The French Laundry - Review

Intro
The French Laundry - Highly Recommended (caveat for price)
6640 Washington Street
Yountville, CA 94599
707.944.2380

What is the best restaurant you’ve been to? We ask this question a lot amongst our food buddies. Mine was Gary Danko in San Francisco, my first superb fine dining experience - I’ve been to Babbo and Aureole before but this was a different category. To many, French Laundry is the best restaurant in the United States and some would say, the best restaurant in the world. There was a lot of hype coming into this restaurant and I was quite worried.

I’ve been disappointed to some degree by many of these so-called top restaurants. Bouley was terrible. Daniel had some of the best dishes I’ve ever had, yet other dishes were pretty bad. Jean Georges was the most consistent, but nothing really blew me away.

I tried to remove any preconceptions about this restaurant, which was a little difficult since I’ve wanted to visit this place for the last 6 years. Finally, when our San Francisco trip was planned, the highlight of the trip was going to be the French Laundry. It took ages to book the place as this previous post can attest. Also, I’ve been browsing through the French Laundry cookbook since December in eager anticipation.

My final verdict. In my opinion, this is not the best restaurant I’ve ever been to (explanation on this later). However, this is by far the most consistent of any restaurant I’ve been to. Everything was very good and there were a few things that were excellent. Overall, I give the restaurant a 93/100.

My Menu
1) Gougeres – Highly Recommended (must have)
2) Salmon Tartare Cornets – Highly Recommended (must have)
3) Cauliflower Panna Cotta – Highly Recommended
with Beau Soleil Oyster Glaze and Sterling White Sturgeon Caviar
4a) Chilled Globe Artichoke and Summer Truffle Veloute - Recommended
Thumbelina Carrots, Confit of Yukon Gold Potatoes and Parsley Shoots
4b) Moulard Duck Foie Gras en Terrine – Highly Recommended (must have)
Michigan Sour Cherry Condiment, Celery Branch, Balsamic Vinegar Glaze and Toasted Brioche
5a) Olive Oil-Poached Sablefish - Recommended
Black Radishes, Granny Smith Apples and Whipped Dill Crème Fraiche
5b) Grilled Sea of Japan Octopus – Recommended
New Crop Onions, Preserved Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette and Watercress Leaves
6) Pinces de Homard Pochees Au Beurre Doux - Recommended
Jackson’s Farm Heirloom Squash, Oven-Roasted Early Girl Tomatoes and Garden Basil Pudding
7a) Four Story Hills Farm Poularde – Highly Recommended
Golden Chanterelle Mushrooms, Brentwood Sweet Corn, Brown Butter and Thyme Infused Jus
7b) Japanese Wagyu Tartare – Not Recommended for Price
Koshihikari Rice, Broccolini Fleurettes, Preserved Ginger and Barrel-Aged Tamari Emulsion
8) Elysian Fields Selle D’Agneau Rotie Entiere – Highly Recommended (must have)
Toasated Farro Pilaf,Fennel Bulb, Nicoise Olives, Piquillo Peppers and Olive Sauce
9) Ascutney Mountain - Recommended
Black Mission Fig, Italian Pine Nut Butter, Espelette Syrup and Arugula
10) Silverado Trail Strawberry Sorbet – Highly Recommended (must have)
au Granite de Tomates
11a) Amedi Bitter Chocolate Pave – Highly Recommended (must have)
Baked Chocolate Truffle and Terzi Coffe Bavarois
11b) Glace Aux Noyaux D’Abricots – Highly Recommended (must have)
Apricot Sorbet, Pates de Fruit, Nutmeg Franipane and Steusel
12) Mignardises – Highly Recommended (must have)

