanese green). Next was linguine with truffles, and I found myself lingering because I wanted those four bites to last forever. That was followed by white truffle custard with infused truffles. So far I’d savored five divine little tastes—served on a “whim” as Keller likes to say—and not one of them was on the menu.
    Early in the prelude, Jesse, our sommelier, asked us for choices from the wine list. Despite my objection to anything more than another glass of Champagne, he insisted we consider a few wine and food pairings so we could enjoy “the full French Laundry experience.” We yielded and were glad. Jesse knew exactly how to entice us from Champagne to Chablis to pinot noir to cabernet sauvignon to Muscat. The wines were from small wineries, some of them bottled just for The French Laundry. Jesse recounted the virtues of each, telling us why each wine went with each dish. It seemed almost hypnotic, like being read to in bed.
    While I was sitting there, still thinking about the white truffle custard (the best three bites of food I’d ever eaten), the menu’s first course arrived. (And there were eight more to come, one after another.) There was the cauliflower panna cotta with oyster glaze and Russian sevruga caviar; hearts of peach palm salad with grilled pineapple; halibut with marinated heirloom tomatoes and basil pistou (like pesto without the pine nuts or cheese); Maine lobster tail (the best I’ve ever tasted) with Chanterelle mushrooms and green beans; Devil’s Gulch Ranch rabbit with red onion marmalade and pink pearl apple coulis; Snake River Farm beef with a ragout of corn, fennel and peppers; a cheese course with black truffles and a potato “mille-feuille” (like a deep-fried little “book” with pages of potato slices); mango sorbet with génoise (a little cake); and a chocolate tentation (a molded, mousse-like confection) with Madagascar-vanilla ice cream, hazelnut streusel and sweetened, salty hazelnuts. Plus a little to-go bag of cookies and candies for “when we get hungry later.”
    Each course was beautifully presented, narrated and choreographed. We asked about ingredients of a particular course because we wanted to remember what was making us coo and purr. (I don’t usually coo and purr about food, but the little sounds we were making as we ate seemed more akin to having sex than eating. We just couldn’t help ourselves. Each course was breathtaking and left us wanting more.)
    Without reservation, I can say dining at The French Laundry is a sensory adventure into provocative food and voluptuous wines. Members of the wait staff create a web of welcome with absolutely zero snobbery. Thomas Keller takes diners for a long, leisurely ride through fragrances, flavors and textures that elevate food to art and make dining seem almost sacred. (Margaret and I agreed that if we were devout Catholics, this would be like meeting the pope.) When we left after our four-hour sojourn, all flush, happy and satisfied, another departing diner inquired, “Have you eaten at The French Laundry before?” We declared simultaneously, “This is our first time!” With a smile and a wink, he responded, “Oh! French Laundry virgins.”
    Not anymore. I can’t stop thinking about that linguine with truffles. Forget what I said about a “once-in-a-lifetime” experience. I’m going back.

The French Laundry, 6640 Washington St., Yountville, serves dinner daily and lunch Friday through Sunday; $175, prix fixe. Make reservations (two months in advance) by phone at (707) 944-2380 daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Be patient and you’ll get through. Menus (and sometimes prices) change daily.

Do you like what you read? Subscribe to Solano Magazine »