The French Laundry, February 2008

Mostly I just wanted to show you guys the photos, but I'll attempt to describe the meal a bit as well. I decided before I went that I would at least try everything that was served to me, whether or not I thought it was something I would like. I think this was a good decision.

Short version: spectacular.


Long version: We arrived a few minutes early for our reservation and our table wasn’t ready so we waited in the lobby for about 20 minutes. They brought us water and the wine list (actually more of a wine book) while we waited. We enjoyed having the French Laundry and Bouchon cookbooks there to read while we waited.
We were seated at a nice round table in the upstairs dining room. The waitress explained that there were two menus, the chef’s tasting menu and the vegetarian tasting menu. With either you were able to choose among two options for several of the courses. Both the boy and I went with the chef's tasting menu but intentionally ordered the opposite things every time we had a choice so as to be able to taste more dishes.


We then spoke to the sommelier, who managed to work with our relatively frugal alcohol budget. For $150 we received two glasses of blanc de blanc champagne (sorry didn’t pay attention to the brands) and later, a bottle of syrah. We told him we wanted to spend up to $150 on alcohol, and our alcohol total was $149. Ha!
The meal began with the signature amuse bouche of salmon ice cream cones (salmon tartare in a savory cone with crème fraiche at the bottom.) I typically don’t enjoy salmon but this was fantastic. It was especially fun to see the actual product after having read about the process of making these in the French Laundry cookbook.


Then we moved on to “Oysters and Pearls," which is described as a " 'Sabayon" of Pearl Tapioca with Island Creek Oysters and White Sturgeon Caviar." A very rich and creamy dish, I couldn't finish all the caviar but very much enjoyed the oyster and tapioca. With this dish they brought out beautiful mother of pearl utensils to eat with.



the rolls came with two types of butter, one from Vermont, and one from Petaluma.



note the salt crystals on the rolls:

For the next course, we had a choice. I chose the "Salad of Hawaiian Hearts of Peach Palm," which contained "Baby beets, Satsuma Mandarin, Cutting Celery, and Black Truffle Gastrique." I found the black truffle gastrique rather lacking, (in all honesty I did not notice it and had no idea there was truffle anything in this dish until I looked at the menu later.) The beets however, were the sweetest and most delicious I have ever tasted. Hearts of palm were fine, although not anything I'd go out of my way for.



The boy opted for the "Moulard Duck 'Foie Gras En Terrine' " which came with "Tokyo Turnips, Compressed Shin Li Pears, Mustard Seed 'Aigre-Doux' and Toasted Brioche." This was a $30.00 supplement, and the only part of the evening that annoyed me. When you're paying so much already for a tasting menu, I simply don't think there should be any "supplements" to the pricing. But being at the French Laundry and knowing how passionately Keller feels about foie gras, we had to get it. The portion was nice, the foie was velvety smooth and of course incredibly rich. The coolest part of this course is that after approximately five minutes they brought out a new round of brioche, even though we weren't close to finished with the first plate of brioche. The waitress explained that they wanted us to have warm brioche for the entire length of the course. This was one of those classy touches that distinguished FL from other fancy restaurants I've been to. Another cool touch was being served three different salts to choose from, a pink salt from Kauai, a small grain salt from a coppermine in Montana, and a grey salt from Brittany.



in this photo you can see the brioche and the trio of salts:



For the next course we again had a choice. I had the "Steamed Fillet of American Red Snapper" which had "Lilly Bulbs, Sweet Carrots, Pea Tendrils, and Bonito Broth." The lilly bulbs were interesting, I'd never had them before. They taste a lot like onion. The snapper was perfect.




For this round the boy chose the " 'Sashimi' of Kinki Bluefin Tuna" which was accompanied by "Fuyu Persimmon, Sunchokes, Pine Nuts, Arugula Leaves and Nicoise Olive Oil." I'd say this definitely won the award for most beautifully presented dish of the evening, and possibly my life. It was simply stunning, we almost didn't want to eat it. But of course we did.



Next up for both of us was the "Sweet Butter-Poached Maine Lobster Tail" which was served with "Melted Savoy Cabbage, Caramelized Cipollini Onion and Caraway Emulsion." This made every other lobster dish I'd eaten in my life pale in comparison. The cabbage was interesting, as it is something I traditionally don't like, but this was wonderful. Proof yet again that enough cream and butter make anything delicious.




