1/15/2024 0 Comments French laundry pricesClair's Animal Farm butter from Vermont.Ī delicate dessert, inspired by the classic French île flottante, of Silverado Trail strawberries, tapioca pudding and matcha ice cream. A bread of the day conjured by François Hiegel, executive head baker for Keller's restaurants, it comes with a lavish pat of Diane St. Several courses in, after delicate butter-poached lobster served cold with white asparagus, came a bread course, a bitter cocoa-laminated brioche. The font size is adjustable for easy reading, and using an iPad ensures that the list is up to the minute.Ī recent three-hour lunch demonstrated that the new French Laundry operates at as high a level as ever, and with some innovations worth appreciating. Johnson wants it to be a straightforward reference tool. The iPad wine list is just a wine list, with no bells and whistles like label photos, tasting notes or wine ratings. Depending on the guest's comfort level and the rarity of the wines, customized pairings can be anywhere from $75 to $1,000. And it's different for everyone." The cost is adjustable. "We don't want it to be ritualistic or religious. "I try to get to be humble about the wine program," Keller adds. If they talk about an unoaked Chardonnay they really liked, I can go to an Arnot-Roberts, which is versatile with so much of our food." I can pick wines of similar style that they may not know. "If they say Colgin or Bond, that'll give me a clue. Johnson asks guests where they might have visited in Napa Valley. "Why not design something just for you and your preferences?" "Why do the same wines as everyone else is getting?" he asks. Instead of a set selection to match with the day's menu, Johnson creates bespoke pairings. With this many wines at hand, wine director Erik Johnson, an eight-year French Laundry veteran, huddled with Keller to take a new approach to wine-pairing. (The French Laundry has held Wine Spectator's Grand Award since 2007.) A whole wall of half-bottles provides more options for weaving wine into a multicourse menu. The new main cellar corrals more than 10,000 bottles that had previously been scattered around various storerooms across several buildings into one clean and dramatic space. The most-ordered wines occupy a small cellar holding 3,000 bottles, tucked away off the corridor between the dining room and the kitchen, for easy access. Wine director Erik Johnson oversees the Grand Award–winning cellar and the French Laundry's new customized approach to wine pairings. Another innovation combines several small courses into an attractive array instead of bringing them out one at a time. Breeden's update is to chop the oysters so every bite contains their flavor and texture. Those oysters star in one of Keller's signature dishes, dubbed "Oysters and Pearls" because the oysters luxuriate in a spoonful of a sabayon made with pearl tapioca. It's not all local, with butter from Vermont, olive oil from Tuscany and oysters from Massachusetts, but it all comes from impeccable producers. The cuisine still plays off classic French techniques and relies on the same sources for ingredients. The menu, which changes a course or two daily, has been rethought with an eye toward streamlining meals that often stretched to four hours or more. Before the kitchen's reopening in February, the cooking was done in two temporary buildings for 18 months. The courtyard and a second private dining room next to the new wine cellar can each accommodate 14.Īn earlier phase of the renovation expanded and modernized the kitchen, now overseen by chef de cuisine David Breeden. The main dining room has been refreshed, and the private dining room upstairs has been enlarged to accommodate 12 where eight could barely squeeze in before. It's all part of a more than $10 million makeover and expansion as the restaurant celebrates its 40th anniversary.Ī new semicircular drive provides a grand entry, something the restaurant never had in the past. Where that home once stood, a 15,000-bottle wine cellar now anchors a new building. Owners Don and Sally Schmitt cooked a single menu every night and reared two children in the house next-door. 1994, when chef Thomas Keller purchased the French Laundry in Yountville, it was a modest affair, modeled on the early and very homey Chez Panisse in Berkeley.
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