Dish Comments
1) First item that came out was a single Gougere. I thought I knew what they were since Artisanal makes phenomenal Gougeres there. These were much, much better. The crust was very flaky and tender, and there was actually a slightly warm molten gruyere center. Taste buds were wide awake.
2) This was what I was waiting for. Keller is famous for his Salmon Cornets and I took a bite of the salmon tartare and it was nice, but I was wondering what the fuss was all about. Then I realized it was meant to be eaten together with the cornet and man I was so happy. Inside the cornet, there was crème fraiche which matched perfectly with the crispy and subtly sweet cornet. Great stuff.
3) Cauliflower panna cotta was very surprising. A nice delicate sweetness to the cauliflower which matched perfectly with the saltiness of the caviar. I’m noticing a very nice mild balance of flavors at this restaurant.
4a) Fiancee got the artichoke veloute which had an intense artichoke flavor. A very nice refreshing veloute.
4b) I went for the $40 Foie Gras supplement which came with three salts – Japan, France, and a Jurassic one (yes like from the dinosaur ages). I’ve had a good share of foie gras including D’artagnan’s parents home-made foie gras and the best I’ve ever had – Brasserie Flo in Metz, France. This one was different from any FG that I’ve ever had. Very light and very sweet. It was truly an epiphany how good this was. This was the dish that said – you are at the French Laundry and are having a very special meal. The Japanese salt made the foie taste even sweeter while the Jurassic one gave it a more rich flavor. Very fun stuff adding your own salts. Side note – Brasserie Flo’s FG is still my favorite.
5a) Fiancee ordered the sablefish which was so tender. Again great cooking technique here. However, this was a little bit of a letdown flavor-wise after the ridiculously good FG. I guess what wouldn’t have been a letdown? Still tasty though.
5b) The grilled sea octopus was better than the sablefish. Perfectly cooked and the acidity of the meyer lemon, bitterness of the watercress, and sourness of some preserved onions worked well together.
6) Sounding like a broken record, but the lobster again was perfectly cooked. This married perfectly with the sweet piquillo peppers. However, for some reason I actually would rather have a steamed lobster with drawn butter.
7a) Fiancee went with the poularde. I always say you can tell if the kitchen knows what they’re doing if they create a moist, flavorful chicken. At Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill the chicken was so dried out, I wanted to get up and leave the restaurant. Unsurprisingly, the Poularde here was perfect. Juicy and flavorful matching perfectly with the sweet corn and nutty brown butter.
7b) I went with the $40 Japanese Wagyu tartare supplement. This was a decent dish if it was part of the tasting menu, but was not worth the extra $40 (I should have ordered another piece of Fois). The wagyu was insanely rich and flavorful, however it didn’t meld well with the other ingredients. Having a bite of the rice (a tad too hard), ginger, wagyu, and tamari was decent but didn’t work so well. I tried other combinations (rice, broccolini, wagyu – better) but wasn’t phenomenal.
8) Maybe the best lamb dish I’ve ever had. Perfectly tender and juicy, really intense lamb flavor that matched well with the bitter/salty olive sauce. So good.
9) After going to Artisanal for the second time this month (I like that place a lot), it’s hard to compare any cheeses to the ones at Artisanal. However, this was interesting especially with the amazing figs and decent cheese. Decent plate.
10) Wow, best palate cleanser ever. This was like a Marcel (from Top Chef) dish. Tomato foam which really tastes like fresh tomatoes and the granitee which again really tastes like tomatoes. After combining the sweet strawberry sorbet with the foam and granitee I was in heaven. It was like a bite of summer, which is so California. Maybe the most memorable dish of the meal.
11a) Fiancee ordered the chocolate pave which was so rich and intensely flavored. The subtly sweet coffee crème perfectly offset the rich chocolate. Ridiculously good.
11b) At first I didn’t like this dish. The sorbet tasted like a slightly sour apricot. However, like most of the other dishes, combining the sour sorbet with the rich and sweet frangipaine put a tear to my eye. This was a crescendo of the desserts and showed how great the dessert chef was here.
12) Mignardises, meaning pretty or delicate in French, describes the little after-dessert desserts. Again, these were out of the ball park. My favorite were the chocolate, caramel crusted macadamia nuts. No need to describe – just think about how that would taste. Crème brulee was perfect. There was another side crème dish with some type of fruit compote which was phenomenal. Olive bread was sweet and salty and very good. Chocolate truffles were on and so good.

Overall Restaurant Experience (93/100)

• Food 9.3/10 – Everything was perfectly cooked and using the best ingredients. Not as many mind blowing dishes as I expected for the entrée portion, but still amazing stuff. Desserts were sublime and were the highlight of the meal. As you can see from the pictures, the plates were presented beautifully. Like works of art using very large white plates/bowls, the colors of the food seemed to jump of the plate.
• Service 9.0/10 – Servers were nice and the food came out very promptly. About 5 minutes per course. Fiancee noted (and I agreed) that the service was good, but we’ve been to a lot better places for service – Daniel, Gary Danko etc. At Daniel they had so many floor managers, that they would come by without me motioning someone if I wanted wine or if my wine glass was empty.
• Atmosphere 9.5/10 – Not a really stuffy restaurant, but more like staying at a nice B&B. Crowd was mainly older couples or people on business meetings. Fiancee was worried that she wasn’t dressy enough for such a high-end restaurant, but we ended up being the most dressy there – maybe a California thing of not needing to dress to the nines. We had an 11am lunch and we were seated promptly. One of the things that Cali has over NYC is the phenomenal views. It's so relaxing seeing mountains and vineyards; and across the street from the French Laundry there's a garden for the restaurant. We actually saw chefs in the garden picking up produce and bringing it back to the kitchen. This puts you in the mood to eat well and you enter the restaurant very happy.
• Price 7.8/10 – A lot of people that dined at French Laundry mentioned that it is definitely not worth the price. I’m 50/50 on this. While the experience was great, the price was very high ($700 for 2). For this price, I could’ve dined at 2 fine dining restaurants in San Francisco that may have had the same quality of food. Because of this, I say it’s worth it to maybe try once, but I probably will never go back, since I would rather spend my money at two amazing places than one.

Closing Comments
It may be sad to say, but I only have strong memories of food that blew me away. Now that I’ve been to a lot of the top restaurants in NY and phenomenal restaurants in Europe and Asia, it’s very difficult to come away with a feeling of ultra euphoria. Only when I try new cuisines (like my trip last year to Mexico) or food that is unexpectedly good (a bianca pizza at the random Columbia U restaurant Sezz Medi) do I get a sense of insane happiness. The French Laundry was certainly a great dining experience, but in my opinion it was a very similar meal to Jean Georges in NYC (however, the French Laundry had much better ingredients). Great meal where all the dishes are consistently very good, but I want home runs on every single dish. If not every single dish than at least all the entrees. I still think Gary Danko is the best restaurant I’ve been to, however, I’m not sure it will hold up any more. C’est la vie. My next heavy hitter restaurants will be Le Bernardin and a return to Daniel. As usual, I will keep you all posted...