16 minute video review of Thomas Keller's 'The French Laundry' restaurant in Napa Valley

I’ve been. The salmon cone thing to start is legit. I didn’t understand how it would be that good… still don’t. So simple but perfect. The oysters and pearls was great too but I was expecting that.

I paid extra for the fettuccine dish and they shaved so much black truffle on top it was ridiculous. One of the best couple bites of food I’ve ever had in my life.


It was a great meal but I’m not a fan of the 20+ dishes of small bites or whatever. To each their own. It’s just that I spent many of the dishes wishing I could have more of one of the ones I just ate

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Am I seeing correctly that the guy in the video's bill at the end, with the wine tasting, was over $1,500? If so, that's insane

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I think ours was ~$450/person but we didn’t do wine tasting, just a bottle

I'll probably never make it there either

I think I've had my share of fine dining. I'm sure it's fantastic, it's just not something I place a lot of value on these days.

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Go check out the wine list and rare spirits list. They routinely see checks in that place for twenty grand and up.

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That’s insane

You know in all the years we lived in L.A. we never made it to Spago. And we thought often early on about going there. But everything in L.A. eventually becomes about the traffic and every time we thought about making reservations we asked ourselves if we felt like fighting the traffic to drive across town. We lived in Whittier and it's a hike to get to Beverly Hills. The other thing is that we had so much great regional cuisine near our house. Every kind of food you can imagine, and most of it delicious and reasonably priced. Filipino Adobo, Thai, Ecuadoran, Mexican of course, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, British-style pubs, Spanish Tapas, you name it. One of our favorites was a place that only served the cuisine of Oaxaca. Evidently the chef was some hot shot Oaxacan chef who immigrated to the US (hope they haven't deported him) and all the dishes he cooked were from his region of Mexico. Our favorite was a dish called, humbly enough, Chef's Rice and Beans. It was beans that had simmered for 8 hours, served in a pot over rice, and topped with grilled shrimp, chorizo, bacon, avocado, and drizzled with Morita Cream. It was incredible. My wife and I still talk about it and we left L.A. over 4 years ago. It was a dish for two and it cost at that time about $20. We'd each order a drink they made at their bar called Pepino Vago. (vodka, cucumber, lime, and a cayenne pepper/sugar rim) at about $10 a drink. So the bill was about $40 plus tax and tip and I doubt if anyone in the city served better food than that place. So that's part of the experience that comes with age that you alluded to earlier. You realize that you can get great food in cities like L.A. and New Orleans and it doesn't have to cost a lot. So we gave up on going to Spago and instead drove 5 minutes to places like that, had a drink, ate great food and the total bill for two was a little over $50.



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I don’t know all the details and I’ve never been, but we are headed to that area next week and turned down a “special table” for 6-10 for $600/ each. It’s my wife and her friends that are on the wait list. My understanding is the normal price is less. Given that’s before booze and any other add ons. We only had 4 people and weren’t sure we could get 2 more or we would have done it.

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It’s just that I spent many of the dishes wishing I could have more of one of the ones I just ate

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This is sort of Keller’s whole point. He wants you wishing you had one more bite of something and then whoosh here comes another dish that causes the same reaction.

One of the nice things about the French Laundry is that when they offer supplemental items on the menu, caviar, truffles, etc, they don't skimp on the supplemental ingredients. If you get a dish with truffles, you get a lot of truffles. I've eaten there a few times and it's always exceeded expectations.

The first time I ate there, I was standing in the courtyard after the meal, waiting on the rest of my party. I could see in to the kitchen and it's mesmerizing to just watch them work, but the thing that struck me was there was a guy in the corner doing nothing but drying wine glasses. He was so focused and attentive, making sure every single glass was absolutely perfect before he put it away. The most impressive thing about it, was that the guy drying the glasses was Thomas Keller. Dude is one of the best chefs in the world, running one of the best restaurants in the world, but he's not above drying wine glasses in the kitchen if that is what needs to be done. I think that says a lot about him and about how they have maintained such high standards for going on three decades now.

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Wow. I wonder if they get a lot of repeat customers, or if it's more of a bucket list kind of experience.

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It's both. Or at least it used to be. Back in the day, it was very common to locals to be regulars. It was expensive, but it wasn't like it is now. And locals in Napa are treated differently than tourists by restaurants, wineries, etc. Also, the easiest way to get a reservation is to drop by and ask if they have any cancellations for that night. So if you're local it is (or was) much easier to eat there if you wanted. I rented a house around the corner from the FL in Yountville one summer for a couple of months and my wife would drop by occasionally and ask about cancellations. I think they had at least one every time she stopped in. I think it's probably tougher now to be a regular unless you've got serious money, but that area does have serious money.