By: Tracie Howard Dickerson
It’s been a long hard year and we all deserve an indulgence; a reward for all of our hard work and perseverance. Our Editor gives you the low down on one of the food industry’s most acclaimed dining experiences: Thomas Keller’s French Laundry.
Unless you’re the Dali Lama, The Kardashians, or restaurateur Oswald Morgan, trying to score a table at The French Laundry restaurant, in Napa Valley, is like playing the Squid Games. To prevail you’ll need steely determination and laser focus, not to mention lightning-quick fingers and a keyboard. On the first day, each month at 10:00 am Pacific Standard Time, it’s game on! The next month’s reservations for the highly coveted tables are released to the general population of Foodies, tourists, and others with money to burn and a penchant for bragging rights.
Sure, it’s wonderful to be able to afford a meal that starts at $350 per person (excluding wine!), but unlike some pricey luxuries, money alone will not provide you access. It took a call from Robert Mondavi Sr., one of the original Lords of the Valley to secure my table back in 2003 after years of shooting blanks. So, I speak from experience when I say that dining at Thomas Keller’s flagship restaurant is truly one of life’s most sublime indulgences.
While a fabulous meal at the French Laundry may be my idea of a luxury worth its the time and money, for others something as simple as the perfect cup of coffee (albeit served in bone china, in front of a roaring fire on a chilly December morning, while overlooking the mountains) may fill the bill.
Just as a steaming bath seeped in lavender and eucalyptus oil, surrounded by candles, underneath a dimmed chandelier, with Bach floating through the airwaves is more than just a bath, a dining experience at the French Laundry, is also not just about the food. It is about every little bitty thing that’s French Laundry-related; from the crisp and pristinely-tailored suits worn by the wait staff and of course the fluid, well-orchestrated pirouette performed by the kitchen staff as they seamlessly make magic.
No detail is left unchecked by Keller. His recipe for the 3-star Michelin Guide reviews, an induction into the Culinary Hall of Fame, and Anthony Bourdain’s proclamation as, “the best restaurant in the world, period,” includes an unwavering quest for excellence, that begins with the ingredients.
Most of us mere mortals are at the mercy of our local grocer, be it Piggly Wiggly or Whole Foods, when sourcing ingredients to prepare our meals at home. Generally speaking, most restaurants work with suppliers whose offerings are ostensibly a cut above Kroger’s produce and meat departments, but not Thomas Keller, who scours the earth to find the absolute best ingredients and counts his artisan purveyors as cohorts and accomplices in his mission to ensure that every morsel on your plate is perfectly conceived and prepared.
After being introduced to the most extraordinary butter he’d ever tasted, Chef Keller secured exclusivity and agreed to buy all of Diane St. Claire’s production. When he opened Per Se, his New York fine dining establishment, she purchased more cows in order to accommodate his exacting needs. Their client/purveyor relationship is so close in fact, that she named one of her pampered bovines ‘Keller,’ who joined her brood that includes Daisy, Lightning, Pansy, Scooter, Dyedee, and Petra on her idyllic Animal Farm located in Vermont.
Mast Brothers, chocolatiers from Brooklyn, New York, are one of few in America that take a purely artisanal approach to their craft; they start with carefully selected cacao beans from Madagascar, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela, and hand roast them in small ovens, using pre-industrial techniques, such as stone grinding, before aging and tempering to deliver chocolate bars that melt and explode across your palate. A far cry from Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.
The elusive truffle, one of the French Laundry’s mainstays, is sourced from The Truffle and Wine Co. in Western Australia. Not to be deterred by the small inconvenience of not being anywhere near France – the birthplace of the most exclusive black truffles that hail from Villefranche-du-Perigord, and are known as the Diamonds of Perigord – this determined purveyor did the unthinkable.
After finding the ideal truffle terroir in Manjimup, Australia, they planted 13,000 hand-selected trees and inoculate them with spores from the famous French truffles. Six years later; voilà! The perfect black Perigord truffles, ready to adorn The French Laundry’s Black Truffle and Ricotta “Agnolotti.”
Keller demonstrates the same dedication to sourcing olive oil from Armando Manni Evo in Tuscany; rabbits from Devil’s Gulch Ranch in Nicasio, California; foie gras from Hudson Valley Foie Gras in Ferndale, New York; hearts of palm from Hawaii, which has been on the French Laundry menu since it opened; and seafood from the renown Browne Trading Company in Portland, Main. You get the picture? No stone is left unturned to ensure that every bite is truly memorable.
The French Laundry’s now 3-acre Culinary Garden started as a way to pick fresh ingredients just as they were needed, providing a level of freshness and seasonality that doesn’t exist once an herb or vegetable is picked packed, and shipped. At the French Laundry, the journey is just across the street. How’s that for farm-to-table?!
The beautifully landscaped garden has expanded over the years to include a chicken coop, a goat pen and is bordered by a beehive that produces French Laundry- approved honey. On any given day, 46 purveyors come together, along with Thomas Keller and his well-oiled staff, to bring you what has expanded from the five-course meal I experienced to nine or more, that awaits.
A dining experience with uninhibited exclamations:
“Oooh…Oh my goodness.Wow…What a treat…Lovely!“
As you might imagine, to savor nine delectable courses, like fine wine, the meal cannot be rushed. After declining the investment of time during previous trips to Napa (so many restaurants and vineyards to check out!), as noted in a recent Washington Post article, Oswald Morgan, co-founder of Food & Wellness Solutions, decided to make the time and financial commitment after his wife and co-founder, Karen Harper Morgan, pulled the Wife Card and insisted it was an indulgence that was well worth it.
While the table next to them was celebrating with the Krug “Grand Cuvée,” Reims, the Morgan’s were treated to “the free-flowing house-pour/label” of Keller’s newest blanc de blanc, Modicum, which means “small amount of something unique./something considered desirable or valuable“. Each course was presented with seamless precision by an affable and professional staff, who provided fascinating details about each tree that was hand-selected for the exquisite outdoor dining area, to the evening’s highlight – an onslaught of the Black Perigord Truffles (see video). One server summed up the French Laundry philosophy by stating, “Keller wants each guest to taste the flavors you don’t normally get to taste every day, he wants you to get an abundance of those.”
After this magical meal, the popular restaurateur relished the fact that “the table was mine all night!” Another luxury, since quickly turning tables is an American practice, which escalated during the Covid 19 pandemic. Morgan added, “It was a truly memorable meal that was worth the time and the money!”
Whether your indulgence is a night dining at Alain Ducasse’s Le Louis XV restaurant in Monaco’s Hotel de Paris or a splurge on a decadent dessert after a satisfying meal, slow down, enjoy and relish every moment and every little detail. You deserve it.
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