Thomas Keller's The French Laundry has won numerous awards and is certainly food critics acclaimed. It's the only Michelin 3-star restaurant in its San Francisco restaurant guide for 4 years (or for as long as Michelin guide existed for the bay area). Chef Keller is the only chef born outside France who owns 2 Michelin 3-star restaurants at the same time (the other is Per Se, in NYC). Ruth Rechl, the then New York Times food critic, called The French Laundry "the most exciting place to eat in the United States"; Restaurant magazine elected it as the best restaurant in the world for 2 years (2003 - 2004).
Is it that good?
I have had a chance to find out.
October 21 was my 10th wedding anniversary. How many 10-year's does one have in their lifetimes? So I had to eat at the French Laundry! Let's talk about reservation. As all the guides on the web said about reservation at the French Laundry, it was all about persistence. The reservation was open exactly 2 calendar months before the date of dining. In my case, it was August 21st. The phone line was open at 10AM pacific time. My wife and I tested the phone number at 9:30, to make sure we got the right number. It was the recorded message that time of course. Then, we started bombing the poor number from 9:57AM, using 3 phones simultaneously. All busy tones. Kept redialing. I finally got through at 10:17AM, a recorded message asked me to hold for the next available reservationist. By the time she picked up my line, 10:22AM, only tables left, 5:45PM or 9:15PM. I picked 5:45 because my son likely wouldn't survive a dinner ending after midnight. After providing my information and, most importantly, my credit card number (so that they can charge me $100 per person if I cancel within 3 days or no-show), it was done - table for 3 at 5:45PM of October 21, 2010. Before I hung up, I asked about my son. She said it was my discretion, however, they didn't have a children's menu, nor high chairs, and the meal lasted long. Okay... what I heard was yes, kids were allowed, as long as they could behave themselves.
It took us almost 2 hours driving from bay area to Yountville in the afternoon. Traffic was generally good except sluggishness due to traffic lights on highway 29. As we had heard, there was a garden right across the street of the restaurant, where the restaurant got the fresh vegetables from. We parked our car outside the garden and surveyed the restaurant. It was an old building. In the 20's the building was used as a French steam laundry. That's how the restaurant got its name.
Now the show started. Let me tell you about the French Laundry in 3 aspects - food, service, and perception.
Food
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Food was good. I opted for the chef's tasting menu and my wife, the vegetables menu (I'll talk about my son's dishes later). Both were 9-course.
Food portion was small, but adequate in a 9-course meal. However, for the stellar ingredients, the use was generous. For example, in the "Oysters and Pearls" dish, there was a good scoop of White Sturgeon Caviar. For example, there were first and second amuse before the first course.
Presentation was simple and elegant. Please see pictures for your own judgement. There was no stacking layered presentation, no cube-sized ratatouille arranged in alternating colors, nor artistic drawings using the sauce.
Vegetables were fresh and turned perfectly. Seafood (cod, scallops, lobsters) were cooked just right, tender but not raw. Rabbit was chewy but tasted good. Lamb was juicy and pink. I remember reading an article on the French Laundry kitchen on San Francisco Chronicle quite recently. In it, Keller explained "if the cooks taste each component, and know the flavor profiles work, the finished product will also work". In my experience, each individual component was well done, the combinations were somehow missing something.
There was no dramatic taste difference among the dishes. There was no increased depth of taste with each new course. I guess, the taste was good, but not subtle. Customers dine at up-scale restaurants for their palate to be teased. I wanted my food to be creative, exotic and playful. If I simply wanted delicious food, the cioppino in my kitchen is second to none, or the pho in my neighborhood Vietnamese restaurant was very good. But, for modern French food, plainness is your enermy.
Service
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The waiters were friendly, attentive and professional. Some may argue that they don't smile or chat with customers much, but that didn't bother me.
The menus were explained in details. They checked your food allergy just in case some ingredients might irritate you. Your water glass or wine glasses would never be empty (unless you choose). They asked about the situation of the night, in my case, they presented a candy plaque with "Happy Anniversary" in our dessert plates.
Your requests would be treated seriously and would not be forgotten. I asked about if Chef Keller was in and if he could sign my copy of the cookbook, the captain came afterwards, explained that Keller was away and I had the options of either purchasing a already signed copy, or they could keep my book and send it back to me once Keller returned from his trip in a few weeks and signed it.
My wife attempted to request a kitchen tour (didn't know if they would grant it), it was easily granted and was well guided at the end of the meal.
When we were ready to leave, our coats were ready (no claim checks were given or needed) together with the nicely wrapped signed cookbook.
At $250 per person, the French Laundry understood their obligation to make your evening pleasant and enjoyable.
Perception overall
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We had dined in more good restaurants than we probably should. It's easy to tell which restaurants are focusing on food, which on experience, and which on something else. For example, California Cafe in Los Gatos is one of my favorite restaurants - they don't have a Michelin star, but it's so obvious when you dine there that they are serious about your food, it's just everywhere in your dish. For example, l'Augerge du Pont de Collonges (Paul Bocuse) may not produce the most tasty food, but it was a dining experience in a palace - look at the deco of the dining rooms, the plates and silverwares, the astonishing presentation of their massive selection of desserts - it was unique.
For the French Laundry, I simply cannot tell what their unique competetiveness is. Things were good, but I've seen the same good or better somewhere else.
My wife sensed it was too commercial. The wood napkin clips were for you to take home as a souvenier. That's good, but on it, it was the printed phone number of the restaurants. Does the French Laundry really need business cards to spread out to the public?
I have to write about a caution for fellow parents who want to bring their children to dine there. It was on one hand nice that the French Laundry didn't reject kids like some of the other 3-star eateries, like Alain Ducasse's Le Relais Palza in Paris, Ducasse's Spoon in Hong Kong, Masa in NYC; it was also a confusing experience for me.
When we ordered, the waiter indicated they could do whatever we wanted for my son. We decided on a cod dish, a butter pasta, and a dessert would do for him. The waiter happily walked away. Again, the food was good, my son enjoyed all of them. However, I was expecting that they would charge these 3 dishes based on some ala carte prices. But it was the same $250 for his 3-course.
I was, in fact, prepared to pay full ticket for my son when I called for reservation and learnt there was no children menu. I guess it shouldn't be a surprise. However, they could have at least clarified it at the beginning, that even for 3-course, it was the same price. At the end, I felt that I was tricked. Had I known it was prix fixe as well, I might have wanted to choose more dishes for him. I guess, the point is not about the money, but really communication to the customers to be on the same page.
We still enjoyed our anniversary.
This was our 20th Michelin-star experience, our 3rd Michelin 3-star restaurant experience, our first Thomas Keller experience.
The French Laundry was good, but not good enough to be "worth a special journey".
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