For the next course we again had a choice. The boy chose the " 'Jambonnette' of Devil's Gulch Ranch Rabbit" which came with "Potato Confit, Haricots Verts and Hard-Boiled Egg Sauce." This was a comfort food dish, with a golden fried crust around the creamy rabbity goodness. Hate to say it but it tasted sort of like chicken. The crispy exterior with the creamy middle reminded me a bit of a croquette. It looked like a big fried lollipop with the rabbit bone being the stick.



Since the boy had ordered the rabbit I was left with no choice but to order the "Coeur de Veau Confit" with "Cope's Sweet Corn 'Financier,' Melted Swiss Chard and Sour Cherry 'Ragout' " I sure never would have believed that confited veal heart is something I would put in my mouth. But I did, and this was one of the stand out dishes of the night. Hard to describe but the first bite tasted like duck, the second more like pastrami. Of course the pastrami flavor may have become evident because the server mentioned that. Regardless, this was a dish that I didn't expect to enjoy but truly loved.



For the second meat course, there wasn't a choice so we both had the "Ribeye of Elysian Fields Farm Lamb" with "Chanterelle Mushrooms, Fennel Bulb, Spring Garlic and Brown Butter Jus." Not being a fan of lamb I feel like I should just keep quiet about this dish except to say it looked beautiful and appeared to be cooked perfectly. The boy, who is normally not a lamb fan either, thought it was excellent.






Onto the cheese course: " ' Moliterno' with Baby Artichoke, Frisee Lettuce and Black Truffle 'Coulis.' " The baby artichokes were wonderful and a surprising but delicious pairing with the cheese. The cheese was hard like pecorino and somewhat chalky. It was infused with truffles.



Then they started the desserts and I thought they would never stop. First, "Diane St. Clair Buttermilk Sherbert with Honey-Glazed Cranberries and Spiced Streusel." This was very tangy like yogurt and not too sweet.



For the next dessert we had a choice again. The boy went with the "Valrhona Chocolate 'Dobos' with Chestnut Butter, Candied Chestnuts and Brown Bread Ice Cream." We forgot to photograph this one and I don't think I got to taste it.

Meanwhile I had the "Maui Pineapple 'Pavlova' with Coconut-Pineapple Curd and 'Pate de Fruits Exotiques' " The tropical flavors were very subtle. Again, no photo, sorry. It was my first pavlova, and it reminded me of a meringue.

Next up was the vanilla creme brulee and a meyer lemon pot de creme. Luckily they were quite small portions, so we were able to find room.





Then they brought out a ceramic box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts, then a three tiered jewelry box type container with more sweets, including turkish delight and almond petit fours. And then they came around with the truffle tray! I had a pepper and raspberry truffle and an espresso truffle. My husband tried peanut butter and carmel pistachio truffles.

the chocolate covered macadamia nuts:


some of the mignardises: Turkish delight, almond petit fours:


the tray of truffles from which we could choose whatever we wanted:


Then for the part of the night where you have to just suck it up...the bill. Yes, it was over $700. Yes, even when you're sort of expecting it your heart still skips a beat. But we honestly felt like we'd gotten our money's worth. I admit I was glad we were using a credit card though...plunking down a huge pile of 20's would have really made it more difficult.

I'm not sure why, maybe because I'd been taking photos (no flash, obviously, until all the other diners had left and we were alone in the dining room) and taking a few notes, but when we finished our server offered to give us a tour of the kitchen. I couldn't believe our luck. (Maybe they do this to all the customers who are there at the end of the night but let me just pretend we're special.)

What a treat. Since we were some of the last people at the restaurant, the kitchen wasn't really operating, everything had been cleaned up and put away. Still, it was very cool to be able to see where the amazing dishes had originated.



sense of urgency clock in a prep area of the kitchen:


some of the beautiful produce in the storage area of the kitchen:



look at all the different types of glasses!


We walked out of there feeling blissful. I'm already scheming as to how I can work another meal there into my budget.


Well, if you made it this far, thanks for reading my long long review! And if you ever find yourself with hundreds of dollars that you don't know what to do with, I'd recommend heading immediately for the French Laundry.